Quinnipiac University - School of Law

The Quinnipiac University School of Law recently moved from its former home on the main campus in Hamden, Connecticut, where it shared space with the undergraduate university, to its “exceptional” new building adjacent to the medical school in nearby North Haven. “Not only is [the new building] equipped with the most advanced state of the art technology, but it is spacious, and comfortable.” Quinnipiac Law is a “small school” that “has a vibrant, tight-knit community,” and it’s the school’s small size that “allows all the faculty and administration to learn the names of students, and vice versa.” When it comes to Quinnipiac’s faculty, “Many professors remain in practice and are able to offer real world training in order to prepare students for what is to be expected in practice.” One student says that “the clinic and externship opportunities are immense, and an important focus at the school.” Quinnipiac offers six areas of concentration—civil advocacy and dispute resolution, criminal law and advocacy, family law, health law, intellectual property, and tax—and all include a writing component while most include a clinic component. While some say that “the school could improve by offering a wider selection in courses and by integrating the clinical experience into the classroom,” another student counters, “I personally couldn’t take all the classes I was interested in just because there were too many to fit into my schedule.” Students praise the “good balance between theory and practical application in the classroom,” as well as the “excellent use of seasoned practitioners as adjuncts in practically-based elective courses.” Professors on the whole are “extremely knowledgeable and extremely personable”—they are “extremely well qualified, accessible and act [as] amazing sources of support to the students.”
Resources and alumni connections are most helpful for “[Connecticut] or New England students who plan on staying there for their career,” with one student lamenting that “the administration and career services personnel were little to no help for me, a student who wanted internships and a future job in the Midwest.” In terms of resources, one student notes, “It seems like the full-time students have a lot more opportunities than the part-time students.” Another part-time student puts it more bluntly: “We work full-time during the day and all the ‘practical’ experiences are not available. We can’t do clinics or internships, and we have no time to put into law review. We come to campus for class each night and then leave. That’s it.” The overall consensus seems to be for “more class options” for night school students.
As one student puts it, “The school administration means well, but there are not enough resources,” though another student points out that “each Tuesday, our Dean hosts an open forum for students called ‘doughnuts with the Dean’; she also holds weekly luncheons for small groups of 1Ls.” Communication between the administration and the student body gets mixed reviews, with some students praising the “extremely dedicated and personable administration” and others observing that “a lot of students feel like they have no idea what’s happening at the law school because the administration doesn’t communicate with us.”

The move away from the undergraduate campus to the graduate campus with the medical school seems to suit most Quinnipiac law students just fine, though “there isn’t much to [do] around campus. But as a 1L I haven’t found that to be too much of a negative since you’re mostly studying all the time anyway.” Luckily, “New Haven is all of five minutes away, and you are within one to two hours of both New York and Boston, which should be a plus.” Closer still, “locally North Haven, Wallingford and Hamden in their town centers offer great delis, cafes, Italian eateries and local taverns, [and] two movies theaters are close by.” Of course, as one student is quick to point out, “if someone is going to law school for fun things to do in their spare time, they should probably look elsewhere.” Other popular activities include “apple picking, corn mazes and the Connecticut Wine trail” in the fall and skiing in the winter. For a serious dose of city life, students will make the trek to New York or Boston.