University of Pittsburgh School of Law

The University of Pittsburgh School of Law was founded in 1895, and became a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools in 1900. One of 17 schools constituting the University of Pittsburgh, the School of Law has roots as far back as 1843 when a law department at the university was founded despite the fact that the chief method of legal education in America was apprenticeship. 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.
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