Bill Connell ’69 Makes First Gift to Pipeline Program with Legacy Challenge
Bill Connell ’69 has a passion for encouraging students and young professionals to venture out and achieve their dreams. For years he has been a mentor and coach spreading that message, as well as one of giving back. He found a perfect match in supporting the Law School’s new Pipeline Program by joining the Texas Law Legacy Challenge which made an immediate gift to the program.
The Pipeline Program is designed to promote access to legal education for students who are first-generation or low-income. “I’m excited to be able to support the Pipeline Program,” Connell said. “There are talented, first-generation students whose lives and careers can be shaped by the dynamic energy so evident in all things Texas. My life and career certainly were.”
Connell is very committed to first-generation students, as he himself was the first in his family to attend college. He left his hometown of Brooklyn, New York to spend what he calls three remarkable, enlightening years earning his degree at Texas Law. Not knowing any lawyers when he went to law school, he is dedicated to giving back to the next generation of lawyers.
Adela Coman ’14 can attest to Connell’s devotion. She met Connell through Texas Law’s Mentoring Program when she was just out of law school. As a first generation attorney herself, Coman said Connell has been an excellent mentor. “Bill is great. I feel comfortable picking up the phone to call and ask a question. He’s super encouraging and responsive.”
As a mentor to over 150 mentees whose ages range from 13-40, Connell encourages and expects his mentees to make a verbal commitment to pay it forward for the generation of law students following them. “It’s a matter of paying back, being grateful, trying to help others. That’s what it is.”
By making a planned gift and joining the Legacy Challenge to support the Pipeline Program, Connell is leaving a lasting legacy that benefits countless future students while making an immediate impact on the people and programs within Texas Law.
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Join Bill Connell in supporting the next generation of talented law students. With no burden on your pocketbook today, you can provide support to the people and programs within Texas Law that mean the most to you by joining the Legacy Challenge with a planned gift today. To get started, contact Jennifer Monday Goldman, Director of Gift and Estate Planning, for no-obligation help at jgoldman@law.utexas.edu or 512-232-9112.