University of South Carolina - School of Law

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Table of Contents

Tours

1. Welcome to the Law School

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   1. 100 - Perrin Family Lobby

      The main entrance to the University of South Carolina School of Law is through the doors on the Senate Street side of the building. This will bring you to the stately two-story high Perrin Family Lobby that sets the tone of professionalism worthy of the legal profession. 

       

      Immediately to the left is the Perrin Family Events Space, which is used by the School of Law and the legal community to host receptions, dinners and other special occasions.  To the right is the Judge Karen J. Williams Courtroom, a working courtroom that can be used for appellate hearings as well as jury trials.

       

      Hanging from the lobby ceiling is the Burnished Bronze and Garnet Chandelier, which was a gift to the university by an anonymous donor.

       

      The Burnished Bronze and Garnet Chandelier was designed specifically for South Carolina Law by American artist Dale Chihuly. Inspired by the university’s gamecock mascot, the Chandelier is composed of approximately 800 glass forms, including feathers, horns, balls, split leaves, gourds and chanterelles, in hues of rich garnet red and amber. It is 10 feet wide, 11 feet high, and weighs approximately 1,550 lbs. While called a Chandelier, the glowing sculpture is not internally lit. Rather, the hundreds of glass elements—which Chihuly and his team have named after things found in nature—are externally illuminated.

   2. 103 - Judge Karen J. Williams Courtroom

      A crown jewel of the new law school, the Judge Karen J. Williams Courtroom can seat 300 and is suitable for hosting actual jury trials and appellate arguments, as well as moot court and mock trial competitions. Mixing modern technology with historic elements, the stately courtroom features large video screens and the original bench used by the South Carolina Supreme Court in the 1870s.
      
      

      The courtroom’s namesake, the late Honorable Karen J. Williams, was a pioneer in South Carolina’s legal community. Throughout her life, she was known for her dignity and demeanor, as well as her commitment to justice and the rule of law. Judge Williams graduated first in her class from the School of Law in 1980.
      
      

      After years of working as a trial attorney, Judge Williams was chosen by President George H.W. Bush to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in 1992. She reached the pinnacle of her career in 2007, when she was sworn in as the first female Chief Judge of that court—a position she held until her retirement in 2009.

   3. James S. Konduros Courtyard

      The courtyard is another example of how the law school was designed to create a place for faculty, staff, and students alike to gather together and create the sense of community that is unique to South Carolina Law.
      
      The lush courtyard includes gardens, palmetto trees, and a number of benches fashioned out of blocks of granite from the Central Correctional Institution, the state penitentiary from 1866 – 1994. 

   4. 135 - Judge G. Ross Anderson, Jr. Courtroom

      Constructed from the original woodwork and marble from the former Richland County courthouse built in 1935—but with modern technology incorporated—it is a more intimate space designed to introduce law students to the physical atmosphere of law.
      
      

      It was aptly named for one of the luminaries in South Carolina’s legal history, G. Ross Anderson Jr., a 1954 alumnus. Judge Anderson worked for U.S. Senator Olin D. Johnston while in college and then served in the S.C. House of Representatives from 1955 to 1956. He achieved prominence in the legal community, first, as a plaintiff’s attorney in Anderson County.
      
      

      In 1980, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, where he presided over federal cases until his retirement in 2016. 

   5. 121 - Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough, L.L.P. Student Commons

      With 24/7 access for law students and technology throughout, the Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough Student Commons will most likely be the busiest place in the building. It was designed with today’s students in mind and features rows of comfortable chairs and couches, communal tables, computer work stations and printers, and of course electrical outlets for personal devices at almost every turn. The commons are flooded with natural light, thanks to the floor-to-ceiling windows that look out into the spacious courtyard.

   6. 252 - Coleman Karesh Reading Room

      The Coleman Karesh Reading Room is an airy two-story space intended for quiet study. When it is time to take a break, there are two doors leading to a terrace that overlooks the lush courtyard. Twelve portraits of prominent figures from South Carolina’s legal history, including Karesh, hang on the south wall. 
      
      

      The room is named in honor of one of the most esteemed professors in the law school’s 150-plus year history. Karesh, who earned undergraduate and law degrees from Carolina in 1923 and 1925, respectively, practiced law in Columbia for 12 years before joining the law faculty in 1937. Over the next 35 years, he established himself as a nationally regarded expert on wills, trusts, and estates. Upon his retirement in 1972, the library in the then-new School of Law building on Main Street was named for him.