In the fall of 2013, the Saint Louis University School of Law will receive a $500,000 endowment to provide a professorship to a selected accomplished educator, expected to be instated in 2014.

“It’s our vision to be able to support an exceptional School of Law professor who fosters the dreams and passion of his or her students while advancing legal education,” said Bruce Robert, who, along with his wife Jane, pledged the endowment to the School.

One of five endowed professorships at the School of Law, the Jane and Bruce Robert Professorship will provide the opportunity to award one of the school’s best teachers and legal scholars.

Although the endowment will not be initiated until 2014, the family has pledged the $500,000 gift in order to make a significant impact on the law school community for years to come, Robert said.

“The Robert’s gift will help the School of Law continue to retain high-caliber faculty who will challenge and inspire our students both inside and outside the classroom,” Sandra Johnson, interim dean of the School of Law, said.

The Robert family said that they hope this particular endowment will directly benefit future law students, including many current undergraduate pre-law students who will attend the school in the near future.

“My family and I deeply value the education and community service opportunities we received from Saint Louis University and the School of Law,” Robert said.

“Our experiences were strongly shaped by the school’s dedicated, accomplished teachers.”

Robert and his family have had an extensive past with both the School of Law and Saint Louis University.

Having graduated with a Bachelor of Science in 1970, Robert went on to earn his J.D. in 1973 from the School of Law.  His wife taught French at SLU in the early 1980s while their son and daughter-in-law attended SLU for undergraduate and graduate degrees.

“It is especially rewarding to see how deeply the Robert’s family appreciated their SLU and SLU Law educations by their generous support of the law school through this endowment,” Johnson said.

Jeffery Lewis, School of Law Dean Emeritus, said he has played a key role in keeping the Robert family connected to the School.

Having served first hand as dean for 11 years, the Robert family said they credit Lewis for keeping them close to the law school and helping them to understand exactly what an impact such a gift would make on students and the school itself.

The gift comes at a crucial time for the School of Law, having fallen in rankings over the past several years.  Although renowned for its Health Law program, which still ranks first in the nation, the school dropped from second-tier to third-tier rankings last spring, according to the U.S. News & World Report.

The School of Law currently ranks third of the four law schools in Missouri, behind Washington University and the University of Missouri.

The School of Law hopes to reverse the recent in ranking and add additional legal talent to focus on students.

“Jane and Bruce Robert are wonderful friends of the law school,” Lewis said. “Their generous gift will benefit students for generations to come.”