Partner Richard Silver Makes Donation to Help Quinnipiac Law Students Achieve Success

October 18, 2024

Senior partner Richard Silver has made a philanthropic gift to Quinnipiac School of Law that will give all third-year law students access to post-graduate preparation that will help them pass the Connecticut Bar Exam.

Mr. Silver, who has served for more than 40 years on the School of Law’s Advisory Board, said that he was influenced by his own experience attending the University of Virginia School of Law, where at the time he was able to take the Virginia bar exam after his second year.

"The reason I think I passed it is that the school gave a couple of courses that were very important for that bar exam," Mr. Silver said.

"You have to have knowledge, but you also have to know how to take the examination, what to look for, and I think the support that we're giving students now by this grant gives them the knowledge of how to take the exam, what you have to study, and you have to work on it," Mr. Silver told Law360.

Mr. Silver has been involved with Quinnipiac University School of Law since its start. He is also a longtime member of the board of trustees and has taught there and at Yale Law School as an adjunct professor.

Mr. Silver’s contribution supports Quinnipiac’s third-year law students at a critical moment by providing each of them a Helix Bar Review by AccessLex and the 3L Pre-Bar course. The course provides pivotal post-graduate preparation to help them pass the Connecticut Bar Exam and start practicing law.

School of Law Dean Brian Gallini said he’s deeply appreciative of Mr. Silver’s tremendous show of support, and energized by the momentum his gift contributes to the law school’s commitment to support student success during school and in their transition to becoming lawyers.

Mr. Gallini said Silver’s philanthropy is not only instantly transformative for its impact on currently enrolled students, but also precedential as it supports the law school and challenges leadership to think deeply about how to continue to position students for post-graduate success in the future.

“The entire community is deeply appreciative for Rick’s transformative and forward-thinking philanthropy, which both supports graduates and recognizes that at Quinnipiac, we really are thinking about students’ success not just during law school, but afterwards. Rick’s gift is evidence of that,” Mr. Gallini said.