The Moot Courtroom got an upgrade over the summer, allowing the space to double as a classroom.

During the renovation, Benjamin Gillie, assistant director of construction management and design, shared a bit of Moot’s history:

“As part of this summer’s renovations, we removed the wood seal from the main wall to be protected during demolition, then refinished and reinstalled it. Once removed, we found that on the back, it included details that it was hand carved — for 244 hours — by the University of Richmond carpentry supervisor, Jim Wallain, in 1991 when Moot Court was originally built. It also contains the names of those involved in the project and the entire carpentry shop at the time. There is also a penny and quarter from 1991 pinned on the back to the left of the names.”

The university seal on the front of the piece was refinished during the renovations to boost its contrast, and was reinstalled in its original location on the main wall of the courtroom.