Office of Graduate Programs, 65 Elizabeth Street, Hartford, CT 06105, USA
Phone: 860.570.5000 | Website: www.law.uconn.edu
Introduction
The University of Connecticut School of Law is one of the leading public law schools in the country. Its campus, listed on the National Register of Historic Sites, is probably the most beautiful of any law school in the United States. The newly completed law library is perhaps the finest facility of its kind in the world. Two miles from the center of Hartford, the Law School is located in a neighborhood of large Victorian homes, where many students, staff, and faculty live.
Founded in 1921, the Law School is accredited by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. It offers a professional education of the highest quality that prepares its graduates for a lifetime of fulfilling service in any career they choose, including the bar, government, business, and education. The school's program emphasizes intellectual discipline and the development of the professional analytic skills required to respond effectively to the challenge of continuing change in the law and in the society it serves.
Connecticut's legal education reflects our belief that the life of the mind is best stimulated by a high quality of civil discourse among students and faculty conducted on a small scale. The curriculum is rich in courses, but classes themselves are quite small. Each student has the opportunity to explore law and theory in an atmosphere that fosters a spirit of collaboration and cooperation. Intellectually ambitious, Connecticut's students enjoy the benefits of the personal give-and-take with classmates and faculty made possible by small classes.
The school prepares its students to practice law in any jurisdiction, without a special emphasis on Connecticut law. The diverse backgrounds, specialties, and intellectual approaches of the faculty assure a wide variety of teaching styles and formats, including clinical instruction, skills training, interdisciplinary work, and courses and workshops employing the problem method.
There are four scholarly journals on campus, each managed, edited, and published by the students. They are the Connecticut Law Review, the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, the Connecticut Journal of International Law, and the Connecticut Public Interest Law Journal.
The campus is a few minutes away from the state capitol, courts and agencies, and the offices of Hartford's law firms and corporations. Students have ready access to all of these institutions for study, externships, clinical education and practice, and employment.
The University of Connecticut School of Law is accredited by the American Bar Association Council of the Section of Legal Education and Admissions to the Bar, 321 North Clark Street, 21st Floor, Chicago, IL 60654-7598; phone: 312.988.6738.
Law School Enrollment
Enrollment figures as of October 1, 2010:
Full-Time Enrollment | JD | LLM |
| Men | 244 | 2 |
| Women | 196 | 3 |
| Total | 440 | 5 |
Part-Time Enrollment | JD | LLM |
| Men | 103 | 28 |
| Women | 77 | 25 |
| Total | 180 | 53 |
Housing
The Law School does not maintain student housing in the Greater Hartford area, but the Office of the Dean maintains a housing list of available rentals in the area. There are a variety of living accommodations within a reasonable distance from the school. Students find a choice of rural, suburban, or urban living in all price ranges. The list is compiled from the information provided by area residents. The school does not view the rentals nor screen, interview, or approve the landlords.
Students who already have housing, but are in search of roommates or a person to sublet the apartment, can advertise to the Law School community in three ways:
- Housing List: Students may contact Rosa Colón at rosa.colon@law.uconn.edu to add their rental to the housing list maintained on the website. Students' e-mails should include the following information: contact information, city, rent, utilities, and a brief description of the available housing.
- Community ListServ: Students may e-mail members of the Law School community through the Community ListServ to advertise available housing. For instructions on how to access and email the Community ListServ, please contact the IT Help Desk at compserv@law.uconn.edu.
- Campus Bulletin Boards: Students can create signs to be posted on campus bulletin boards located in the Student Lounge in Knight Hall and the main floor of the Law Library.
LLM Programs/Areas of Specialization
The LLM program in US Legal Studies at the University of Connecticut School of Law is open to a small number of international students selected from a competitive pool of applicants from around the world. The School of Law provides a broad curriculum in American law, the United States legal system, international law, and comparative law. Through close consultation with the faculty, LLM students design a course of study which suits each student's professional interests. As part of their LLM degree, students may also obtain an optional certificate of specialization in one of four areas:
- International Human Rights
- Intellectual Property
- Tax Law
- Insurance Law
The School of Law combines small class size with an extensive curriculum that encompasses over two hundred classes offered each year. The program in US Legal Studies is also one of the most affordable LLM programs in the United States. The small size of the LLM class ensures personalized attention to each international student and easy access to a nationally recognized faculty in a supportive and intellectually challenging environment. It also facilitates the candidates' integration in the greater law school community. The School of Law has one of the lowest student-to-faculty ratios of any law school in the United States, with a total teaching staff of more than 70 members. The student-to-faculty ratio is 12:1. Many of the faculty members hold other graduate degrees in addition to their LLB or JD degree and have studied and taught extensively abroad. As part of its faculty, the School of Law also draws upon experienced practicing attorneys who are specialists in areas such as international tax and insurance. Classes are intellectually rigorous and involve discussions and Socratic questioning as well as lectures and seminars, which encourage active participation in class. Indeed, close interaction between faculty and students is a hallmark of legal education in the United States and at the University of Connecticut School of Law.
