Program Overview

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Legal Studies, BA

The Legal Studies major provides a liberal arts education across traditional disciplines, focusing on law, legal processes, legal institutions, and their operation in society. In addition to courses in Legal Studies, students can take a wide range of courses offered by other units, including Sociology, Psychology, Religious Studies, Political Science, Educational Policy, African American Studies, Philosophy, Gender and Womens Studies, American Indian Studies, Chicanx/e & Latinx/e Studies, English, and History.

Theme Groups

The curriculum is designed around five themes, each of which is associated with a group of courses, and each of which incorporates comparative and historical approaches.

Theme 1: Legal Institutions

Institutions are at the core of social life. They govern our interactions, distribute power and resources, and influence how we make sense of the world. Courses in this theme group focus on those institutions involved in the creation and application of law.

Theme 2: Processes of Legal Order and Disorder

This theme examines the dynamics of order at the individual and societal levels. In the course of this examination, students are made aware of the political and social biases that can underlie definitions of order.

Theme 3: Law and Social Forces

This theme group explores the intersection between law, social structures, and social movements. Courses in this group address social inequality, generally in the U.S. context, grounded in ethnoracial, gender, and sexuality-based difference.

Theme 4: Law, Literature, and Culture

This theme group introduces students to legal thought, institutions, and practices beyond mainstream or contemporary legal systems, specifically modern Euro-American legal cultures.

Theme 5: Law and Theory

Many theoretical and philosophical questions are articulated as propositions about law: its nature, sources, contents, and relations to other aspects of social life.

Requirements for the Major

12 total courses in the following categories and a minimum of 36 credits.

• Introductory Course: Choose one course from the list.
• Theme 1: Legal Institutions: Two courses required from the list.
• Theme Distribution: Four courses from at least three of the following Theme groups.
• Methods and Research: Two courses, one each from Research Design and Statistics.
• Core Perspectives: Complete one Core Perspectives course.
• Global Legal Systems: At least two courses in the major must have substantial content dealing with countries or cultures outside the United States, or with the international legal system.
• Race and Justice Studies: At least one course in the major must have substantial content dealing with race and justice studies.

Residence and Quality of Work

• 2.000 GPA in all LEGAL ST and major courses
• 2.000 GPA on 15 upper-level major credits, taken in residence
• 15 credits in LEGAL ST and courses for the major, taken on campus

Honors in the Major

Students may apply for admission to Honors in the Legal Studies Major in consultation with the Legal Studies undergraduate advisor(s).

Honors in the Legal Studies Major: Entrance Requirements

• Declaration of the legal studies major
• A 3.300 University GPA
• A 3.500 GPA for all LEGAL ST courses, and all courses accepted in the major
• Completion of or current enrollment in, for Honors credit, at least one course accepted in the major

Honors in the Legal Studies Major: Requirements

To earn Honors in the Major in Legal Studies, students must satisfy both the requirements for the major and the following additional requirements:

• Earn a 3.300 University GPA
• Earn a 3.500 GPA for all LEGAL ST courses, and all courses accepted in the major
• Complete the research design and statistics requirements for the regular major prior to enrollment in the Senior Honors Thesis (typically junior year)
• Complete 15 credits in the major, taken for Honors, earning a B or better grade in each course
• Complete a two-semester Senior Honors thesis in LEGAL ST 681 and LEGAL ST 682, for a total of 6 credits.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completing the Legal Studies major, students will be able to:

1. Analyze and articulate their own arguments about how social, political, and cultural phenomena shape law and legal systems.
2. Analyze and articulate their own arguments about the social, political, and cultural impacts of law at the societal and individual levels.
3. Demonstrate knowledge about how legal ideas and ideologies have changed over time and have shaped law and legal systems.
4. Demonstrate their abilities to find, interpret, and utilize resources relevant to law and society.
5. Demonstrate their abilities to analyze information, to write clearly and persuasively, and to construct original arguments.

Four-Year Plan

This Four-Year Plan is only one way a student may complete an L&S degree with this major. Many factors can affect student degree planning, including placement scores, credit for transferred courses, credits earned by examination, and individual scholarly interests.

First Year

• Fall: Communication A, Quantitative Reasoning A, Language (if needed), LEGAL ST/SOC 131 or 217, First-Year Seminar (optional)
• Spring: Ethnic Studies, Humanities Breadth, Biological Science Breadth, I/A COMP SCI, MATH, or STAT (if required for the BS), Electives

Second Year

• Fall: Legal Studies Theme Course, Literature Breadth, Statistics, Science Breadth, Elective
• Spring: Legal Studies Theme Course, Communication B, Research Design requirement, Physical Science Breadth, Elective

Third Year

• Fall: Legal Studies Theme Course, Global Legal Studies Course, Literature Breadth, Race and Justice Legal Studies Course, Science Breadth
• Spring: Legal Studies Theme Course, Global Legal Studies Course, Humanities Breadth, Elective (Intermediate/Advanced level)

Fourth Year

• Fall: Additional Theme Course or First Semester Senior Thesis, Core Perspectives Course, Elective (Intermediate/Advanced level)
• Spring: Additional Theme Course or Second Semester Senior Thesis, Elective (Intermediate/Advanced level)

Advising and Careers

The Center for Law, Society, and Justice provides advising for the Legal Studies major. Students can schedule advising appointments via Starfish with Micha Schwab or Martine Delannay. SuccessWorks at the College of Letters & Science helps students turn academic skills into a fulfilling life, guiding them to secure jobs, internships, or admission to graduate school.