Our Donors

Peter and Melanie Maier ’81

Peter and Melanie Maier ’81 have generously supported UC Hastings for more than 40 years, and their gifts have enabled the law school to continue enrolling the most qualified students, and attract the most accomplished legal scholars to the faculty.

Peter, who was a professor of law at UC Hastings from 1967 to 1995, established the Bernard and Joan Maier Memorial Scholarship Fund in 1969 in honor of his parents. Over the years, the fund has provided support to more than 30 students. Peter and Melanie’s most recent gift of $100,000 is designated to enhance the Maier Scholarship Fund, and in gratitude, UC Hastings has named the faculty library in their honor.

Peter has also long been committed to helping UC Hastings engage and retain world-class faculty.  In 1981 he established the Alfred and Hanna Fromm Chair in International and Comparative Law, which he named for his aunt and uncle. The Fromm chair provides funding for a distinguished faculty member and is presently held by Professor Ugo Mattei, who teaches comparative law and political economy of law. 

A UC Hastings alumna, Melanie is the author of several volumes of verse, including Sticking to Earth and The Land of Us. Peter cofounded Maier Siebel Baber, a real estate investment company, and is president of the Larkspur-based investment firm Private Wealth Partners.

Ethnea and William M. Auslen ’52

The late Ethnea and William M. Auslen ’52 generously named UC Hastings as a beneficiary of their estate, which recently awarded an initial disbursement of $340,000 to the law school. A portion of the gift will be used to fund a scholarship in the Auslens’ names, and the remainder will be directed toward areas of greatest need. 

“William valued education very much,” recalls his cousin, Gregg. “He believed firmly in giving back to those institutions that helped him advance in his career, and his experience at UC Hastings meant a great deal to him.”

William, who passed away in 2010, had a distinguished career as an educator, prosecutor and judge. A San Francisco native, he served in the Korean War as a consultant to the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army. After the war, he took a position as an assistant district attorney in San Francisco, where he conducted more than 150 jury trials in the Superior Court.

William was also a law professor at San Francisco City College and a frequent lecturer at San Francisco’s police academy. He continued his career as a Superior Court judge, pro tem, on the Superior Court Arbitration Panel, as a Superior Court special master and as a member of the American Arbitration Association. At the age of 77, he became a member and an officer of the Supreme Court of the United Sates.

UC Hastings has named its law library’s director suite in the Auslens’ honor.