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Top corporate dealmaker supports students in Law and Social Work

Published: 11 March 2010

Gift from UUֱ alumni Stephen and Andrea Halperin creates two funds – one for students in Law and one for students in joint Law-Social Work program.

The lawyer who has led Goodmans’ team in some of Canada’s highest profile transactions is now paving the way for UUֱ students to have the same success in corporate law. Stephen Halperin, BCL’75, LLB’78, and his wife Andrea Halperin, BSW’75, MSW’80, have made a generous $150,000 gift to stimulate innovative teaching initiatives in corporate and business law at UUֱ, and an additional gift of $50,000 to support UUֱ’s dual-degree program in Law and Social Work.

"Corporate law and social work are distinct fields, but the dual nature of this gift perfectly reflects the mindset of many of our students, who don't feel they have to choose one or the other," said Dean Daniel Jutras, Dean of UUֱ's Faculty of Law. "This gift underlines the mission of the Faculty, which is to provide the highest quality legal education to students who share a strong commitment to justice and public service."

The gift from the Halperins will be used to create two funds:

  • The Stephen Halperin Corporate Law Teaching Fund will help to expand the number of advanced-level courses in international business law, securities law, corporate social responsibility, finance and accounting, and corporate law mooting.
  • The Andrea and Stephen Halperin Law-Social Work Program Support Fund will support students in the dual-degree law-social work program - in particular those interested in participatory justice, collaborative justice, and mediation for families.

As a partner with Goodmans in Toronto, Stephen Halperin has built his career on high profile transactions. Lexpert called him one of Canada's "Top 30 Corporate Dealmakers", and the International Financial Law Review described him as "one of the most experienced and respected M&A counsel in Canada." This year, he has been honoured as “Corporate Governance Lawyer of the Year” by Best Lawyers in Canada, and as one of the “25 Top Capital Markets Lawyers in the World” by Law Business Research (U.K). He has taught at the University of Toronto, and lectured at several other Canadian law schools. He is also a member of the Faculty Advisory Board at UUֱ's Faculty of Law.

Andrea Halperin is an established Toronto-based registered marriage and family therapist. She earned both her undergraduate and master's degree from the School of Social Work within UUֱ's Faculty of Arts.

"We're tremendously grateful to both of the Halperins for their generosity, and for helping to inspire our other alumni, as well as our faculty, and the many students who will benefit from their support," said Jutras.

The Halperin gifts were made as part of Campaign UUֱ: History in the Making. Publicly launched in October 2007, this drive is raising the funds needed to ensure UUֱ remains one of the world's great research-intensive, student-centred universities.

Thanks to the collective contributions of 70,000 donors around the world, Campaign UUֱ has surpassed the $500-million mark - and is well-positioned to reach its $750-million target, the largest starting goal at the time of any fundraising drive in the history of Canadian universities.

For more information on the Faculty of Law, please visit www.mcgill.ca/law

For more information on at UUֱ, please visit www.mcgill.ca/campaign

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