Though University of Pittsburgh conferred its first law degrees as early as 1847, Pitt Law wasn't formally established until 1895. Today, its academics concentrate on international law, and its centerpiece institution is the Center for International Legal Education. The center operates specialized area studies in Asian, Latin American, Russian and Eastern European, and Western European law, as well as offers language classes for lawyers in French, German, Chinese, Japanese and Spanish.

After the standard first-year core, JD students can concentrate in five areas through five certification programs, such as disability legal studies and civil litigation. The school administers eight formal joint degree programs, including a JD/MBA with Carnegie Mellon's Tepper School. Pitt Law also offers an LLM in international law and a JSD for post-JD students.

Students avoid the university's large undergraduate population by heading downtown on the weekends and renting apartments outside of Pitt's Oakland neighborhood. Pittsburgh is an affordable city, made more affordable by perks like free museum access with a Pitt ID. Among Pitt Law's student groups is the Pitt legal income-sharing fund, an organization that raises money to fund low-paying and nonprofit summer internships.

The school has a strong alumni network in Pennsylvania, as well as healthy representation in Washington D.C., New York City, Maryland and Virginia. In Vault's surveys, students say that on-campus interviewing is a good job search tool, but it's really only effective for the top half of the class.