G i v i n g Building Support and Law School Fund
Beverly Bartow, ’80, and James Stengel, ’80 If the class of 1980 is getting together, it’s certain that Bev Bartow and Jim Stengel will make every effort to be there, and the class’s 30th reunion on October 15–17 was no exception. “We have a lot of lifelong friends in the class,” says Stengel. “It has been nice to go back and reassemble the group.” Bartow and Stengel came to Michigan Law after receiving undergraduate degrees from the University of Illinois. He’s a native of Decatur, Illinois, while she was born in Dearborn, Michigan. They have always held the Michigan faculty in high regard—Stengel was inspired to consider an academic career—and they warmly remember classes with Charles Donahue, Tom Kauper, Doug Kahn, J.J. White, Harry Edwards, and Lee Bollinger, then a professor.
Law Quadrangle • Fall 2010
Neither is a stranger to construction projects at Michigan Law. Bartow lived in the southern end of the Lawyers Club during the building of the underground Smith Law Library Addition. Realizing the need for new facilities, they have given substantial support for the new academic building and Aikens Commons.
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“From a functionality perspective, the Law School’s physical plant was falling behind,” says Stengel, “with the danger that the School would be less competitive with its peers.” Stengel was also instrumental in directing a $250,000 gift from Orrick for early support of the Innocence Clinic, a great fit for the firm’s pro bono interests, he says. And the couple has provided generous support for the Law School Fund, giving at the Cavaedium Society level for many years. “We both got very good educations at Michigan, and we feel indebted to the Law School,” Stengel says. The couple’s daughter is a sophomore at Wesleyan University. But whether a legal career is in her future, her father says, is “too soon to tell.”
Ph ili p D attilo Photograph y
After law school graduation and a move to New York, where they still live, the couple’s career paths diverged. Bartow pursued a career in the nonprofit world, fundraising for such organizations as Third Street Music School Settlement, the New York Council for the Humanities, and Lawyers Alliance for New York. She is currently an independent consultant. Stengel joined Donovan, Leisure, Newton & Irvine as a litigator. When the firm dissolved in 1998, he and 60 other Donovan litigators joined the New York office of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe. He is currently Orrick’s senior litigation partner and serves on the firm’s executive committee.
The Law School’s new academic building reaches its full height as a final steel tower is put in place. Beverly Bartow and James Stengel, both ’80, have given substantial support for the new academic building as well as the Aikens Commons.