Prerequisites for the Major
Requirements for the Major
Senior Thesis Option
Honors in the Major
Courses That Satisfy the Requirements to Complete the Major
Courses
8137 Social Science Building, 1180 Observatory Drive, Madison, WI 53706; 608/262-2083; www.ssc.wisc.edu/clsj/lsphome.html
Director: Howard S. Erlanger
Associate director/advisor: Irene B. Katele, 608/262-2083, lsp@ssc.wisc.edu
The legal studies major provides a liberal arts education that crosses the traditional social science and humanities disciplines to explore legal process, the law, and legal institutions and how they operate in society. The major is appropriate for those who plan to attend law school and for those who want a concentration in law-related study to prepare for graduate training or seek to pursue careers in public service or business.
The curriculum is designed around the following central themes:
Substantive courses in the major are organized around a set of five theme-oriented categories: (Theme Groups):
Theme Group 1: Legal Institutions
Theme Group 2: Processes of Legal Order and Disorder
Theme Group 3: Law and Social Structure
Theme Group 4: Law and Culture
Theme Group 5: Law and Theory
Students should declare the major no later than the beginning of the junior year. Students wishing to declare the major should schedule an appointment with the legal studies advisor during freshman and sophomore years. To schedule an appointment, call (608) 262-2083. Students should bring a current DARS and transcript to the declaration meeting.
To declare the legal studies major, students must complete three prerequisite courses with grades of C or better. The three prerequisite courses consist of:
Complete one of the following:
Legal St/Soc 131 Criminal Justice in America; or
Legal St/Poli Sci 217 Law, Politics, and Society
In addition to the Gateway Courses, at least 10 courses are required to complete the legal studies major. These courses must be distributed as follows:
1. Two courses from those listed in the Legal Institutions Theme Group.
2. Four courses distributed across at least three of the following Theme Groups:
3. Two methods courses: one research design and one basic statistics (the latter also can be used to complete the L&S Quantitative Reasoning B requirement). Students are urged to complete this requirement by the end of the junior year; failure to do so may preclude completion of the major in the following year.
Courses that fulfill the statistics requirement are Econ 310, Gen Bus 303, Poli Sci 551, Psych 210, Soc 359 and 360, and Stat 301. Consult the legal studies Web site for the most up-to-date list of courses.
Courses that fulfill the research design requirement are Psych 225, Soc 357, and Soc 358.
4. Capstone consisting of:
a. Either
Legal St/Soc 641 Sociology of Law or Poli Sci 617 Comparative Legal Institutions or Legal St 661 Law, Culture, and the Humanities
plus
b. One of the following alternatives:
(1) Either a senior thesis (6-8 credits); or
(2) Two additional courses from the five Theme Groups listed below.Students are advised that the required Capstone Course (Legal St/Soc 641 or Poli Sci 617 or Legal St 661) may not be taught every semester; consequently students should enroll in the Capstone Course in the semester before their final semester if the course is offered at that time.
At least one course in the major must have substantial content dealing with countries or cultures other than the United States. An asterisk in the list of courses below designates courses meeting this requirement (some topics courses may also fulfill this requirement).
No more than four (4) courses from a single department or program will count toward the legal studies major; this restriction does not apply to courses listed in or crosslisted with legal studies.
All students are required to fulfill the L&S requirement of at least 15 credits of upper-level work in the major completed in residence. Legal St/Soc 641 or Poli Sci 617 (the Social Science Capstone Course), Legal St 661 (the Humanities Capstone Course), and all Theme Group courses designated with an I, A, or D level count toward the required 15 credits of upper-level work in the major.
Students pursuing the senior thesis option must, in their senior year, arrange to register for six (6) to eight (8) credits of 691/692 Senior Thesis, or 681/682 Senior Honors Thesis, in consecutive semesters for three (3) to four (4) credits each semester. Students are responsible for contacting a faculty member whom they would like to act as the senior thesis advisor; the major advisor can assist students in the process of selecting a senior thesis faculty advisor. Students must have the approval of the senior thesis faculty advisor before enrollment because the student will enroll for thesis credits in the department of the senior thesis faculty advisor. A student will not be able to enroll for thesis credits until after meeting with that faculty advisor. Students who plan to attend law school or graduate school and who maintain an overall grade point average of 3.0 or better at the beginning of the senior year (86 credits) are strongly urged to select the senior thesis option.
The purpose of the senior thesis is to allow students to focus their interests and develop knowledge in one area of the field. Students may choose any legal studies topic for the senior thesis. The project involves using the library to review existing research and conducting original research designed by the student under the supervision of a faculty advisor. Early planning is best. Students contemplating the senior thesis option should schedule a legal studies advising appointment at least one semester before enrolling in senior thesis credits. During the advising appointment, students will obtain the Legal Studies Senior Thesis Handbook, discuss proposed research topics, and receive legal studies approval for the proposed topic.
