Introduction The Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.) program offers an interdisciplinary immersion in the law school curriculum to highly qualified non-lawyers who do not seek a degree that will enable them to practice law, but instead seek to achieve a basic familiarity with legal thought and to explore the relation of law to their ongoing fields of work or scholarship.
M.L.S. Details The program consists of 30 semester hours of approved study. The degree can be completed in two semesters of full-time study or spread out over two or more years in part-time study. Each student is assigned a faculty advisor to help develop a curriculum that best meets the student's goals. M.L.S. students are required to choose at least two of the following basic first year law courses—Contracts, Constitutional Law, Criminal Law, Property, and Torts. Other courses can be chosen from Legal Process, Legislation, or Jurisprudence in order to include a broad perspectives course in their curriculum. These core courses will provide 10 to 12 of the requisite 30 credit hours. The remainder of the credit hours are electives. Course selection will be flexible to accommodate the diversity of intellectual interests the program is intended to serve. Students will earn the remainder of their credits through whatever combination of elective law school courses—and in some instances courses offered elsewhere in the University—best complements and advances the student’s goals.
M.L.S. Options The Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.) program offers an interdisciplinary immersion in the law school curriculum to highly qualified non-lawyers who do not seek a degree that will enable them to practice law, but instead seek to achieve a basic familiarity with legal thought and to explore the relation of law to their ongoing fields of work or scholarship.
The program seeks M.L.S. candidates from a variety of backgrounds with a diversity of goals: natural scientists and engineers who want to study the legal regulation of science or the protection of intellectual property; social scientists who seek a foundation in law and legal process in order to design and conduct better informed empirical research on policy issues; humanities scholars who desire a foundational understanding of law and legal culture to enrich their primary historical or philosophical or literary scholarship; journalists who want to report on law-related events in a more informed and illuminating way; entrepreneurs and managers who hope to better advance their companies in industries as diverse as banking, insurance, construction, development, agribusiness, and electronics by better understanding the legal system in which they operate. This program is intended for the professional who wishes to study law, but does not seek to become an attorney. Credits from the M.L.S. will not transfer into law school.M.L.S.
M.L.S. Career Options
The Master of Legal Studies degree is designed to enhance opportunities and performance in the candidate’s chosen career field. Although career counseling is available, our M.L.S. students historically have not utilized it due to the fact that they return to their previous employer with enhanced skills and do not seek to transition to new career fields.
