School of Law Announces New Endowed Chair

School of Law alumna Laure Sudreau-Rippe (JD ’97) has provided Pepperdine with a generous gift to establish the Laure Sudreau-Rippe Endowed Chair at the School of Law.

“The Pepperdine University School of Law is so grateful for the generosity and friendship of Laure Sudreau-Rippe and her husband. Their remarkable understanding of the role the Pepperdine Law School can play in educating lawyers and serving the community is a model that inspires and challenges all of us,” says Dean Tacha.

According to the wishes of Sudreau-Rippe, the first alumna to endow a chair at Pepperdine, preference for future occupants of the chair will be given to those who have overcome significant obstacles in their careers. The new chair’s first occupant, Professor Janet Kerr (’75, JD ’78), was selected by Sudreau-Rippe because she is dedicated to helping women through microfinance opportunities, and throughout her career she has championed the cause of women in law. Kerr was also a mentor to Sudreau-Rippee when she was a Pepperdine law student.

“I am very honored to be the first occupant of this new chair and especially so since it is from an alumna who has such a great vision of giving back and changing lives,” says Kerr, who serves as the executive director of the Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law.

“In particular, this chair will make possible very important enhancements to the work being done by the Palmer Center for Entrepreneurship and the Law,” Tacha notes. “It will enable students to be involved in the essential links that must be forged in training lawyers and businesspeople to work together in their mutual efforts to strengthen the economic fiber of the nation and the world.”

Learn more on the School of Law website »