Jessica Rubin

Associate Dean for Experiential Education and Clinical Professor of Law

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Education/Professional Certification

JD, Cornell Law School
BS, Cornell University

Expertise

Biography

Jessica Rubin is the Associate Dean for Experiential Education and the Director of UConn Law School’s Animal Law Clinic.  Professor Rubin also teaches Animal Law – a field in which she is a widely recognized expert. Professor Rubin was instrumental in creating Desmond’s Law, which allows Connecticut courts to appoint advocates – law students under supervision – in animal cruelty cases.  She supervises students and appears in court to advocate for justice in cases of animal cruelty.

Professor Rubin trains students to compete in national and international negotiation competitions. In collaboration with UConn’s Business School, she created and runs the annual UConn Business Law Negotiation Competition in which law students work with business students to negotiate deals.

Professor Rubin teaches a course in U.S. common law analysis and writing for international students pursuing their LLM degrees.  During the summers of 2013 and 2014, Rubin traveled to Bilgi University in Istanbul, where she taught for the Open Society Foundation, and in 2016, she taught in Seoul, South Korea.  In both locations, she supplemented her teaching activities with local stray animal rescue and relocation efforts.

A member of the Connecticut and New York Bars and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, Professor Rubin’s main areas of legal and scholarly interest include: animal law and advocacy, and practical skills instruction, with a focus on transactional lawyering. She is a graduate of Cornell University and Cornell Law School.

Professor Rubin was awarded 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 School Perry Zirkel Distinguished Teaching Award in 2020.