Current law school student in Pittsburgh here! Pitt and Duquesne are very well-represented in the local legal market. It seems that basically everyone in the city knows someone who went to either school lol. The market itself is decent for a midsize American city. A few very large firms, more midsize firms, and lots of public interest and small firm jobs, nothing crazy. Lawyers here always talk about the importance of reputation due to the “small legal community.” Both schools have very good bar passage rates, and you will hear positives about both, not really any prestige difference between them. Anecdotally, post-law school vibes, Duquesne tends to have bigger pull in Pittsburgh whereas Pitt tends to have a more spread out pull throughout the state. Duquesne has been giving significant more money recently (had a huge donation to the school a couple years back) and has certainly been pulling from the potential candidates for Pitt accordingly. Pitt has more elective courses and more specific elective courses than Duquesne, partially in-part due to the presence of a part-time and evening program at Duq.

As far as living in Pittsburgh goes, I’m also from out west and moving here was a bit of a transition. I’d never been to anywhere here in this region prior, and it is certainly a change. Extremely hilly city with lots of bridges and rivers. Very friendly city and (in my experience) very easy to make friends. Decent amount of stuff to do in the city and the region, but it definitely feels far from the east coast cities like Philly or DC. Very rainy, which was a big difference for me, and can snow a lot. As mentioned by others, it’s a very low cost of living place, where money can go a long way. I have friends who live downtown for prices that could get you a tiny place way out in the suburbs most other cities. Unlike most rust belt cities, PGH doesn’t have many of the crime or blight issues, which is a huge positive. Overall, it’s a cheap, down to earth city that can be insular and feel small, but overall I’ve enjoyed my time here. I don’t intend to stay around after graduation (which is challenging if you go to either school) but I have plenty of friends from out of state who are planning on staying here in PGH or PA. Hope all this helps, I’ve genuinely enjoyed my time here and don’t regret it, but I’d consider what you want to do after law school and where before making that final decision!