Yale sappern

Yale Sappern, J.D., was the First Assistant Clerk and Supervisor of the Family Division in New Haven Superior Court from 1966-1997 and a distinguished member of the Connecticut State Task Force Against Family Violence. Yale Sappern was known as the “most gentle of men” and widely admired, such that the New Haven County Bar Association developed the annual Sappern Civility Award. This award is intended to increase and encourage civility in the court house and to honor and recognize a local lawyer or court employee who exhibits or embodies the qualities found in the person and work of Yale Sappern.

All donations and sponsorships directly fund a free legal clinic at the New Haven courthouse, which will be expanding soon to the Meridan region. Law students from Quinnipiac University operate the clinic, getting hands- on paid legal fellowship experience while victims of domestic violence get free assistance.

Attorney Sappern began the program in 1993. His vision was to utilize law students in creating a resource that would help victims of domestic abuse navigate through the complexities of the Family Court system. Following Yale’s death in 1997, friends and colleagues created the Fund to continue the important programs he had established and to memorialize the contributions he had made to the Family Court system during his distinguished career.

Since its inception, the Fund has contributed over $500,000 to Quinnipiac University School of Law in this effort. The Fund currently sponsors 14 student interns in the Connecticut Court system, who now assist more than one thousand families each year.