Quinnipiac Law earned a strong A rating and impressive ranking of 23rd among 64 schools nationwide on preLaw’s practical training honor roll. Quinnipiac Law also topped preLaw’s ADR honor roll with an A- rating for the school’s innovative dispute resolution programming. 

School of Law Dean Brian Gallini said Quinnipiac Law’s inherent, forward-thinking focus supporting academic excellence and experiential opportunities makes it a top school for preparing practice-ready lawyers.

“To be recognized at the national level for that work is very rewarding. It’s in our DNA to really think about producing new lawyers who have genuine attorney skills,” said Gallini. “On an everyday basis, we’re really thinking about how our students can have these experiences so when they enter the professional workforce, they’ll look back on their academic journey and feel Quinnipiac Law made them practice-ready.”

Gallini said the preLaw rankings also underscore the broader university’s support of programs developed to promote student success, such as Quinnipiac Law’s new, comprehensive Bridge to Practice III program. The program offers new graduates support and critical tools for success with the Connecticut bar examination. Beginning in July 2026, Connecticut will implement the National Conference of Bar Examiners NexGen bar exam, replacing the current Uniform Bar Exam.

“We’re extremely grateful for the university’s willingness to listen and provide remarkable support as Quinnipiac Law transitions into this broader, totally different licensure landscape,” Gallini said. “It really is an all-hands-on deck effort, and both preLaw recognitions speak to that.”

The NextGen exam focuses on foundational lawyering skills including new exam topics of negotiation and dispute resolution. As Quinnipiac Law provides students with leading-edge experiential opportunities in both areas, they will be well-positioned for NexGen bar success, said Gallini.

“We have a preexisting foundation to build on that makes us uniquely well prepared to help students transition into a completely different licensure landscape,” Gallini said.

Associate Dean of Experiential Education and Co-director of Quinnipiac’s Center on Dispute Resolution Carolyn Kaas said Quinnipiac Law is ahead of the curve and many other law schools. The center was established in 1998.

“Because we’ve had the center and an emphasis on ADR to prepare our students for practice, we are very pleased that ADR topics are going to be on the NexGen bar exam,” said Kaas. “We adopted ADR early; and we have now specifically grown two clinics that are squarely in this field.”

Quinnipiac Law’s Mediation Clinic Director and professor of clinical law Brendan C. Holt heads the mediation clinic. Law students act as mediators to resolve disputes in state cases, agency referrals and also provide free mediation to community members in areas such as employment discrimination, housing evictions, and other types of disputes.

“The students are learning this very valuable skill of how to facilitate a negotiation. Even if they never serve as a mediator, every lawyer will have clients that will be going to mediation. So they also learn how to be more effective advocates for their clients in mediation,” said Kaas.

Quinnipiac Law students participating in the school’s fully virtual negotiation clinic assist entrepreneurs across the state and country who are seeking to engage in innovative and collaborative business transactions. The clinic was recently reformatted and is unique to Quinnipiac, said Kass.

Led by affiliated law faculty J. Kim Wright, co-creator of the Conscious Contracts model of relational, values-based contracts, students work with the parties and their lawyers. Together, they develop holistic contracts which protect legal rights, including creating an advance agreement on how the parties will address future change and disagreements.

“Quinnipiac is the only school offering a negotiation clinic that is doing this exact type of work,” said Kaas.

Quinnipiac Law's ability to excel in providing practical experiences solidified its preLaw top ranking as one of the nation's best schools for practical training. Through clinics, externships and unique partnerships, Quinnipiac Law students experience hands-on opportunities to apply their legal knowledge as real-world remedies, fueling their passion to practice law.

Assistant Dean of Experiential Education and Clinical Professor of Law Alice Rosenthal said Quinnipiac University as a whole is committed to providing students with critical experiential learning opportunities.

“At the law school, we really value providing multiple different offerings of how a student can engage in practicing lawyering,” said Rosenthal.

Quinnipiac Law’s deep bench of practical training opportunities include impactful clinics, a robust externship program, the leading-edge dispute resolution program, award-winning and top-ranked mock trial and moot court competition teams, and more.  

The wide variety of options allows practical training individualized to each law students’ interest while also building important connections supporting their future career.

“We’re able to connect students’ passions with actions and opportunities that are real-world experiences, so that when they graduate from Quinnipiac Law School, they can hit the ground running not only in job placements and their career, but in their professional identity,” said Rosenthal.

Rosenthal said preLaw’s national recognition underscores Quinnipiac Law’s continued focus to excel in providing every law student with meaningful, valuable experiential learning opportunities in a number of different ways.

“Quinnipiac Law is really committed to helping students connect to those experiences and to practice what you learn. We’re able to offer our students world-class experiences in practicing law in a smaller, more supportive student-centered environment,” said Rosenthal.