Partners in Excellence
Annual Fund

Russ Michaletz
(class of 1977)

Dear Fellow Alumni:

It is my honor to write to you as the 2008-09 National Chair for the University of Minnesota Law School's Partners in Excellence Annual Fund.

My journey to leading this year's Partners in Excellence campaign is somewhat unconventional. I have never practiced as an attorney, instead making my career as a CPA. Moreover, it was not my technical training at the Law School that provided the platform for great opportunities. (While my experiences studying tax law and estate planning focused my interest and positioned me for a very satisfying career, tax rules are much different today than those I learned in the classroom from Professors Raskin, Kilborn and Stein!) The training that has endured years of change is the ability to analyze the facts, do the research, apply logic, and to not accept the superficial answer as the final determination.

In the early years following graduation I supported the Partners in Excellence Annual Fund due to a sense of gratitude. My training at the Law School gave me career opportunities that far exceeded my expectations. However, in recent years my motivation for supporting the Law School has shifted toward investing in a worthy institution whose continued success remains vitally important to the health of our business community and society in general.

I have come to fully understand the urgency of supporting higher education; my past support of private colleges (including a leadership positions at Gustavus Adolphus College) transfers easily to advocating for the Partners in Excellence Annual Fund at the Law School for two reasons:

• The changing demographics and financial needs of students will impact legal education more significantly than advanced education in general. I can speak firsthand of the impact the current cost of Law School has on today's students. While I was able to benefit from three years at this great institution without significant debt, that was not the case for my daughter, Mara, who graduated from the Law School in 2006. As an assistant district attorney in Anchorage, she faces years of amortization on her student loans. It is questionable whether the next generation of students will be able to make similar career choices without greater investment from more alumni.
 
• The Law School will have to increasingly rely on the private sector for financial stability and continued excellence. The Law School must increase its investment in its faculty, students, and programs in order to remain a leader in the national legal community. Our new dean, David Wippman, brings strong leadership and ambitious plans for the Law School's future. While the Law School benefits greatly from the strength of the University of Minnesota brand, we cannot expect that public funding will increase from its current levels of 8% of the operating budget.

As a quasi-private institution, the need for investment falls on the natural stewards of the Law School, its alumni.

On behalf of the law school, I offer my thanks for your past support, and challenge you to renew your support and help me achieve two significant milestones for this year's Partners in Excellence Annual Fund: $1 million and 23% alumni participation.

Sincerely,

Russ Michaletz, ’77

P.S.: Ensure the Law School's Success—One Gift Every Year!