News & Events

Baker Hostetler Gift Supports Mentoring Program

September 8, 2011

Contact: Barbara Peck, (614) 292-0283

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law announced today that the Baker Hostetler Endowment for Professional Development will support the Mentoring and More @ Moritz program. The $500,000 gift was made by the national law firm Baker Hostetler and will support the mentoring program which brings together law students and practicing attorneys for a monthly speaker series and lunch. During the programs, speakers address pressing issues or trends facing attorneys today, which are then discussed by small groups of mentors and students in more detail.

“Mentoring and More @ Moritz is about investing in tomorrow’s lawyers and we are pleased that Baker Hostetler is helping lead that effort,” said Daniel Gunsett, Managing Partner of the firm’s Columbus office. “Many former and current Baker Hostetler attorneys are Moritz law graduates and appreciate the importance of mentoring for all law school students.”

Currently, more than 175 Moritz students and 65 lawyer-mentors from around central Ohio participate in the program, which began in 2005. Each mentoring group consists of three to five students and at least two mentors. The mentoring groups meet formally each month and are also encouraged to meet outside of the formal program.

“Mentoring and More is designed to serve as a bridge between the theory and practice of law,” said Alan C. Michaels, dean and Edwin M. Cooperman Professor of Law at Moritz. “The goal is for our students to see how what they learned and discussed in the classroom plays out in real practice. Mentoring and More is one of our most popular programs and this extremely generous gift from Baker Hostetler will ensure this program thrives in the future.”

Mentoring & More @ Moritz events often take place at the Barrister Club, an event facility originally envisioned by the late John Deaver Drinko ’44, a former managing partner at Baker Hostetler. Drinko wanted to create a casual setting for students and alumni to gather regularly and was the lead donor to the Club. He also inspired several of the firm’s partners to invest and participate in the project, including current Baker Hostetler partner, Alec Wightman ’75, who helped lead fundraising efforts to establish the Club. Recognizing this close relationship, when Drinko passed away in 2008, Baker Hostetler made an initial gift of $50,000 to the Mentoring & More @ Moritz program in his honor. Today’s gift, which is ten times the size of the original gift, reaffirms the firm’s commitment to the Mentoring & More @ Moritz program and strong interaction between alumni and students in general.

“Baker Hostetler is proud of its leadership role with the Moritz College of Law,” said the firm’s Executive Partner, Steven Kestner. “The firm’s support will help train the law leaders of the future and enable students to experience first-hand our commitment to education, the legal profession and to community, cornerstones of the Baker Hostetler culture.”

Mentoring & More @ Moritz and the Barrister Club are not the only legacies left by Drinko and Baker Hostetler at Moritz. Currently, the building that houses the College is named John Deaver Drinko Hall and the College itself is named after the late Michael E. Moritz ’61, a former Baker Hostetler partner. The firm also supports the Newton D. Baker-Baker & Hostetler Chair in Law and the Baker & Hostetler Leadership Scholarship, which allow Moritz to recruit both top faculty and top students.

“It has been almost 40 years since Baker Hostetler and the College of Law embarked on a mutually beneficial relationship,” Dean Michaels said. “It is a privilege to celebrate the strength of that relationship today.”

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