The Insurance Law Center was founded in 1998 with a generous endowment from the insurance community. Today, the center is recognized around the world for the study of law, insurance and risk. Our acclaimed LLM program has attracted lawyers, professors and insurance regulators from the United States and overseas for graduate studies for decades.
We are unique for our interdisciplinary research on the role of insurance in society. Our full-time faculty brings a wide array of disciplines, including law, economics, finance, history, sociology, linguistics and philosophy, to the study of financial services law. Together with our experienced adjunct faculty, our students, financial regulators, members of the insurance bar and fellow scholars at other universities, we explore the issues of the day in scholarly workshops and conferences. The center also hosts visiting scholars from around the world, has an insurance law collection unmatched by any other U.S. university, and collaborates in publication of the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal.
Our History
The Insurance Law Center was the inspiration of Robert Googins, the former insurance commissioner of Connecticut and the general counsel of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Company. Thanks to Mr. Googins' leadership and that of two law school deans, George Schatzki and Hugh Macgill, the center opened in 1998.
Professor Tom Baker, now at the University of Pennsylvania, served as the center's first full-time director. During Professor Baker's 11 years as director, the center became the focal point for insurance law scholarship in the United States.
As the center's second full-time director, Professor Patricia McCoy extended the center's international reach and secured funding for five more full-time faculty who specialize in insurance and financial services law. She is now the Liberty Mutual Professor of Insurance Law at Boston College Law School.
International Connections
The Insurance Law Center prides itself on its international focus. Our students hail from all over the world and so do our faculty. Professors from France, Italy, and China regularly teach insurance law at the UConn School of Law and we enjoy hosting visiting scholars from abroad.
Our faculty members lecture often in Europe and have collaborated with Lloyds of London and the Insurance Law Institute at Queen Mary University of London. The center also has deep ties with China. Professor Xin Chen, a leading insurance scholar at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, has worked closely with the center for many years. Meanwhile, in May 2014, the center was honored to co-host an international symposium on liability insurance law with Renmin Law School in Beijing.
Visiting Scholars
The Insurance Law Center is a magnet for insurance law scholars and hosts a limited number of visiting scholars at their own expense every year. Some visiting scholars visit us for a few days or weeks while others stay a semester or the entire academic year. Most of our visiting scholars do research using our insurance law collection. In addition, visiting scholars are encouraged to sit in on classes without charge and sometimes present their work at informal workshops. In recent years, we have hosted visitors from the United States, Japan, the United Kingdom, Germany, South Africa, and China.
International scholars who are interested in visiting the center for more than a week or two should apply at least one year in advance of their visit. Applications should include an updated resume, a cover letter and a description of research plans. More information is available on the UConn Law visiting scholars page.
Insurance Law Journal
The Insurance Law Center is the home of the Connecticut Insurance Law Journal, the only academic, peer-edited law review in the United States dedicated exclusively to the publication of original research on the law relating to insurance, risk and responsibility. Now in its second decade, the journal attracts articles that are theoretically sophisticated and of practical importance. All the journal’s articles undergo thorough peer review by leading faculty members in insurance law before being accepted for publication.