About Norman L. Schafler

Norman L. Schafler (1936-2020) was an attorney and dentist; the first dentist in the state of California to pass the state Bar.

His law practice focused on civil dental malpractice matters and dental board matters. He graduated from Western Reserve University’s Dental School in 1962. His postgraduate dental training included periodontics, orthodontics, oral surgery, and implantology. After practicing dentistry for over 10 years, he received his J.D. Degree in 1975 from the Law School at Whittier College.

Dr. Schafler also lectured to Dental and Law groups on the subject of Dental professional liability, including Menard Seminars, California Dental Society, California Trial Lawyers Association, Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association, Temporomandibular Joint Society, International Endodontics Society, Lawyers Club of Los Angeles, and various local dental organizations. He also worked as a consultant for Channel 2 in Los Angeles for a series of programs on dental malpractice. A highly successful trial attorney, Dr. Schafler won the largest dental malpractice judgment in history of $1.6 million (as of 1985). He has also written extensively on the subject; including articles on dental malpractice for the California Bar Journal, California Trial Lawyers Journal, and the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Journal.

Although his degrees and professional experience weren’t in the field of Landscape Architecture, he was a lifetime student on many subjects, including Shakespeare, and Archeology.

With the Schafler Family affiliation to UNLV and commitment to Landscape architecture, we honor his respect and scholarly pursuits encouraging thirst for knowledge and providing the ability for everyone to continue their education...and specifically make it possible for those that embrace the need for solving complex environmental, social, and human problems by creating spaces for people to interact everyday, providing a huge psychological solution to our communities.

Our hope with this scholarship is to combine our obligation to pass down his love of knowledge and provide opportunities for the education of landscape architects to respect, preserve, and appreciate our environment for generations.