University of Pittsburgh School of Law

University Of Pittsburgh School Of Law

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law ("Pitt Law") was founded in 1895, and became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1900. The law department was founded in 1843 and is one of 17 schools constituting the University of Pittsburgh. The first four law degrees were conferred in 1847.

Classes were held in a stone building at Third Street until the building was destroyed in the fire of 1845 and were then held in the university's building on Duquesne Way until that building was burned in 1849. Classes were continued after the second fire in the basement of the Third Presbyterian Church until the universities first law professor, Walter H. Lowrie, was elected to the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania in 1851 and forced him to abandon his teaching at the school. This, along with the fires that destroyed many of the university's facilities and resources, disrupted the development of the School of Law.

Although various attempts were made to reestablish law instruction beginning in 1862, a permanent law school was not established until 1895. The university at that time was named the Western University of Pennsylvania, but despite this, the law school was originally named the Pittsburgh Law School, a name it held until 1918.

The first classes in the permanently established school were conducted in the orphans' court rooms in the old Allegheny County courthouse. In 1897, the school moved into the old university building at Ross and Diamond streets that had been sold to the county in 1882. The school moved again in 1919-20 to the tenth floor of the Chamber of Commerce building. In 1936 the School of Law moved in its entirety to the 14-16 floors of the Cathedral of Learning on the main campus of the university located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh. The School of Law moved into their own dedicated facility, the Barco Law Building, upon its opening on the university's main campus in 1976.

Today, Pitt's Law School faculty has been ranked 21st in the nation based on a standard objective measure of scholarly impact. Pitt Law is currently ranked 71st out of 184 in U.S. News & World Report's rankings of America's top law schools and is listed among the "Best Law Schools" by The Princeton Review. Pitt Law is also one of 80 law schools with membership in the Order of the Coif.