University of Georgia School of Law

Georgia Law School Receives Million Dollar Donation

An anonymous donor has pledged $1 million to the University of Georgia School of Law.
UGA Law announced that the gift will support the school’s Family Justice Clinic and create a Distinguished Law Fellowship. The clinic and fellowship will both be named after Jane W. Wilson, a resident of rural Northern Georgia in her early 30s, who was shot and killed by her second husband in 1976. Her two young children, aged 10 and 8, witnessed the homicide.
“We will work hard to honor the memory of Mrs. Wilson and help those affected by domestic violence,” School of Law Dean Peter B. “Bo” Rutledge says in a press release. “This donation will fund and expand essential legal work in a field that is often not discussed until something horrific occurs. This gift will help provide tomorrow’s legal leaders the knowledge, experience and resources to combat family violence.”
FAMILY JUSTICE CLINIC
The law school’s Family Justice Clinic opened in 1998 and has been providing survivors of domestic violence with direct legal representation and support free of charge.
Now, with the donation, the clinic will officially be called the Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic, where post-graduate fellows will be employed to assist in managing “litigation on behalf of victims of intimate partner violence and abuse” and educating law students who work in the clinic.
Opened in 1998 under the name Family Violence Clinic, the clinic provides survivors of domestic violence in Athens-Clarke and Oconee counties with direct representation as well as legal and extra-legal support free of charge. The clinic will now operate under the name Jane W. Wilson Family Justice Clinic and employ a post-graduate fellow to assist in “litigation on behalf of victims of intimate partner violence and abuse.”
Sources: UGA Law, Family Justice Clinic