Professor inspired to give back to Duke Law

Beloved professor invites former students to contribute to new scholarship fund

Duke Law Professor Jim Cox was the first in his family to earn a college degree. He attended a junior college before receiving a full scholarship to Arizona State University. As a freshman, he wrote a note to his mother that he has kept and reads often. 

“The letter says that if I could spend the rest of my life on a college campus, I’d be happy,” Cox said.

Cox manifested this wish.

After earning his J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law (now UC Law San Francisco) and an LL.M from Harvard University School of Law, Cox embarked on an academic career that brought him to Duke Law School in 1979 where he’s been a faculty member for more than 45 years.   

Cox and his wife recently made a substantial gift establishing The Jim and Bonnie Cox Law Scholarship Fund as a way of giving back to the community they love.    

“What better way to send a message to everybody in the community that you believe in it?” he said. “It’s like a chef eating his or her own cooking. It’s good to let people know that we care about the enterprise, and that we do eat our own cooking.”    

The Coxes’ gift was matched by a grant from The Duke Endowment Scholarship and Public Interest Assistance Challenge.

David A. Schwarz J.D. ’88 and his wife Julie Schwarz were inspired to make a substantial gift in Cox’s honor that was also matched by The Duke Endowment challenge grant.  Schwarz is now a partner with the Sheppard Mullin Law Group, but he was once a bright-eyed student of Professor Cox.

“If a teacher’s accomplishments can be measured by the influence he exerted on his students, Jim Cox would be in the Hall of Fame. What better way to celebrate his legacy than to enable deserving students to reap the benefits of a learning institution Jim and Bonnie helped to build?” — David A. Schwarz J.D. ’88

Cox said he and his wife hope the scholarship created from their gift will enable recipients to pursue careers aligned with their values and desired lifestyle. Coming to Duke, he said, allowed he and Bonnie to pursue lives of intellectual inquiry and raise a family in a welcoming and collegial environment. 

“I’m grateful to Duke for giving me the chance to pursue my dream,” he said.

The Coxes have paid their good fortune forward by giving consistently over the years to law student scholarships, community funds and the J. Michael Goodson Law Library. In fact, their first gift was the $500 prize money that Cox earned by winning the 1987 Distinguished Teaching Award. It was used to establish the library’s Cox Legal Fiction Collection. They made their recent substantial donation after realizing the Duke Endowment challenge grant would double its impact.   

The combined generosity of the Coxes, the Schwarzes, and the Duke Endowment is already providing substantial tuition scholarship funds, but Cox invites others to add to the scholarship fund’s value by making additional contributions.  

“People do make gifts to the Law School from time to time to honor me. It would be wonderful if others could pile on,” Cox added.