Jamail gives $1 million to Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy

BY B.J. ALMOND
Rice News staff

Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy received $1 million from Houston attorney Joe Jamail during the April 24 gala celebrating the 80th birthday of the institute’s honorary chair, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

The gift will help reconfigure the west wing of the building that houses the Baker Institute and the School of Social Sciences. That wing will be named “The Lee and Joseph D. Jamail West Wing of James A. Baker III Hall.”

	JOE JAMAIL

”Joe Jamail’s generosity and support of education in Texas are as legendary as his vast legal skills,” Baker said. “I am grateful to Joe for continuing his sponsorship of the institute, and more importantly, for his valued friendship.”

“This important gift will soon enable us to provide the much-needed physical space for Baker Institute fellows, scholars and Rice students and expand our research programs and activities across the Rice University campus,” said Edward P. Djerejian, founding director of the Baker Institute.

Jamail, a partner with the law firm Jamail & Kolius, said he didn’t have to think twice about making the donation.

“The Bakers have been my friends for a long, long time,” he said. “It is a real honor to have my name associated with the Baker name. The Baker Institute is progressing to become one of the top think tanks in the country. I hope it will help spread knowledge and eradicate some of the ignorance that we are surrounded by in the world.”

Former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and his wife, Susan, celebrate his 80th birthday during a gala at the Baker Institute for Public Policy. A $1 million gift to the Baker Institute from Houston attorney Joe Jamail was announced at the gala.

Jamail and his wife, Lee, who died in 2007, have supported Rice for more than 15 years. In 1996, the couple gave Rice $5 million for the Lee Hage Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies, the Joseph D. Jamail Chair in Latin American Studies and other projects. They also funded the plaza and fountain in front of Baker Hall and made a major gift to what is now the Richard E. Smalley Institute for Nanoscale Science and Technology.

Lee Hage Jamail earned her B.A. at Incarnate Word College in San Antonio and studied speech pathology in graduate school at the University of Texas at Austin. She served on the Rice Board of Trustees from 1994 to 2004 and thereafter as a trustee emerita. Her committee memberships at Rice included the Century Campaign Leadership and the Nanoscale Science and Technology Leadership. She was active in the restoration of the Wiess House and gardens.

Joe Jamail, a native Houstonian, received his B.A. and law degrees from the University of Texas. Named “Lawyer of the Century” by Texas Monthly, Jamail has been lead counsel in more than 200 personal injury cases where recovery, either by verdict or settlement, exceeded $1 million. He has achieved more than $12 billion in jury verdicts and more than $13 billion in verdicts and settlements. In Pennzoil v. Texaco, he represented a client who received the largest jury verdict in the history of law — more than $11 billion. He was voted ”Trial Lawyer of the Century” by the California Trial Lawyers Association and named ”the King of Torts” by The Washington Post.

Among Jamail’s other numerous honors are the Brotherhood Award of the National Conference of Christians and Jews, grand marshal of the Martin Luther King Day Parade in Houston, the Jurisprudence Award from the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, the Southern Trial Lawyers Association War Horse Award and the University of Texas School of Law Outstanding Alumnus Award.

In addition to the gift from Jamail, the gala in Baker’s honor raised another $2 million. The fundraiser was chaired by Isabel Lummis, Courtney Sarofim and Aliyya Stude. Shahla and Hushang Ansary, a former Iranian ambassador to the United States, served as honorary chairs.

Since its inception in 1993 as a nonpartisan public policy think tank, the Baker Institute and its endowed fellows and scholars and Rice University faculty have conducted research on domestic and foreign policy issues ranging from energy, health economics, and science and technology to peace in the Middle East, homeland security and terrorism. The institute also collaborates with experts from academia, government, the media, business, and nongovernmental and private organizations to develop recommendations for the formulation and execution of public policy.

For more on the Baker Institute’s programs, visit http://bakerinstitute.org.