Class acts

Graduation anniversaries provide former McGill Law classmates with an opportunity to celebrate, reconnect and reminisce about their best law school memories. They have also inspired a tradition of making a class gift to the Faculty in order to create new opportunities for future generations of students. Here’s how the classes of 1989 and 1999 are helping build McGill Law’s future.

Class of 1989: Providing a world-class learning environment

To mark the 30th anniversary of their graduation, the class of ’89 set a record when they exceeded a $350,000 fundraising objective to make the largest single-class gift in the history of McGill Law. The donation will allow the Faculty to transform a second-floor classroom into a flexible learning space. In addition, the cohort will contribute to the recruitment of promising young leaders by establishing a scholarship aimed at supporting students who have faced systemic barriers to education.

“We were very fortunate to see our informal — and, some thought, lofty — initiative to raise funds for our alma mater materialize into this incredible achievement,” said Arthur Wechsler, a co-chair of the class’ initiative. “It was very important for us to establish not only a brand-new endowed scholarship for deserving students, but also to create a state-of-the-art physical space that will allow students to learn in a more contemporary and interactive environment.”

Three decades out from McGill Law, the class of ’89 remains a tightly knit group. Last year’s reunion brought back almost 50 classmates, who enjoyed a weekend recollecting their days in Old Chancellor Day Hall, Skit Nights, Law Games at different faculties across Canada, and intramural baseball teams, among many other events and activities.

“The McGill Law class of 1989 fundraising objective could never have been achieved without the help and tremendous collaboration of the co-chairs, namely my colleagues Tom Friedland, Jean Lortie and Jennifer Dolman,” said Wechsler. “Most importantly, it was a testament to the bonds forged in the McGill Faculty of Law that have now endured for over 30 years.”

Class of 1999: Experiences of a lifetime

For the members of the class of ’99, extracurricular activities provided learning experiences that helped shape them as jurists, business people and citizensat-large. Two decades after walking across the stage at Convocation, 20th-year reunion campaign co-chairs Stéphanie Lapierre and Patrick M. Shea, led the class in raising over $200,000 to support student experiences for future cohorts of McGill Law students.

“Extracurricular activities were very important to all of us,” said Shea. “We were certainly a very social class that was always well represented at weekly Coffee Houses, which were held in the old Common Room during our first three years. In our final year, we inaugurated the atrium as the first graduating class to hold Coffee Houses there. More formal, organized activities like competitive mooting, clubs, internships and conferences were also foundational elements of our collective law school experience.” The bonds they developed extended far beyond their student years, with the class of ’99 representing the largest contingent at the 2019 Law Alumni Homecoming Banquet.

“We created the class of 1999 Student Opportunities Fund in order to provide critical resources that will enhance the number and quality of experiential learning opportunities for students for many years to come,” Shea notes.

Call to action

How will your class help shape McGill Law’s next century?

Your support is essential in helping the Faculty of Law remain at the forefront of training, research and serving the public good. To find out about ongoing class initiatives or to volunteer as a class champion, please reach out to Julie Timmins at julie.timmins@mcgill.ca.