Legal Studies - Law & Society (LAWS) - BA Major

Print Degree Planner (opens a new window) |

58 S.H. (no minor required)

2.0 GPA required.

Letter grade required in all major courses unless otherwise noted.

Law & Society Major Map

Overview

As one of the central forces, processes, and institutions in modern life, the law (in all of its guises) merits the liberal-arts-based examination offered by the Law and Society option of Legal Studies. This option is a richly interdisciplinary major that enables interested students to study law and legal culture from many different disciplinary, conceptual, historical, theoretical, and empirical perspectives. The Law and Society option offers numerous benefits for students as they pursue their post-collegiate life:

Because of their broad-based, multidisciplinary background, graduates of the Law and Society program will be able to participate more effectively and intelligently as citizens in an ever-changing world.
Successful participation in this program will provide a sound basis and preparation for students hoping to attend law or graduate school. Although law schools are quick to point out that many undergraduate majors in the liberal arts stand as good preparation, the law and society major, with its focus on the law in the context of an interdisciplinary and liberal arts education, will be especially attractive to law schools. Once in law school, knowledge acquired as a law and society major may give students an added advantage in their law school studies.
Even if law or graduate school is not the ultimate goal for students majoring in this program, the law and society major will endow any Winona State University student with the intellectual interests and abilities to achieve success (and satisfaction) in other post-collegiate endeavors.
For students pursuing employment after college, successfully majoring in law and society provides graduates with many valuable intellectual skills-thinking analytically, writing and speaking persuasively, reading and listening critically, and researching and organizing data systematically-desired by many employers. Such versatility is all the more desirable in a world where work and careers continually change.
By having examined the law from many different disciplines, law and society graduates will have valuable expertise to sell when seeking post-collegiate employment. Given the centrality of the law in contemporary American society, there are many potential employers-corporate, governmental, and nonprofit to name a few-who are eager to hire successful law and society majors for their understanding of how the law influences the workaday world of employers.

Phase I: Interdisciplinary Foundations (21 S.H.)

These courses address topics related to the U.S. legal system in a variety of academic disciplines.

HIST 150 - United States History to 1865 (3 S.H.)
HIST 151 - United States History Since 1865 (3 S.H.)
△ HIST 365 - American Legal History (3 S.H.)
◎ HIST 488 - American Constitutional History (3 S.H.)
POLS 120 - Introduction to American Politics (3 S.H.)
POLS 320 - Constitutional Law (3 S.H.)
POLS 420 - Administrative Law (3 S.H.)

Phase II: Legal Specialty Sequence (13 S.H.)

These courses concentrate on specific aspects of the legal profession. Legal specialty courses are offered in sequence.

LGLS 101 - Introduction to American Law (3 S.H.) (required prior to 300-level LGSL courses)
△ LGLS 370 - Legal Research and Writing I (3 S.H.)
◆ LGLS 372 - Legal Research and Writing II (3 S.H.)
LGLS 373 - Civil Procedure (2 S.H.)
LGLS 376 - Criminal Procedure (2 S.H.)

Phase III: Law & Society Sequence (21 S.H.)

These courses focus on the interdisciplinary aspects of the law and demonstrate how the law permeates all of society.

HIST 298 - Historical Research Methods and Historiography (3 S.H.)
◆ HIST 495 - Senior Research Seminar I (3 S.H.)
PHIL 110 - Critical Thinking (3 S.H.)
PHIL 332 - Philosophy of Law (3 S.H.)
POLS 227 - Judicial Process & Politics (3 S.H.)
PSY 210 - Introduction to Psychological Science (3 S.H.)
PSY 330 - Psychology and the Law (3 S.H.)

Electives (3 S.H.)

◎ CMST 375 - Argumentation (3 S.H.)
HIST 486 - American Intellectual and Cultural History (3 S.H.)
LGLS 374 - Evidentiary Rules (2 S.H.)
LGLS 377 - Practical Legal Investigation Techniques (3 S.H.)
LGLS 381 - Legal Studies Topics and Issues (3 S.H.)
◎ LGLS 385 - Mock Trial I (3 S.H.)
◆ MCOM 300 - Mass Media Law (3 S.H.)
△ POLS 325 - History of Political Thought (3 S.H.)
◎ POLS 346 - International Law (3 S.H.)
POLS 358 - Contemporary Political Thought (3 S.H.)
POLS 419 - Constitutional Politics (3 S.H.)
POLS 420 - Administrative Law (3 S.H.)
◎ POLS 421 - The First Amendment (3 S.H.)
POLS 450 - Feminist Political Theory (3 S.H.)
SOC 210 - Crime & Justice in America (3 S.H.)
SOC 315 - Criminology (3 S.H.)
△ SOC 418 - Criminal Law and Procedure (3 S.H.)
SOC 423 - Sociology of Race and Ethnicity (3 S.H.)
SOCW 425 - Law and Social Work (3 S.H.)

Legend

◎ = Oral Intensive

◆ = Math/Critical Analysis Intensive

△ = Writing Intensive

✽ = Physical Development and Wellness Graduation Requirement

✪ = Civic Engagement and Service Learning