Legal Studies Minor
Jasmine Samara
Faculty Director
Noah Glusman
Managing Director
Whatever your career path, understanding the law, and your impact as a citizen in helping shape those laws, is a fundamental part of life. A minor in Legal Studies will give you better grounding in the history and concepts behind the kinds of legal disputes that dominate the news.
Legal Studies Minor Requirements
The legal studies minor examines how law shapes and is shaped by society. It combines the analytical tools associated with legal scholarship with elements of a liberal arts education to investigate the power of the law and its potential to create social change.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core Courses 1 | 8 | |
| Introduction to Conflict Resolution | ||
| Introduction to United States law | ||
| Introduction to Criminal Law | ||
| Introduction to Public International Law | ||
| Law Elective Courses | 8 | |
| Introduction to Conflict Resolution 1 | ||
| Conflict and Gender | ||
| Working Internationally: Culture and Context | ||
| Israel and Palestine | ||
| Dialogue across Differences | ||
| Dialogue Across Differences II | ||
| Conflicts of Incarceration | ||
| Introduction to United States law 1 | ||
| Introduction to Criminal Law 1 | ||
| Introduction to Criminal Investigation | ||
| Introduction to Business Law | ||
| Introduction to Environmental Law and Policy | ||
| Introduction to Public International Law 1 | ||
| Controversies in Constitutional Law | ||
| Immigration and Citizenship | ||
| Introduction to Legal Research | ||
| Youth and Social Change | ||
| American Law and Families | ||
| Environmental Regulation | ||
| Human Rights, Law, and Culture | ||
| Transitional Justice | ||
| The Death Penalty | ||
| Race and the Courts | ||
| Legal Secrets | ||
| Elective Courses in Other Fields | 8 | |
| Business Law and Ethics | ||
| Remix Cultures | ||
| Education and Social Change | ||
| School and Representation in Media | ||
| Introduction to Ethnic Studies | ||
| Social Equity and Criminal Justice | ||
| Race, Migration, and Rights | ||
| Race and Incarceration | ||
| Race and Ethnicity and the Law: [Topic] | ||
| Prevention of Interpersonal Violence | ||
| Contemporary Issues in Public Health | ||
| Political Geography | ||
| International Cooperation and Conflict | ||
| International Human Rights | ||
| Global Community Development | ||
| Cross-Cultural Communication | ||
| Communication Law | ||
| Media Ethics | ||
| Negotiation Strategies | ||
| Ethics | ||
| Social and Political Philosophy I | ||
| Social and Political Philosophy: [Topic] | ||
| Introduction to Philosophy of Law | ||
| International Public Policy | ||
| Introduction to Public Law | ||
| Environmental Policy | ||
| Legal Process An Introduction to the American Judiciary | ||
| States' Rights and Wrongs | ||
| Black Lives Matter and American Democracy | ||
| Gender in the Law | ||
| Race, Politics, and the Law | ||
| Civil Rights in Post-Warren Era | ||
| Constitutional Law | ||
| United States Supreme Court | ||
| Civil Rights and Civil Liberties | ||
| Psychology and Law | ||
| Social Inequality | ||
| Race and Ethnicity | ||
| Deviance, Social Control, and Crime | ||
| Issues in Deviance, Control, and Crime: [Topic] | ||
| Total Credits | 24 | |
- 1
Credit for these courses cannot count for both the Core Courses and Law Elective courses.
Courses must be passed with grades of C– or better, with at least 12 credits earned in upper-division courses at the 300 or 400 levels. Courses taken by the student toward the minor may also count, as appropriate, to fulfill requirements for other degree programs. The legal studies minor does not count toward any other degree offered by the School of Law (JD, LLM, CRES master's).
The law elective courses are organized into two fields of interest: law in American society and law in global society. The electives include courses from the following departments and programs: business administration (BA), cinema studies (CINE), education studies (EDST), ethnic studies (ES), family and human services (FHS), geography, (GEOG) global studies (GLBL), journalism and communication (JCOM), philosophy (PHIL), planning, public policy, and management (PPPM), political science (PS), psychology (PSY), and sociology (SOC).
Students may petition the School of Law’s Managing Director of Legal Studies for approval of another outside course related to legal studies.