Third year Harvard Law School student ARMEN P. MEYER enjoys reading the paper outside of Harvard Law School’s Langdell Hall on a sunny day.

Harvard Law School (HLS) is quietly stepping up preparations for a fundraising campaign of unprecedented proportions, school officials said last week.

According to Associate Dean for Development Scott G. Nichols, the University’s highest governing body—the Harvard Corporation—expressed its continued approval of HLS’ academic and fundraising plans after meetings with Law School officials Feb. 25.

Nichols said the Corporation has allowed HLS to continue with the “quiet phase” of its proposed $300-400 million capital campaign, securing commitments from donors, testing the “fundraising marketplace” and setting feasible financial goals for the campaign.

If the Corporation approves a campaign of the size that the school is seeking it would be the largest campaign undertaken by any law school, exceeding the then record-setting $183 million HLS raised in the early 1990s.

But according to Nichols, the Corporation has yet to formally approve the campaign and has told officials to proceed carefully in raising funds for physical improvements to the Law School campus.

“The Corporation very rightly asked us to come back, when we can judge whether the support [the Law School receives] is enough to warrant such an incredible size,” Nichols said. According to Nichols, Law School officials will seek formal approval next fall.

In the meantime, the Law School will be able to pitch its case to potential donors.

But Nichols said the Corporation cautioned HLS officials that donors wishing to give money for new buildings must be told that those facilities could end up located across the river in Allston.

“We know Allston is a very live option for the Law School,” Nichols said. “We’re talking with folks about the option of across the river.”

Nichols’ attitude represents a marked turnaround from this time last year when the Law School was operating under the assumption that a move to Allston had been ruled out—the HLS faculty had voted down consideration of a move.

Since that time University President Lawrence H. Summers has forced the Law School to reconsider, and told them that planning—and in this case, fundraising—should occur in a manner that would keep the Allston option open.

“We’re asking supporters for funds for new classrooms wherever they may be,” Nichols said.

The Corporation, Nichols said, has consistently voiced its approval of the school’s academic plans—which are embodied in its 10-point Strategic Plan—and of a large Capital Campaign to support it.

“The signs we’re getting [from the Corporation] is that our number is worth testing,” Nichols said of the goal of $300-400 million. “There is an acknowledgement that it’s ambitious, but not so crazy to keep us from trying it out.”

The school has estimated that various academic initiatives—including the formation of new law colleges and the hiring of 15 new professors—will require physical additions and improvements to the campus to the tune of $100 million.

The money will be needed regardless of whether the school stays in Cambridge or moves to Allston, Nichols said.

Even if a decision on the Law School’s future location would make fundraising for facilities less difficult, the school cannot afford to wait for the University to make up its mind, Nichols said.

“We can’t put off the $100 million because it’s so tied to the other three-quarters of the goal,” Nichols said. “We already have some significant support for physical facilities because of their integration into our academic plans.”

But the school is confident that uncertainty over Allston will not deter potential donors.

“We’re very pleasantly surprised about early supporters who say they don’t really care about where we put the facilities,” Nichols said.

And Nichols said he was optimistic that, as a whole, such a large campaign will be feasible. The development office has already received more commitments and payments than was expected, he said.

Typically, fundraisers try to raise between one-quarter and one-third of their overall campaign goals before “going public.” Nichols said that HLS would be aiming to raise an even higher percentage, and already has several multi-million dollar contributions lined up.

HLS’ previous campaign came several years before the kick-off of the University-wide Capital Campaign in which planners coordinated simultaneous fundraising across all of the University’s schools. While the tail-end of HLS’ campaign counted toward the University campaign’s $2.6 billion final tally, the Law School’s campaign was effectively separate from that effort.

University Development Office spokesperson Andy K. Tiedemann explained that while the rest of the University is still in a rest phase, it is natural that the Law School should be looking to hold another campaign.

Tiedemann said the fact that HLS will again be working on its own does not mean that the schools have returned to the model of separate, loosely-coordinated campaigns.

The schools now regularly coordinate their fundraising activities like they did during the University-wide campaign, Tiedemann said.

And with a new president with new priorities, details of the University-wide planning process have yet to be worked out.

“We’re not aware yet of what any timetable is for University-wide fundraising,” Nichols said, “but it’s hard to imagine its not coming soon.”

In order to harness the momentum of HLS’ recently completed academic plans, the school will have to go it alone again, Nichols said.

And Nichols speculated that HLS would again be the vanguard of the next wave of campaigns, as it appears that the Business School, Medical School and others might be looking to hit the trail in pursuit of new contributions.

—Staff writer David H. Gellis can be reached at gellis@fas.harvard.edu.