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Legal Studies Minor

If you choose a career that requires a juris doctorate (JD), remember that law schools don’t require a particular academic degree. You should choose a major that you find interesting and exciting, knowing that it will be relevant to your law school experience. Then add a Legal Studies minor.

Law schools admit students who have built the critical reading, writing, and thinking skills to thrive, both in law school and professionally. The Legal Studies minor ensures that you’ve had the opportunity to build that strong foundation of skills.

As “the law” is ever-changing, you cannot actually “know” every law – and it wouldn’t be helpful to try. Instead of spending your time memorizing laws, you’ll learn how to approach complex legal problems in Legal Studies courses.

You’ll build the skills to spot legal issues, analyze them, and determine where to find applicable laws before thinking critically to address that specific legal issue within the existing legal framework. Plus, the skills students develop in this minor translate to many other professions beyond legal careers.

The Legal Studies minor focuses on building these skills:

  • your understanding of how the legal system works
  • understanding – and even anticipating – opposing and supporting viewpoints
  • your abilities to find and work within applicable laws and regulations
  • expressing your position clearly and succinctly
  • your confidence in approaching complex conflicts and problems
  • a systematic and ethical framework to dissect any issue that arises

The Legal Studies minor provides the foundational skills to meet the problems that you’ll encounter in your career or in your law school and graduate studies. In short, the Legal Studies minor gives you experiences and knowledge to launch a successful professional career.

Minor Requirements

Required Courses - 15 hrs.

  • PLW 101: Introduction to the Legal Profession- 1 hr.
  • PLW 102: Introduction to Legal Research - 2 hrs.
  • PLW 325: Legal Ethics - 3 hrs.
  • PLW 400: Capstone Senior Experience - 3 hrs.

Elective Courses (choose two) - 6 hrs.

  • ENG 306: Business Communication - 3 hrs.
  • COM 330: Communication Law and Ethics - 3 hrs.
  • PLS 460: Constitutional Law - 3 hrs.
  • PLW 295: Introduction to Trial Advocacy - 3 hrs.
  • HIS 307: History of the Early American Republic - 3 hrs.
  • BLW 342: Legal Environment of Business - 3 hrs.
  • BLW 347: Law and the Entrepreneur - 3 hrs.
  • BLW 360: Business and Intellectual Property - 3 hrs.
  • BLW 395: Real Estate Law - 3 hrs.

Note: At least one course must be a BLW course.