Northwestern Trustee and Family Make Gift to Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern Law

Northwestern University trustee Chris Combe, his wife, Christina, and their family have generously committed $500,000 to support the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. This commitment adds to the family’s 2015 gift that established the Michael and Mary Schuette Global Fellowship in Health and Human Rights and the Michael and Mary Schuette Clinical Fellowship in Health and Human Rights, and provided support for the Access to Health Project.

The Global Fellowship enables a Northwestern Law graduate to pursue international field work, while the Clinical Fellowship supports a clinical fellow for the Access to Health project, an initiative in which students and faculty from the Law School, the Feinberg School of Medicine, and the Kellogg School of Management work as a team to conduct needs assessments and implement sustainable, capacity-building interventions with communities around the world.

"The Combes have made a tremendous impact through their philanthropy. We are extraordinarily grateful for this most recent donation, which will enable the fellowship programs and the Access to Health Project to continue the meaningful work of recent years," said Dean Kimberly Yuracko.

The current Schuette Global Fellow, Nesha Abiraj (’18 IHR-LLM), received a citation from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for her work on a bill to ban child marriage. The bill unanimously passed the state Senate in July and is going through the House at this time.

Elise Meyer, the current Schuette Clinical Fellow, has worked in Myanmar, Kenya, and Tanzania, engaging in capacity building, supporting public interest litigation, and advocating for policy changes on a number of international human rights issues.

"We care deeply about international public service and want to help the Law School expand programming in this field,” Chris Combe said. “We also wanted to make a special gift to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bluhm Legal Clinic."

Mr. Combe (BA ’70) and his family have a long and deep association with the University. He has been a member of Northwestern’s Board of Trustees since 1997 and of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences Board of Visitors since 1981. A number of Mr. Combe’s family members also have attended Northwestern, including his father, Ivan (BA ’33, JD ’36), and daughters Keech (BA ’99, MBA ’06) and Cameron (BA ’09).

This generous gift adds to Motion to Lead: The Campaign for Northwestern Law, a $250 million fundraising initiative that has raised over $245 million to date in support of students, faculty, and programs at the Law School. 

August, 2019