Barco Law Building

A classic example of brutalist architecture, the Barco Law Building houses Pitt’s School of Law. Among the building’s special features is the oak-paneled Teplitz Memorial Moot Courtroom, which includes a seven-seat judges’ bench, jury and press boxes, counselors’ tables, judges’ chambers, jury room, and a striking 24x36-foot mosaic created by Pitt’s Virgil Cantini (1919-2009). Pitt has offered law classes since 1843. Its law school was officially founded in 1895, making Pitt’s one of the oldest law schools in the nation. In 1900, the law school joined with 31 other schools to form the Association of American Law Schools. Among Pitt’s law graduates are the late Derrick Bell Jr., the first tenured African American professor at Harvard Law School and one of the originators of critical race theory; U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch; the late K. Leroy Irvis, longtime Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and the first African American to serve as a speaker of the house in any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction; and former U.S. Attorney General and Governor of Pennsylvania Richard Thornburgh. With significant programs focusing on international law, as well as community-based public service expertise, the school provides a diverse, sophisticated, and hands-on legal education.