Mark Robinson, Orange County’s most prominent trial lawyer, has given $1 million to the Donald Bren School of Law in formation at the University of California, Irvine.
Robinson, senior partner at Newport Beach-based Robinson, Calcagnie & Robinson LLP, has won multibillion settlements against drug companies, automakers and cigarette makers.
The money is set to go toward the Mark P. Robinson Jr. Endowed Fund for Excellence. The fund will be used as the law school prepares to open its doors in 2009.
The gift is a boost to the fledgling school after an embarrassing ordeal over the law school’s dean last month.
On Sept. 17, UC Irvine rehired Duke University law professor Erwin Chemerinsky to be its law school dean, after revoking an earlier job offer in a dispute over Chemerinsky’s role as dean.
UCI withdrew its original offer after Chemerinsky wrote an opinion piece about a plan by former attorney general Alberto Gonzales that could make it harder for those on death row to appeal.
Media reports played the case as a matter of academic freedom. UCI officials worried about whether a high-profile dean was best for the law school, set to open in 2009.
Robinson served on the UCI search committee that hired Chemerinsky.
“I am proud to support the law school with its heralded dean and its inspired chancellor,” Robinson said in a statement. “All of Orange County will benefit from having a University of California law school center stage in our community.”
Chemerinsky is set to oversee how Robinson’s gift is spent.
“Mark Robinson is one of the most renowned trial lawyers in the country,” Chemerinsky said. “His leadership has been crucial in launching the new law school, and his generous gift will be enormously helpful as we go forward in creating an outstanding law school.”
