The T. Gerald Treece Courtroom

The T. Gerald Treece Courtroom is the centerpiece of the Advocacy Complex. With its unique architectural features and an abundance of high-tech equipment, the two-story courtroom provides South Texas advocates with a magnificent space in which to practice for tournaments and hold events. A two-story-high Sapele Wood wall backs the nine-seat, marble-topped judges' bench within the T. Gerald Treece Courtroom. The courtroom has the normal features of a working trial and appellate courtroom—a witness stand, a court clerk's table, a court reporter's table, attorneys' tables, and a spectator area—as well as two jury boxes to enhance the facility's educational capabilities. The adjacent James Baldwin Brown Jury Room serves as a robing room for appellate judges or as a jury room when the facility is used for actual trials. With its unique design and easily operable technology, plus an infrastructure that will be adaptable to emerging technologies, this definitive teaching courtroom for the twenty-first century reflects South Texas College of Law's ongoing role as a center for legal education.

Visitors enter the courtroom through an elegant lobby space, known as the O'Quinn, Laminack & Pirtle Hall of Champions. Featuring limestone floors accented with black marble; artistic displays honoring donors; and the names of national-championship winners displayed on the walls, the Hall of Champions serves as a unique reception area for special advocacy events.

The Advocacy Center conference room features wall-to-wall glass trophy cases displaying the college's most significant advocacy awards; masterful photographic renderings of Texas courthouses by acclaimed photographer Geoff Winningham; and a seventeen-foot-long Sapele Wood conference table. Around this table, South Texas advocates will devise the strategies that will carry them to future victory.