Law Students Agree: THIS Is The Ugliest Law School In America

They think their law school is absolutely hideous.

We all know the ugliest law school by far is at none other than the University of Southern California, baby.

This colorless, soulless monstrosity sits in a lonely corner of campus behind the business school’s brand new, gorgeous Fertitta Hall. Part suburban office park, part 18th century fortress, 100% concrete monster. “At least you get to look at the other pretty buildings from the inside, right?” Maybe the professors in their offices do, because most of the large first-year classes are held in the auditoriums in the basement, where no light or happiness makes its way in. The plan was approved in the late 70s or early 80s when brutalist architecture was popular for like, a month? I’d never been shown what “brutalist” architecture was, but I understood it completely without any context the moment I saw this building. It looks like what I imagine the IRS’s headquarters looks like. I wish I could say it’s pretty on the inside, but it’s all linoleum floors and plastic chairs with stained cloth. Technology is always a mess and cell reception is dodgy. The only advantage is it that it encourages law students to get out of the law school itself and explore other places, things, and people on campus.

— A student from the USC Gould School of Law, offering critical commentary on his law school’s appearance after reading an earlier piece from Above the Law which summarized Architectural Digest’s list of the ugliest university buildings in America. That list included three law schools, but many were shocked that USC Gould hadn’t made the ranking. Other law students sounded off, saying things like, “The law school has got to be one of the ugliest buildings I have ever seen. Period.”


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

Sponsored