Quinnipiac Launches Three-Year Evening JD

Quinnipiac School of Law has relaunched its evening J.D. program as a new three-year curriculum, rather than the conventional four (or more) years. The innovative redesign “combines evening on-campus instruction, strategically placed online semesters and integrated bar preparation”—a holistic rethinking that differentiates this program from other accelerated part-time programs.

Directing the program is taxprof Jenny Levine—an advantage, given the tax profession’s rich history of nontraditional paths. Sadly, Quinnipiac does not anticipate that part-time students will be able to pursue a Certificate in Tax Law—though part-time students will have access to various co-curricular activities. Details on the program’s structure and genesis, below the fold.

Quinnipiac’s three-year evening program, which launches in Fall 2027, combines four on-campus semesters, five online semesters, and a prescribed course sequence, This structure offers a concrete pathway that emphasizes intentionality to create access for students who cannot do a full-time residential program. The bar prep component recognizes these students’ challenges in continuing to work while preparing for licensure. Although the program builds in several slots for electives, the cost appears to be the open-ended flexibility often given to 2L and 3L students to choose their coursework—a tradeoff that nontraditional students may be more willing to make.

Equally innovative is Quinnipiac’s theory behind the switch: the institution engaged an array of stakeholders to distill values and identify challenges—then addressed those issues in the program redesign. From Quinnipiac School of Law Dean Brian Gallini in the institution’s press release:

What makes Quinnipiac uniquely positioned to offer this program is that we are large enough to innovate yet personal enough to know our students well. . . . One of the clearest messages we heard from part-time students was not that law school was too demanding. Rather, students told us that balancing law school with careers, families, military service and other responsibilities became especially challenging when they could not confidently plan what came next. They wanted greater predictability, clearer sequencing and a more intentional path from enrollment to graduation. . . .

One of the things I am most proud of is that this redesign grew directly from conversations with students, alumni, faculty, staff, admissions professionals and university leadership. . . . The central question was not, “How do we help students finish law school faster?” The central question was, “How do we create a clearer and more supported path to becoming a lawyer?” The 3-Year Evening JD Program is our answer to that question.”

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