Overview

The William H. Neukom Building, a new academic building which opened in 2011, strengthens the law school community and overall campus integration by fostering the interdisciplinary collaboration essential to a rich educational experience. Prominently situated south of the existing law school complex, this 65,000-square-foot building creates a new focal point along the route that connects the campus's residential and academic precincts and provides much-needed clinic, seminar, meeting, and office space.

The building is organized as four connected three-story wings pinwheeling around a central elevated courtyard. Barnum Tower, a monumental rotunda, serves as the main entrance to the new building. From the outside, you will notice that the new building's facades echo the monumental arcades of the school's existing complex and its roof line aligns with those of the surrounding buildings, creating a visually united law school campus.

Buoyed by a lead gift from William H. Neukom '67, Stanford Law School worked with Ennead Architects to develop a physical campus plan for our most valuable assets and resources: our faculty and students. The new academic building is efficient, smart, flexible, welcoming, and value-engineered to reduce its overall environmental impact. The structure was built to satisfy the equivalent of a LEED Gold Certification by meeting key sustainability requirements in the areas of site planning; water management; energy use; materials, resources, and waste; indoor environmental quality; and innovation and design. For example, the new building uses 30 percent less energy than code requires through sophisticated control systems, ceiling fans, efficient glass, and ventilation, as well as an exterior trellis designed to maximize shade. Built for the long term, the structure complements the existing campus and reflects the law school's vision for the future. Interior and exterior spaces encourage collaboration and interaction, providing easy, convenient communication among and between students and faculty. Quiet areas for research, writing, and small group projects also have been integrated into the building design.

The New Landscape of Legal Education

Today, law schools do—and need to do—much more than they did 30 years ago. The curriculum is broader; new kinds of courses are offered, requiring different types of space and teaching resources; and the student-to-faculty ratio is significantly reduced in each class.

The research mission of law schools has also changed dramatically. Legal scholarship is often empirical in nature, and research is frequently collaborative, being generated from within interdisciplinary centers. These research and teaching hubs play a significant—if not a central—role in developing new courses and opportunities for hands-on legal training and collaborative programs across the university and within the community.

In addition to full-time faculty, today's top law schools require professional staff capable of providing leadership and complex support to centers and clinics, as well as academic fellows who assist with teaching, work closely with students, and administer new programs. All of this also requires much more traditional administrative and technological support and space.

Why a New Building?

The original law school building housed 39 faculty; today, our faculty numbers 45 but must grow to 50 to fulfill our goals. In addition, we employ five or more senior lecturers who teach full-time, as well as 8-10 clinicians. Much of our research and teaching takes place within our 20 centers, each of which needs meeting rooms and office space for its directors and fellows; it is this group of senior academic program, public service, and clinic staff that represents our primary area of growth.

In addition to the original building's physical space constraints is the matter of the current culture of Stanford Law School. It is simply impossible to house our full faculty and the clinics in the current academic building, and it would be very detrimental to split them up; the experiences of other law schools bear this out. Additionally, the current building is poorly suited for the kind of interactive, dynamic law program we seek to develop. The faculty is isolated from each other and from students. There is no place for faculty and students to meet and interact casually, and the result is a building that often feels "dead."

Take the Tour: Ground Floor

Barnum Tower, the Andrews Identity Wall, and the Mills Legal Clinic

The first stop on the tour is Barnum Tower (1) , the primary entrance to the new building which references the historic entry gates on the main quad. In the lobby adjacent to the Tower, the Andrews Identity Wall (2) is a focal point of this floor. Created by award-winning Ralph Applebaum Associates (the world's largest interpretive museum design firm), the Identity Wall is an innovative art installation that offers a dynamic window into the personality of the law school community via the experiences, perspectives and voices of students, faculty, alumni and staff.

Continue walking into the ground floor headquarters of the Mills Legal Clinic (3) . This suite is the kind of collaborative space found throughout the building, in which students, as well as clinic directors, teaching fellows and staff assemble. An open-plan office with 72 workstations is designed to foster team-style learning and informal interactions among clinic students and faculty. Satellite conference rooms off the main space can be used for research and writing or for private client consultations (reservations are not required: students can duck in for an impromptu working session). Glass partitions and nine skylights diffuse natural light throughout the floor, connecting the building’s interior to its exterior. No dry-erase boards are used—a modern “wipeable” glass alternative makes an attractive writing surface. Overall, the clinic space is designed to encourage collaboration and reflect the school’s vision for a dynamic, hands-on approach to legal education.

Take the Tour: Second Floor

Faculty Lounge, Faculty Offices, and The Terrace

Ascend the open-air Barnum Tower to the second floor to arrive at the heart of faculty life at the law school: the terrace, surrounded by the faculty lounge and offices. While open and accessible to all, it is intended to function primarily as the law school’s living room. Stop by the glass-walled lounge (4) , a bright space where faculty members collect their mail, enjoy a cup of coffee, and talk informally with colleagues and students. Outside the sliding glass walls, the lounge gives out onto the terrace (5) , where people can gather for al fresco dining or special events. Walking by Franklin Family Fountain, notice how much of the landscaped area and seating is sheltered by a wooden trellis and hanging garden, which allows natural sunlight while still maximizing shade. Take note of the trees and shrubs in both elevated and sunken planter boxes in the courtyard. The elevated boxes can be repositioned by a system of hidden tracks and wheels, allowing the space to be configured either for private or public events. The courtyard is composed of multiple materials for contrasting and complementary textures and colors, including sustainably harvested ipe wood from Brazil, French limestone, metal, terra-cotta roof tile, concrete, and glass. The orthogonal pattern in the concrete wall of the rotunda, the stone jointing of the façade, and the wood trellis panels visually unifies the composition.

