CHICAGO — A $30 million gift from DePaul University alumni Robert Clifford (BUS ’73, JD ’76, LLD ’03) and Joan Clifford (COE ’72) will usher in a new era for the College of Law, expanding opportunities for students and faculty, while elevating its national reputation for excellence in legal education.

In recognition of the gift, the college will be renamed the Robert A. Clifford College of Law.

Robert Clifford is celebrating his 50th reunion this month with College of Law classmates. He is a DePaul Life Trustee, prominent Chicago trial lawyer, and founder and senior partner of Clifford Law Offices PC, a premier Chicago law firm specializing in personal injury and wrongful death litigation.

“This extraordinary gift honors Bob’s distinguished career while shaping the future of legal education at DePaul for generations to come,” said DePaul President Robert L. Manuel. “It builds on the College of Law’s proud history and strengthens its position as a leader in preparing exceptional lawyers who lead with integrity, serve their communities and advance justice. I am deeply grateful to Bob and Joan for their remarkable generosity, their longstanding partnership and their unwavering belief in DePaul’s Catholic and Vincentian mission.”

The couple’s gift provides critical resources to support students, faculty and the larger legal community in Chicago through continuing education and professional development. The gift will endow new scholarships, faculty fellowships, a new center and more.

It establishes the Robert A. Clifford Trial Advocacy, Litigation, and Negotiation Center, which will elevate DePaul’s current offerings in this field. The new center will build on DePaul’s strong history of educating some of the nation’s leading trial attorneys and judges. It will support integrated, skills-oriented training and generate recognition through national mock trial and negotiation competitions. It also provides an entry point for alumni to support and mentor students in critical advocacy skills.

Additionally, the gift creates the Robert A. Clifford College of Law Endowment, which establishes Clifford Excellence Scholarships and Clifford Distinguished Faculty Fellows programs and ensures support for the esteemed Clifford Symposium on Tort Law & Social Policy. It also provides support for the college’s highest priority needs, such as technology upgrades, seed funds for new programs, and high-visibility engagement opportunities for faculty and students.

The Clifford Excellence Scholarships program will recognize high-achieving law students navigating the complex challenges of the legal profession. Grounded in Vincentian values of integrity, compassion, service and ethics, it will provide financial support to students who exemplify these qualities.

The Clifford Distinguished Faculty Fellows program will enable faculty engagement with important scholarly questions and the legal community. Participants in the three-year program will receive research and scholarship support and host a mini symposium on their work to engage the academic and legal communities.

“Joan and I are proud to further the excellence and mission of the College of Law,” Robert Clifford said. “My own DePaul education, informed by DePaul’s Vincentian values that honor the dignity of every person, played a foundational role in my own career journey and perspective. We’re honored to give back and help current and future generations of law students and legal professionals succeed while making a difference in the civil justice system.”

More broadly, the gift also accelerates the momentum of DePaul’s comprehensive Mission: Forward philanthropic campaign, which seeks to raise $650 million benefiting academic innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration and purpose-driven education across the university.

“Such transformative commitments have a ripple effect, motivating others to give back during this pivotal moment in DePaul’s history,” said Katie Fraumann, senior vice president of the Division of Advancement and External Relations. “Bob and Joan are inspiring role models setting us on a path to return higher education to its critical purpose as a driver of change addressing society’s greatest challenges.”

The Cliffords’ longstanding support of legal education and scholarship at DePaul includes the Clifford Symposium on Tort Law & Social Policy, which has brought leading legal scholars and practitioners together for more than three decades.

Inaugurated in 1995, the symposium followed the establishment three years earlier of the Robert A. Clifford Chair for Tort Law & Social Policy, the college’s first endowed chair, which supports rigorous academic exploration of the civil justice system and promotes dialogue among scholars, judges and practitioners.

The annual symposium addresses timely and pressing issues in tort law, civil justice and related fields and brings together the nation’s leading legal minds to present groundbreaking research and foster critical discussion informing scholarship and practice.

Complementing the Symposium, the Clifford Scholar-in-Residence Program, now in its sixth year, annually recognizes a talented rising star in the field of civil justice who visits the law school to hold a workshop and deliver a public address offering fresh insights along with contributions from a senior legal commentator for a robust debate on issues impacting consumers.

These established programs, strengthened by the new programs and resources provided through the Cliffords’ gift, reflect and honor a commitment to fostering dialogue on civil justice issues that affect all Americans.

“This extraordinary investment will help define the future of legal education at DePaul,” said Geoffrey Rapp, Dean of the College of Law. “By combining the strength of Chicago’s legal community with rigorous academics and hands-on experience, we offer students a distinctive pathway from the classroom to meaningful legal careers. Bob and Joan’s generosity will allow us to build on these strengths and equip the future generations of lawyers with the skills to lead in an increasingly complex legal profession.”

The Robert A. Clifford College of Law, founded in 1897 and part of the university since 1912, has helped shape the development of the legal profession in Chicago and the nation through outstanding legal education with a commitment to an exceptional student experience. Its network of more than 16,000 alumni includes partners in law firms, counsel to businesses and non-profit organizations, judges and state officials, whose career success is founded on their DePaul education.

Learn more online at the Robert A. Clifford College of Law.