The School of Law combines rigorous academics, personalized attention, and a practice-focused curriculum to enable every student to develop the core legal skills that are fundamental to a successful and rewarding legal career. The law school has several legal clinics and numerous externship opportunities through which students acquire client-based legal experience and do pro bono work in the community, supervised by practicing attorneys. Students can further refine their critical problem-solving skills in more than a dozen classroom-based simulation courses.

The School of Law offers full-time, part-time, and flex-time programs leading to the JD degree, as well as joint dual-degree programs including JD/MBA, JD/MSW, and JD/MCEP (Master of Climate & Environmental Policy) degrees. Students may also choose to concentrate in one or more of several subject matter areas: Civil Advocacy and Dispute Resolution, Criminal Law and Advocacy, Family Law, Health Law, Intellectual Property, International Law and Policy, Tax Law, Workplace Law, and Cybersecurity and Information Privacy.

The student experience at the School of Law is enhanced through many other activities, including three student-edited scholarly journals – the Law Review, the Health Law Journal, and the Probate Law Journal; intramural and interschool competitions sponsored by the Moot Court Society, the Mock Trial Society, and the Society for Dispute Resolution; and a range of student organizations, including affinity bar organizations such as the Black Law Students Association, the Women’s Law Society, the Latin American Law Association, and Outlaws, our LGBTQA organization. The law school’s International Human Rights Law Society travels each year and a course in International Human Rights and Transitional Justice gives students the opportunity to make presentations at the annual Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.  

Quinnipiac’s Accelerated Dual-Degree Bachelor’s/JD (3+3) program offers qualified first-years and sophomores the opportunity to complete both their BA or BS degree and the JD degree in six years instead of seven. Visit the Pre-Law section of this Catalog for program details.

Nondiscrimination

Quinnipiac University School of Law admits students of any race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender (including identity and expression), sexual orientation, age, or disability to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender (including identity and expression), sexual orientation, age, or disability in administration of its educational policies, admission policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs. Quinnipiac University School of Law is committed to equal educational opportunity and full participation for persons with qualified disabilities. No qualified person will be excluded from participation in any university program or be subject to any form of discrimination. 

Mission Statement  

At Quinnipiac University School of Law, we seek to imbue our students with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary for competent and ethical service in the legal profession. Accordingly, we strive — through rigorous classroom instruction and practical training in lawyering skills — to educate attorneys who prepare carefully, think independently and creatively, reason critically, act with compassion and respect for others, and express themselves cogently, both orally and in writing. We also strive to inspire our students to embrace the professional ethic of service and to appreciate the value of “practical wisdom.” To this end, we work with our students to help them develop sound judgment and personal approaches that will help them to succeed in a changing world and to serve effectively as advocates, problem-solvers, and counselors. We also demonstrate our own commitment to professionalism and to the advancement of knowledge and justice, by engaging in scholarship that facilitates the understanding and just solution of complex problems and by providing service to governmental and public interest agencies and to the community at large. In addition, recognizing the important pedagogical benefits realized when an educational community is meaningfully diverse — and conscious of the role that law schools must play in helping diversify the legal profession — we strive to maintain meaningful diversity in our student body and in our faculty and staff.

Right to Modify

This Catalog is intended to serve as a convenient reference source for students. It is not guaranteed to be free from errors. Moreover, the programs, policies, and courses described here are subject to continual review and reevaluation and may be changed at any time without prior notice. The School of Law reserves the right to modify the academic requirements, admission requirements, and program of study; to change the arrangement and content of courses, the instructional material, and the tuition and fees; to alter any regulation affecting students; to refuse readmission at any time; or to dismiss any student at any time, should it appear to be in the best interest of the school or student to do so. The School of Law also reserves the right to change the semester schedule and examination times and locations. Nothing in this Catalog should be regarded as setting terms of a contract between a student or prospective student and Quinnipiac University or its School of Law.

Admission to the Bar

Bar Examination

Some states require registration with their State Board of Law Examiners at the start of law studies for students who expect to take the bar examination upon graduation. Applicants are urged to consult the regulations of the Board of Law Examiners in the states where they expect to practice. The State of Connecticut does not require such registration. Students are also urged to check each state bar’s school credit and residency requirements, including possible limits on non-classroom credits, for bar certification in each state where they expect to take the bar examination. For students planning to sit for the New York Bar, we call attention to that state's extensive experiential education requirement, which is more demanding than the requirement established by the ABA and Quinnipiac Law School. This New York requirement is set forth in Appendix A to this Catalog. 

Character and Fitness for Admission to the Bar

It is extremely important for students to determine the applicable character, fitness, and other qualifications of the bar admission authorities in the state(s) in which they intend to practice. In particular, any student who has been subjected to disciplinary action by an educational institution, who has incurred a judgment of civil liability, or who has been charged with or convicted of a criminal offense is strongly encouraged to check with the bar admission authority in the jurisdiction(s) in which they intend to practice to determine the effect of such action on the person’s admissibility to the bar.

Juris Doctor

Concentrations

Dual-Degree Programs

Master of Laws