The School of Law will receive a gift of $1.57 million from the Nancy and Charles Wall Family Foundation to create the Wall Chair in Corporate Law and Governance, an endowed faculty chairman position.
The award is named for its donor Charles Wall, a corporate lawyer and a 1970 graduate of the School of Law.
“(Wall) wanted to build on the existing strengths that we have here at the University of Missouri,” said Chancellor Brady Deaton, who presented the award on behalf of Wall.
Former law professor Thom Lambert was named the inaugural chairman.
Lambert said he is pleased the the Wall Family Foundation decided to invest in the university’s law school and that he will take an active role in his position.
“As the Wall Chair, I plan to be actively involved in examining what works and what doesn’t and in recommending ways to encourage good governance without chilling appropriate risk-taking or driving up businesses’ compliance costs,” he said.
School of Law Dean Gary Myers said he hopes this award will increase the school’s ability to compete with other universities’ law schools.
“We regularly compete with top private and public law schools for faculty members with outstanding credentials, valuable expertise and national reputations in their fields,” Myers said. “This gift helps us to level the playing field and attract and retain the best and brightest faculty at MU.”