Quinnipiac University debuts new law school facility

Jennifer Gerarda Brown, dean of the Quinnipiac University School of Law.

Fall-semester classes began Aug. 18 at the new School of Law Center on the North Haven campus of Hamden-based Quinnipiac University.

The 154,749-square-foot building includes a library, quiet reading room, courtrooms, classrooms, dispute resolution center, law clinic, student lounge and space for career development and student organizations.

“We are thrilled to be moving into the new building,” School of Law Dean Jennifer Gerarda Brown said in a statement. “The whole building is so thoughtfully designed to facilitate collaboration and learning. It”™s beautiful now and will look even better when it”™s filled with the sights and sounds of a new school year underway.”

The university will officially celebrate the opening of the law school at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 1. Guido Calabresi, senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Sterling professor emeritus and former dean of the Yale Law School, will be the special guest at the invitation-only event. The public will have the opportunity to tour the building from 3 to 5 p.m. Oct. 11, during Quinnipiac”™s homecoming weekend.

“At Quinnipiac, we want to produce lawyers who are not only zealous advocates but also wise counselors,” Brown said. “Ann DeVeaux, director of our law library, and I agreed that even as we provide space for learning and study, we should also provide library visitors with a more contemplative space, in which they can de-stress and consider the integration of professional and personal values. For us, that”™s the Counselor”™s Cove.”

Among the building”™s many amenities, the Counselor”™s Cove is billed as unique, “a quiet, comfortable space for reflection and community building.”

Quinnipiac now enrolls about 300 students pursuing a Juris Doctor degree, a joint J.D. and Master of Business Administration degree, or a Master of Laws degree in health law. It offers concentrations in civil advocacy and dispute resolution, criminal law and advocacy, family law, health law, intellectual property, and tax.

The project also included a 2,000-slot parking garage, mostly underground.