[box]At the opening reception, from left: Quinnipiac Law professors Toni Robinson and Marilyn Ford, Quinnipiac President John L. Lahey and State Rep. Dave Yaccarino of North Haven. John Hassett, Quinnipiac University.[/box]
Quinnipiac University celebrated the opening of its new state-of-the-art School of Law Center on Wednesday, Oct. 1, on the North Haven Campus.
School of Law Dean Jennifer Gerarda Brown thanked university leadership, North Haven First Selectman Michael J. Freda as well as representatives from Centerbrook Architects and Planners and FIP Construction of Farmington for their vision and hard work.
“Everywhere I turn in this building, I see the product of people caring about each other and their shared enterprise, respecting each other’s opinions and listening to the needs and aspirations of fellow community members,” Brown said. “From that creative process a building emerges more beautiful and more functional than any one individual could have designed on alone. This building itself teaches our law students to absorb and nurture these professional values: collaboration, caring, creativity and listening.”
Brown recognized dignitaries such as Judge Gerard Adelman, retired Judge Lynda Munro, Judge Jeffrey Meyer and Judge John J. Nazzaro. She also introduced the Hon. 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, who served as guest speaker.
Calabresi, a friend of the School of Law since it moved to Quinnipiac in 1995, told stories about the lessons he learned as a clerk for Justice Hugo Black of the United States Supreme Court.
“If you work deeply, work hard and think about law, not just today, but as it develops, it will win and it will make this country and this world better,” Calabresi said. “That’s what this law school and this building are about.”
The 154,749 square foot School of Law Center includes a library, quiet reading room, courtrooms, classrooms, dispute resolution center, law clinic, student lounge, and space for career development and student organizations.
The School of Law’s move from the Mount Carmel Campus to the North Haven Campus brings it together with other graduate programs on a common campus, creating an exceptional environment for advanced professional study along with rich opportunities for interdisciplinary learning with the other graduate disciplines that call the campus home, including the university’s Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine and graduate programs in social work as well as in the Schools of Health Sciences, Nursing, and Education.
Quinnipiac President John L. Lahey said the new School of Law Center marks the completion of the final major construction project on the North Haven campus, where the University has spent $200 million over the last five years.
“It’s a huge investment,” Lahey said. “There are very few universities, I would suspect, in America today that are dedicating a new School of Law Center as we are here in North Haven. I couldn’t be happier for the University and the School of Law.”
The public will have the opportunity to tour the new law center from 3-5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11 during Quinnipiac’s Homecoming Weekend.