The University of Pittsburgh School of Law provides the real-world experience and skills necessary to launch a successful and fulfilling career while making an impact in today’s evolving legal landscape.
Our faculty among the country’s most distinguished legal scholars and passionate teachers who enjoy the give and take of the classroom. Our students come from diverse backgrounds and immerse themselves in a supportive community that challenges them to grow personally and intellectually. Our curriculum provides a foundational grounding in the law while exposing students to practical training through our extensive experiential curriculum. Our home in Pittsburgh, one of America’s most livable cities, provides unparalleled access to career opportunities in the legal profession. Our alumni are leaders in their fields and belong to a network that reaches across sectors and industries.
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Class of 2025
- Median LSAT: 161
- 25%-75% LSAT: 159/162
- Median GPA: 3.55
- 25%-75% GPA: 3.24/3.75
- Average Age: 25
- 315 students come from 38 states and the District of Columbia. The J.D. candidates also include citizens of China, India, South Korea, Egypt, Australia, the Czech Republic, Peru and Hungary.
- 45% women, 55% men
- 21% are from underrepresented groups and 39% live outside of Pennsylvania
- 71 undergraduate institutions represented
Faculty Highlights
In an environment where innovation and inspiration, our faculty are trailblazers in their respective fields. Our faculty members are prolific and nationally recognized scholars of the law. Many are the authors of the leading law research in the subjects they teach. They have advanced degrees in more than a dozen different disciplines, from the humanities to the social sciences. And they have practiced law for firms, corporations, or government, and have served as legal advisors from the state to federal level.
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8 to 1 Faculty-to-Student Ratio
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36 Full-Time Faculty
- 171 Other Faculty (Adjuncts, Professors of Practice, Visiting, etc.)
Pitt Law faculty scholarship has risen to the 49th spot in total new downloads for papers posted on SSRN.
Faculty Honors & Awards
- Jessie Allen was awarded a Dora Maar House Fellowship by the Nancy B. Negley Foundation in France
- Kevin Ashley was awarded the Stanford Center for Legal Informatics CodeX Prize at the CodeX FutureLaw 2022 Conference
- Pat Chew was honored at the Annual Workshop for AAPI and Middle Eastern and North African Women in Legal Academy
- Vivian Curran was awarded the American Society of Comparative Law’s Lifetime Achievement Award
- Greer Donley has been selected to receive the Iris Marion Young Award for Political Engagement for her work on reproductive justice
- Anjali Vats was named a 2022 Soros Equality Fellow. She will focus on race and equity in intellectual property law
Student Experience
- The Law School has 450 JD students, 25 LLMs, and 8 SJDs.
- There are more than 25 student organizations, including 4 academic journals. These organizations, along with centers and programs, organize hundreds of lectures, panels, and events at the Law School each year.
- The average student debt for a Pitt Law student is down by $15,000. 79% of incoming students receive scholarships.
- We welcomed 11 law students from Ukraine and Afghanistan in 22-23, allowing them to escape the crises in their home countries, work on pro bono matters through our Center for International Legal Education Center, and earn their LLM degrees in Pittsburgh. Read The Pitt Magazine feature on these students experiences here.
- Public service is an important part of life at the law school. There were 33 Class of 2022 graduates who completed at least 50 or more hours of pro bono while in law school. During their three years at Pitt Law, this class logged over 6,000 hours, which is the highest number in hours logged by a graduating class.
- Pitt Law is part of the University of Pittsburgh, which was ranked as the number one public college in Northeast by The Wall Street Journal. Pittsburgh is also rated among the best places to live in the US (US News & World Report)
Academics & Study Environment
- PreLaw Magazine named Pitt Law a top law school for Tax Law and Health Law and a leading law school for promoting legal tech
- More than 250 courses offered each year
- 7 Specialized Areas of Study: The John P. Gismondi Civil Litigation Concentration, Health Law Program, Intellectual Property, Technology, and Innovation Law, International and Comparative Law, Environmental or Energy Law, Public Policy Concentration, Tax Law Program.
- 8 Joint Degree Programs
- 7 In-House Legal Clinics: Immigration Law Clinic, Securities Arbitration Clinic, Taxpayer Clinic, Elder Law Clinic, Environmental Law Clinic, Family Law Clinic, Health Law Clinic
- First law school in PA to participate in the Justice John Paul Stevens Public Interest Fellowship to provide financial support to law students who spend their summers to unpaid legal internships serving the public interest
Alumni
- There are over 10,000 Pitt Law alumni worldwide who hold positions of leadership and influence and become profound attorneys, federal and state judges, law firm partners, shareholders, entrepreneurs, etc.
- Justice Debra Todd (JD '82) was installed as the first female chief justice in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's 300-year history. Vice President Kamala Harris also announced that Dawne Hickton (JD '83) was selected to serve on the National Space Council's Users Advisory Group (UAG).
- Pitt Law alum and current University of Pittsburgh Law Alumni Association President Judge Mary Jane Bowes leads UPLAA's Board of Governors to foster and enhance the Law School.
- Alumni supported the latest Pitt Law Day of Giving event with a 71% incease in giving