Jennifer G. Brown of Branford Elected to American Law Institute

Quinnipiac University’s Jennifer Gerarda Brown elected a member of the American Law Institute

NORTH HAVEN, CT – Jennifer Gerarda Brown of Branford, dean of the School of Law at Quinnipiac University, has been elected to the American Law Institute.

The institute is the leading independent organization in the United States producing scholarly work to clarify, modernize and otherwise improve the law. The institute discusses, revises and publishes restatements of the law, model codes, and principles of law that are enormously influential in the courts and legislatures, as well as in legal scholarship and education.

“The American Law Institute plays an important role in the development and improvement of law, and to be associated with its work is a great honor for me,” Brown said. “The lawyers, judges and law professors I will be joining represent the best of our profession. I look forward to working with and learning from them.”

The institute’s distinguished members have the opportunity to influence the development of the law in both existing and emerging areas, to work with other eminent lawyers, judges, and academics, to give back to a profession to which they are deeply dedicated, and to contribute to the public good.

Brown joined the Quinnipiac School of Law faculty in 1994 and became a full professor in 1996. In 1997, she was named the founding director of Quinnipiac’s Center on Dispute Resolution. She served in that capacity until 2013, when she became dean of the law school. In June of 2019, she was appointed interim executive vice president and provost of Quinnipiac University for the 2019-20 school year. She returned to her role as dean of the law school in August 2020.

Brown received her A.B. from Bryn Mawr College. She earned her J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law, where she was a notes and comments editor of the Law Review. She held a judicial clerkship from 1985-86 with the Hon. Harold A. Baker, U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois.

Brown worked as an associate at the law firm of Winston and Strawn in Chicago from 1986-89. Prior to coming to Quinnipiac, she was an associate professor at Emory Law School, and over the course of her career, she has taught at law schools including the University of Chicago, Georgetown University, Harvard University and Yale University.

She has a lengthy record of scholarly achievements that includes numerous publications, book chapters and invited presentations. In 2008, she received the Honorable Robert C. Zampano Award for Excellence in Mediation; in 2014, she was honored with the Maria Miller Stewart Award from the Connecticut Women’s Education and Legal Fund; and, in 2020, she received the Tapping Reeve Legal Educator Award at the Connecticut Bar Association.

Brown teaches civil procedure and lawyers’ professional responsibility. She has written and presented on many subjects, including alternative dispute resolution and LGBT legal issues.

To further its law reform work, the institute elects individuals who reflect the excellence and diversity of today's legal profession. Its membership consists of eminent judges, lawyers and law professors from all areas of the United States and from many foreign countries, selected on the basis of professional achievement and demonstrated interest in improving the law.

The election of an individual to The American Law Institute begins with a confidential nomination by an ALI member that is supported by two additional ALI members. Members are encouraged to propose individuals who have demonstrated excellence in the law, are of high character, will contribute to the work of the Institute and are committed to its mission.

Quinnipiac University is a private, coeducational, nonsectarian institution located in Hamden, Connecticut, with close proximity to New York, New Haven, and Boston. Founded in 1977, the School of Law affiliated with Quinnipiac in 1992 and moved onto Quinnipiac’s Mount Carmel Campus in 1995. In 2014, the school again relocated to the university’s North Haven Campus. Quinnipiac School of Law now enrolls nearly 400 students pursuing a juris doctor degree or a joint JD/MBA degree. The law school offers concentrations in civil advocacy and dispute resolution, criminal and advocacy, family, health, intellectual property, international law and policy, tax and workplace law. The School of Law also boasts many externships and in-house clinical programs. Quinnipiac is fully approved by the American Bar Association and is a member of the Association of American Law Schools. For more information, please visit law.qu.edu.