HOUSTON- Students at Texas Southern University’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law will benefit greatly from the law library of Joe Jamail, a long time Texas Super Lawyer and well known higher education philanthropist.
Stating that he is certainly not a stranger to TSU, Texas’ Super Lawyer Joe Jamail on Wednesday (April 4th), donated his law library to the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern. The collection includes more than 1,000 volumes, valued at approximately $3 million.
Jamail reminded everyone that his relationship with TSU dates back to the days when he hired the first African American law graduate. “My relationship also includes having lectured at Texas Southern many times,” he informed the small group gathered at his office. Jamail thanked Senator Rodney Ellis for bringing this initiative to fruition.
“Sometimes great things happen that you don’t expect,” TSU President John Rudley began. “This is one of those things. Joe is known for breaking down barriers,” the TSU leader stated.
Jamail earned the name “King of Torts” from Newsweek in the early 1970s, after winning a half million dollar jury award for an electrician who lost his hands due to a faulty electrical box. It was the first time in American tort law that an individual had received that huge an award amount. To his credit, he is also the man who forced the withdrawal of three products from the marketplace because he deemed them dangerous. On hand to accept the generous gift were TSU’s President Dr. John Rudley, State Senator Rodney Ellis, credited with bringing this project to life; Thurgood Marshall Law School Dean Dannye Holley; President of TSU’s Student Bar Association Nana Asare, and several other students who currently play leadership roles in the law reviews published at the law school.
In accepting the generous donation, TSU’s President Rudley stated, “Our Thurgood Marshall School of Law has long been recognized as the country’s most diverse law school, and as such, this gift will go far in helping to expand the diversity of the legal profession in Texas and the nation. “
