Santa Clara University

Supporting students

A scholarship funded by Gerald E. Moore '97 enables Santa Clara Law students to study abroad

By Susan Vogel

On his first day of law school, Gerald Moore had the fate of being the first student called on in Civil Procedure. The case was Pennoyer v. Neff and Professor Phil Jimenez grilled Moore for an hour and nearly reduced him to tears. Moore was so upset that over the next two and a half years he took every class Jimenez taught, Shepardized the cases, and often argued with Jimenez over their application.

Jimenez was delighted by it. “I always enjoy students who will take me on—who have enough confidence to challenge what you say as a professor.” Moore and Jimenez became good friends, which they remain today.

Two years ago, Jimenez got a call from Moore. Moore said that in the past ten years since graduation, he had enjoyed “some amount of success” and would like to give back to Santa Clara Law.

This was a modest statement. Upon graduation, Moore worked for Bank of America until he was recruited by the Hanna family, well-known in Georgia, to become general counsel and vice president of Worldwide Asset Management. Moore and other top management built the company, and five years later sold it for $180 million.

Moore then started his own firm, Gerald E. Moore & Associates. Specializing mainly in debt collection, the firm has 300 employees in offices in Atlanta and St. Louis.

In this area of practice, Moore is highly aware of the problems debt presents to students. As a law student, he wanted to study in England but could not afford it. So when Jimenez suggested Moore assist with scholarships to enable students to study abroad, Moore knew it was the right match. “SCU is a great school, but I am concerned about how accessible it is,” he says. He knew that whatever he did, it would have to involve giving money to students. “I don’t really get excited about buildings. I get excited about people,” he says.

The Gerald Moore Scholarship, now in its second year, gives a student a full scholarship, airfare, room and board, and a per diem allowance to study in the school’s international program for a summer. Students compete for the scholarship through either oral argument or legal writing. This year’s topic was human rights, and the scholarship enabled winner Stephanie Raney to spend a summer at the National Human Rights Commission in Seoul, Korea.

Moore grew up with high expectations. His grandparents, who raised him, were both graduates of Boalt Hall. They gave him two choices: become a doctor or become a lawyer. Moore attended Lowell High School and earned his undergraduate degree in sociology with an emphasis in law and society at U.C. Davis. There he met Erin Enomoto, whom he married seven years ago. Erin is a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in children. The couple lives near Atlanta with their two sons, Noah, age three, and Hayden, six months.

Moore’s generosity extends beyond the summer international program. In 2006 he sent eight SCU law students to Japan to engage face to face in a simulated technology negotiation with Japanese law students, a course developed by Jimenez in cooperation with Omiya University Law School in Tokyo. The students had signed on to do the negotation sessions remotely, never imagining that they would be able to meet their Japanese counterparts in person.

The students who have received Moore’s help are exceptionally grateful. Says Scott Mangum, the first recipient of the scholarship, who studied in Seoul, Korea in the summer of 2006, “Gerald Moore’s generosity has allowed me to expand my intellectual base in a manner that I could not have imagined.  As a result, I am able to view legal issues and principles with a more critical eye. Mr. Moore recognizes that the best way to advance the profession is to invest in its future, and I am honored to have been part of that investment.  His kindness to the law school consistently reminds me that being an SCU lawyer is not merely a three-year venture, but a life-long commitment.”