The University of Chicago has announced a $15 million gift from alumnus David M. Rubenstein, (’73) in support of the law school’s David M. Rubenstein Scholars Program.

The gift will provide three-year, full-tuition scholarships for nearly 60 outstanding students—roughly 10 percent of the law school’s JD class—in the classes of 2026, 2027, and 2028. Established in 2010 with a gift of $10 million, the program has now received a total of $61 million from Rubenstein. Rubenstein Scholars have pursued careers in government and public service, clerked on the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals, and worked in law firms. 

“David’s magnificent philanthropy has ushered in a new era at the Law School,” said Lior Strahilevitz, the Sidley Austin Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Rubenstein Scholars Program. “These scholarships have helped attract spectacular students to Hyde Park and have expanded the availability of financial aid for all our students. The talented and engaged students in our classrooms create a virtuous circle that draws outstanding faculty to teach them, and the school’s improvement across multiple dimensions has in turn made the law school that much more appealing for current and future students.”

“I am pleased to continue to support the efforts of the law school to attract the best possible law school students. Doing so strengthens the school that was so helpful to me with scholarship aid as a law school student in the 1970’s,” said Rubenstein. “One of our country’s greatest strengths is a society that values the rule of law, and well-trained law school students help build that strength.”

(Photo Credit: Getty Images/Jacob Boomsma)