The University of South Carolina has changed its name after receiving a $30 million gift from alumnus Joe Rice.
The law school is now the University of South Carolina Joseph F. Rice School of Law. It is the ninth largest law school naming donation on record, and the first since Drexel University received $50 million to change its name to the Thomas R. Kline School of Law.
Rice, a 1979 graduate of the law school, has had a successful career as a litigator taking on some of the nation’s biggest civil actions, including some of the most significant resolutions of asbestos liabilities, the $246 billion civil settlement against the tobacco industry, two settlements regarding the BP Oil Spill and the ongoing national opioid litigation.
The $30 million-dollar donation will be used to establish an endowed student scholarship fund to cover a variety of scholarships.
Rice said his alma mater is a huge part of his family’s history and success.
“It gives me great pride to directly impact the lives of its students,” Rice said. “My hope is that this worthy cause will inspire and bring out the best in generations of future lawyers, while laying the foundation they’ll need to achieve great things.”
This is not the first time that Joe Rice has been a generous donor to the school. He also endowed the Ronald L. Motley Memorial Scholarship Fund and Civil Litigation Training Program Fund which has helped law students with both scholarships and litigation skills. Other donations by the Rice family allowed for the USC Children’s Law Center to be housed in a permanent location near the law school building.
In addition to the scholarship opportunities that will come from the most recent $30 million-dollar donation, the Lisa S. Rice and Anne E. Rice Ervin Child Advocacy Award Endowments will be created and available for law students who complete the children’s law concentration.
“This magnanimous investment by Joe Rice and his family will provide transforming resources to build on the law school’s legacy of excellence. It will give us the inspiration and the support to provide a world-class legal education for promising South Carolina students at this storied law school, strengthening our commitment to the public good,” said William Hubbard, dean of the law school.
University of South Carolina is the 28th law school to change its name after it received a donation, and the 15th since 2011. However, one of those changes was removed after the donor, Hugh Culverhouse Jr. began fighting with the school — University of Alabama.