Faculty members were directly involved in the conception of their individual office spaces, which were customized with contemporary furnishings according to their needs. Large windows provide views of the surrounding natural setting. State-of-the-art technology promotes low energy consumption: smart thermostats sense when a window is open and lighting controls in each office dim as the sun brightens. The faculty wings with enlarged corridors and natural light are calibrated to create intimate suites for “open door” scholarship and a welcoming atmosphere for students and visiting faculty. Notice the glass-walled bridges (6) , which connect the wings of the building. The dramatic and very visible double-height lounges (7) at the corners of the building are bathed in natural sunlight for most of the day and provide informal seating for individuals and small groups. These interconnected, communal spaces offer a variety of possibilities for faculty and students to have ample space to meet and talk in ways that are sure to lead to innovative legal thinking outside the more structured environs of the classroom.

Take the Tour: Third Floor

Dean's Suite

At the top of Barnum Tower and adjacent to the Dean’s Suite floats the premier conference room in the building: the circular, wood-clad, sky-lit space that is the Dean’s Conference Room (8) . The Dean’s Suite (9) provides ample space for one-on-one and group meetings with students, faculty, administrators, and alumni. The third floor also provides additional faculty offices and conference spaces. These upper floors will provide not only the physical space, but also the appropriately designed environment for the ways in which faculty and students interact.

Design Statement

Ennead Architects LLP,
New York, New York 10014,
T: 212.807.7171
F: 212.807.5917
http://www.ennead.com/

Sustainability

Reflecting the University’s sustainability initiative, the design of the building aims to reduce its carbon footprint, maximize energy effectiveness, reduce water consumption, and create a healthy working environment. The new building takes maximum advantage of natural light and automated controls to reduce energy consumption to approximately 30% below what California’s already stringent energy code requires. In addition, ventilation will optimize indoor air quality and energy efficiency, while the building’s energy use will be evaluated over time for energy performance. Together, these strategies will result in an expected overall energy use that is one third the energy use of a comparable building in California.

About William H. Neukom

This building is named in honor of William H. Neukom, a supporter of Stanford Law School and legal education, and advocate for the rule of law, human rights and community involvement.

Mr. Neukom, raised in the Bay Area, is among the law school's most prominent graduates. He received his BA from Dartmouth College in 1964 and his Stanford Law degree in 1967. By 1977, he had joined the Seattle law firm Shidler, McBroom, Gates & Baldwin (now K&L Gates). His private practice for almost 20 years included civil and criminal trial and appellate advocacy in federal and state courts, as well as representing clients—including individuals, families, community organizations and business enterprises—in transactional matters.

Mr. Neukom's relationship with Microsoft began in 1978 when his law partner, William H. Gates, asked him to advise his son's fledgling business. Mr. Neukom agreed, and for 24 years was Microsoft's lead lawyer. He protected the company's intellectual property around the world, most notably in Apple Computer, Inc. v. Microsoft Corp., and defended Microsoft from a stream of antitrust complaints, investigations and lawsuits. Mr. Neukom also directed the company's community affairs program, which initiated perhaps the most imaginative and robust corporate-giving strategy in the high-tech industry.

Mr. Neukom returned to his law firm in the fall of 2002 and served as its chair from 2004 through 2006. He was president of the American Bar Association from 2007 to 2008.

Mr. Neukom has been a member of the San Francisco Giants Baseball Club ownership group since 1995, and a general partner since 2003. In October 2008, he became the managing general partner and CEO of the Club. Under his leadership, the team won the World Series in 2010, the team's first championship since 1954, and San Francisco's first ever.

Mr. Neukom believes in useful citizenship; lawyers have unique skills, and with those skills a responsibility to improve their communities. In 2006, he founded the World Justice Project to strengthen the rule of law worldwide. The Project seeks to create an international network of multidisciplinary stakeholders who create communities of equity and opportunity around the world.

Mr. Neukom and his four children manage the Neukom Family Foundation which since 1996 has been investing in community agencies working in the fields of health, justice, conservation and education.

His other community work includes founding the Neukom Institute for Computational Science at Dartmouth College, and serving as a member and the chair of the Dartmouth College Board of Trustees. He has also served as a member of the University of the Puget Sound Board of Trustees; a member of the YMCA of Greater Seattle Board of Directors; chair of the Gates Challenge Endowment Campaign of the United Way of King County; member and chair of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce Board of Trustees; and member of the Pacific Council on International Policy.

Mr. Neukom has a long history of supporting Stanford Law School. He has served as a member of the Dean's Strategic Council since 2000 and as a member of the Board of Visitors Executive Committee since 2003. He established the William H. Neukom Professorship in Law at Stanford Law School in 2002. His commitment to the new academic building reflects his belief in Stanford's new model of legal education, which prepares students for leadership in a dynamic world of challenges and opportunities.

Gift Opportunities

Stanford Law School needs to raise additional funds to complete the new academic building and the Munger Graduate Residence. Many naming opportunities exist in the two buildings, including:

• The Law Clinic Suite in the new academic building
• The Great Hall at the Munger Graduate Residence, a versatile space for formal events, academic conferences, professional programs, and student and alumni events
• Major public areas in the academic building, including the main lobby, the corner lobbies, and the bridge
• Conference rooms in the Munger Graduate Residence or academic building
• The Dean's Suite, the faculty lounge, and other interior and exterior spaces

Please consider supporting interdisciplinary living and learning and our expanding programs and curriculum at Stanford Law School. For more information about these special gift opportunities, please contact the Office of External Relations at 650.736.1238.