May 2, 2022 | Jeanne Leblanc - School of Law

Jessica Rubin Appointed Associate Dean for Experiential Education

Professor Rubin, an award-winning teacher and clinic director, will lead UConn Law's clinical and experiential programs.

Jessica Rubin

Professor Jessica Rubin will take over as associate dean for experiential education, effective July 1, 2022. (Molly Sullivan)

Professor Jessica Rubin, director of the Legal Practice Program and the Animal Law Clinic at the UConn School of Law, has been named associate dean for experiential education, effective July 1, 2022.

As director of the Legal Practice Program, Rubin teaches and supervises instruction in lawyering skills, including interviewing, counseling, negotiation, legal research and writing, and contract drafting.  She trains students to compete in national and international negotiation competitions and organizes the annual UConn Business Law Competition with the UConn School of Business.

She is also a nationally recognized expert in animal law and teaches a course on the topic. As the founding director of the Animal Law Clinic at UConn Law, she works with law students who serve as advocates for justice in cases of animal abuse. The clinic operates under the auspices of Desmond’s Law, a groundbreaking Connecticut law that Rubin and her students helped establish.

“Professor Rubin is an excellent advocate and teacher who is committed to helping students obtain life-transformative opportunities through experiential education,” Dean Eboni S. Nelson said. “I look forward to working with her in her new role as we continue to build upon the law school’s great legacy of excellence in clinical and experiential education.”

Rubin received a University Provost’s Award for Public Engagement in 2017, an Animal Legal Defense Fund Defender of Animals Award in 2018, the Connecticut Humane Society’s Humanitarian Award in 2019, the International Society of Animal Rights SEEDS Award in 2020, and the UConn Law Perry Zirkel ’76 Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020.

She will take over as associate dean from Jennifer Mailly, who is retiring. Mailly, who became associate dean in 2021, joined the faculty in 2000 and has served as a clinical professor and as director of the law school’s field placement programs. Rubin and Mailly are the co-authors of “Client Conversations: A Simulation and Video Learning Guide to Interviewing and Counseling.”

“I look forward to providing leadership and strategic vision for our excellent clinical, legal practice and field placement programs,” Rubin said. “These programs provide our students with valuable opportunities to develop their legal skills and professional identities.”

Rubin joined the UConn Law faculty in 1999. She holds a BS from Cornell University and a JD from Cornell Law School.