Alumnus Gives $1.6 Million for New University of Cincinnati College of Law Building

CINCINNATI - February 24, 2015 – James B. Helmer Jr. (Law ‘75), president of Helmer, Martins, Rice & Popham Co., L.P.A., has donated $1.6 million to the University of Cincinnati College of Law to benefit its new building fund. Helmer previously donated $1 million to the fund back in 2009. The timeline and location of an eventual new building are yet to be determined.

“The current home of the UC College of Law is nearly 100 years old,” said Helmer, who is co-chair of the new building’s steering committee. “It’s time.”

Helmer, has given back to the college for more than 25 years, because the college has given him so much. Over the past three decades, he created a professorship, student scholarship and prize award.

“It’s important that a person leave footprints in the sand. No alumnus has made it to where they are without help from others they haven’t even met,” Helmer said. “We can pay it forward for the next generation.”

In 1989, Helmer established the James B. Helmer, Jr. University of Cincinnati Law Review Prize, which recognizes dedicated student editors of the University of Cincinnati Law Review, a student-produced journal that has been around since 1927. Helmer was editor-in-chief of the Law Review during his time as a student and says it is a critical teaching tool.

“Jim’s generosity over the years has made a transformative impact at our college,” said Louis D. Bilionis, dean of the UC College of Law. “His most recent gift will cement the future of the college and have a positive, lasting effect on the next generations of law students.”

Nearly 25 years ago, Helmer created the James B. Helmer, Jr. Professorship of Law currently held by Professor Brad Mank. Then, in 1995, he created The James B. Helmer, Jr. Scholarship which has been awarded to 19 students since inception.

“Jim’s dedication to the UC College of Law is nothing short of inspirational,” said Rodney Grabowski, president of the UC Foundation. “His personal and professional success in Cincinnati is admirable, and he is setting such a wonderful example of personal philanthropy by giving back both his talents and treasures to the university.”

Helmer achieved success at and beyond UC. Upon graduation, he received a two-year clerkship with the late Chief Judge Timothy S. Hogan for the Southern District of Ohio, himself a 1931 UC College of Law graduate.

“Working for a judge is like working as an intern for a surgeon,” Helmer said. “You get 10 years of experience in two.”

Today, Helmer’s practice focuses on complex litigation. He has written several books and successfully argued before both the Ohio Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

He is responsible for rediscovering Abraham Lincoln’s 1863 False Claims Act, a long-forgotten tool that lets citizens prosecute government contractors who cheat on their contracts. He convinced Congress and President Ronald Reagan to modernize this dormant law in 1986 and Congress and President Obama to update it in 2009.

As a result of those amendments, more than $40 billion in stolen taxpayer money has been recovered and returned to the U.S. Department of Treasury, including more than $1 billion from lawsuits brought by Helmer himself. His lawsuits led to corrections to major defects in U.S. military helicopters, fighters, aircraft carriers, submarines and Air Force One.

Helmer says he isn’t finished giving back to UC and plans to invest more in coming years.

“We all have a debt to pay. I’m not done paying mine off,” Helmer said.

Media Contact:

Caitlin Whitehurst
Assist. Director of Public Relations
513-556-4395
caitlin.whitehurst@uc.edu