Contact Us
For additional information, please visit the LLM Program in US Legal Studies website, or contact Peter Kochenburger, director of graduate programs:
University of Connecticut School of Law
Office of International Graduate Studies
65 Elizabeth Street
Hartford, CT 06105-2290
USA
Phone: 860.570.5177
Fax: 860.570.5366
Program Details
Student Services and Organizations
Services Available to Students and Graduates
Career Planning and Job Search Strategies
As each student brings individual experiences, accomplishments, skills, interests, goals, and qualifications, the Career Planning Center (CPC) recognizes that one-on-one meetings provide the best forum for assessing goals and options, developing and implementing job-search strategies, and preparing students for the legal market. The office offers ample opportunity to meet with students individually and encourages students to utilize such services. Through such meetings, Career Planning provides advice on career opportunities, job-search strategies, résumé and cover-letter drafting, interviewing skills, graduate resources, and career-research tools.
Programs
The CPC sponsors panel discussions, workshops, brown-bag lunches and programs throughout the year to educate students about the fundamentals of the job-search process, career opportunities, practice specialties, judicial clerkships, employer types, government work and fellowships, public interest careers, and other topics related to professional development. The office regularly invites attorneys representing a broad range of employment settings and practice areas to participate in the programs and panel discussions. These experts provide students with first-hand information about many of the different opportunities available to attorneys and a chance to network and establish contacts with practitioners in an informal setting.
In recent years, the CPC has either sponsored or conducted programs/panels covering, among other topics, résumé writing, interviewing, judicial clerkships, public interest careers, government honors programs, fellowship opportunities, computer-assisted job research, international law practice, insurance law practice, environmental law practice, intellectual property law practice, and health law practice. The office makes efforts to conduct panels together with student organizations as well.
Resource Materials
The CPC makes available to students and graduates a wide variety of publications and resources for conducting effective job searches and researching employment opportunities. Resources published by the office on job-search fundamentals cover tips on résumé writing, drafting cover letters and other job-search correspondence, interviewing, networking, computer-assisted research, judicial clerkship and public interest opportunities, and other topics of interest. The office also publishes handbooks covering information on pursuing opportunities in the public sector, private sector, government, corporations, and other professional settings, as well as career-development information specifically geared to evening students and first-year students.
The CPC maintains an extensive library of resource materials, newspapers, and books relevant to job-search efforts, practice areas, and professional development. Among other resources, the Career Services library contains a number of directories and employer brochures listing contact names, alumni, attorneys, firms, corporate counsel, judges, government agencies, public interest organizations, fellowships, and other similar information. While the office continues to maintain this information and ensure it is as timely as is available, more and more of this information is accessible online through Internet sites and is available to students from any location.
Staff Resources
In addition to resource materials, faculty members, staff, and graduates of the Law School are excellent resources for students. Faculty regularly advise students about judicial clerkships and substantive areas of practice. Numerous staff members also have practiced as attorneys for varying periods of time, in varying practice areas and in varying geographic regions. Faculty and staff are able to provide advice and assistance to students. In addition to members of the law school community, graduates are an invaluable resource for both information and job-search assistance.
Job Postings
The CPC receives postings from employers of all types for full-time, part-time, summer, school-year, paid, and volunteer positions. The CPC encourages students and graduates to view these postings online through Symplicity.
Public Services Law Network (PSLAWNET)
The CPC participates with other law schools in a public service program which provides online information on public interest opportunities to benefit students interested in work or a career in the public sector. Information and job postings can be viewed at www.pslawnet.org.
Formal Recruitment Programs
Every fall and spring, the CPC sponsors and participates in a number of on- and off-campus recruitment programs and job fairs with employers. These programs are by no means the primary avenue by which students secure employment, but they do connect students with hundreds of employers and provide substantial opportunities for summer and permanent positions.
These programs include the following:
- Fall On-Campus Interview Program (late August through October)
- New Hampshire Job Fair, held in Manchester, New Hampshire, which primarily draws employers from Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine interested in interviewing students for summer and permanent positions (late September)
- Fall Off-Campus Interview programs in Washington, DC, Boston, and New York City (late August)
- Spring On-Campus Interview Program and Job Fair (early March)
- Patent Law Interview Program, held in Chicago, Illinois, hosted by Loyola University Chicago School of Law (early August)
- Equal Justice Works Career Fair and Conference in Washington, DC (late October)
- Government and Public Interest Career Fair hosted by the Law School (mid-February)
- Public Interest-Public Service Legal Career Fair hosted by New York University School of Law in New York City (mid-February).
To supplement formal recruiting events, the Law School participates in a résumé collection program with those employers unable to attend on-campus interviews due to geography, firm recruitment practices, and other factors. Many such employers are genuinely interested in receiving résumés from Law School students and may invite selected students to interviews at their offices. In order to facilitate this connection, the CPC holds résumé collection days during which students submit their résumés and other requested materials through Symplicity for forwarding as a single package to employers interested in receiving résumés in this manner. Alternatively, some employers specifically request that students send résumés and cover letters directly to their offices.
Reciprocity
In certain circumstances, students may utilize job-posting information and resources of other law schools. Students should consult the CPC at least ten days in advance to obtain a letter of reciprocity to the other school's career services office. Generally, reciprocity is not available during the period between June and November. Students/graduates of the Law School who wish to request reciprocity from another law school are limited to one reciprocity request to one school per season. (Review the reciprocity policies of the University of Connecticut School of Law and other institutions.)
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