A copy of the senior thesis paper, approved by the faculty advisor, must be submitted to the major advisor upon completion of the project. The senior thesis faculty advisor also must provide the legal studies department with a Thesis Evaluation (a copy of which is in the appendix of the Senior Thesis Handbook).
To earn a B.A. with Honors in the Major in Legal Studies, students must first declare legal studies as their major and then apply for admission to the Legal Studies Program honors program (the entrance requirements are listed below). Students working for Honors in Legal Studies must complete the standard major requirements.
Honors Thesis. This must be a two-semester project (Legal St 681/682 or the equivalent course in the advisor's home department). Normally, the thesis will include thesis-planning activities during the junior year (which might be done in conjunction with the research design and/or statistics courses). Under special circumstances, an honors student may petition the legal studies associate director to waive the thesis requirement and substitute two graduate-level courses taken during the senior year.
Because the legal studies major relies heavily upon many departments and programs at the university that offer relevant courses, the list of courses that count toward the legal studies major is constantly being updated. Students should visit the program Web site for the most up-to-date list of courses. The list below, organized by Theme Group, is illustrative rather than inclusive.
History 331 American Constitutional and Legal History
Journ 559 Law of Mass Communication
Legal St/Soc 415 The Legal Profession
*Legal St 442 The Civil Law Tradition
Poli Sci 104 Introduction to American Politics and Government
*Poli Sci 106 Introduction to Comparative Politics
Poli Sci 184 Introduction to American Politics
*Poli Sci 316 Principles of International Law
*Poli Sci 338 The European Union
Poli Sci 404 American Politics and Government
Poli Sci 411 Constitutional Law I
Poli Sci 412 Constitutional Law II
Poli Sci 417 The American Judicial System
Poli Sci 420 Administrative Law
Poli Sci 426 Legislative Process
Poli Sci 470 The First Amendment
Poli Sci 471 Civil Liberties in the United States
*Poli Sci 617 Comparative Legal Institutions
Afroamer 442 Discrimination and Prejudice in American Society
Afroamer/Folklore 612 Discrimination & Prejudice in American Society
Gen Bus 301 Business Law
Bus/RMI 615 Liability Risk Management
Comp Sci 550 Computers and Society
Econ 453 Collective Bargaining and Public Policy
Econ 539 Public Sector Bargaining
Envir St 368 Environmental Law, Toxic Substances, and Conservation
Gen Bus 301 Business Law
History 344 Age of the American Revolution, 1763-89
Legal St/Soc 131 Criminal Justice in America
(Note: This course counts within this theme only for students who have also taken Legal St/ Poli Sci 217)
Psych 532 Psychology and Law
Psych 509 Abnormal Psychology
Soc Work 523 Family Violence
Soc Work 646 Child Abuse and Neglect
Soc 130 Social Problems
Soc 421 Processes of Deviant Behavior
Soc 441 Criminology
Soc 642 Social Control
Afroamer 233 History of Racial Protest Movements in America
Econ/Poli Sci 449 Government and Natural Resources
Econ 460 Race, Gender and Ethnicity: Inequality in the U.S. Labor Market
Econ 522 Law and Economics
History 628 History of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States
Legal St/Women St 422 Women and the Law
Legal St 444 Law in Action
Poli Sci 452 Criminal Law and Justice
Soc 134 Problems of American Racial and Ethnic Minorities
Soc 220 Ethnic Movements in the United States
Soc 643 Sociology of Occupations and Professions
Women St 102 Women, Social Institutions and Social Change
Women St 223 Race and Ethnicity in the Lives of U.S. Women
Anthro 350 Political Anthropology
*Anthro/Jewish St 436 Anthropology of the Holocaust
*Anthro 448 Anthropology of Law
Com Arts 371 Communication and Conflict Resolutions
Com Arts 671 Communication and Social Conflict
*Hebr St 328 Classical Rabbinic Literature in Translation
History 401 American Urban History, 1620-1870
History 402 American Urban History since 1870
*Jewish St 613 Jewish Law and Ethics in Comparative Perspective
*Legal St/Classics/History 477 Athenian Law and Society
*Jewish St 625 The Holocaust: Facts, Trials, Verdicts, Post-Verdicts
*Theatre 410 The Holocaust Theme in Western Drama
*Hebr St/Jewish St 448 Classical Rabbinic Texts
Journ 675 Issues in Media Law and Ethics
*Legal St/History 459 Rule of Law
Philos 241 Introductory Ethics
Philos 243 Ethics in Business
Philos 341 Contemporary Moral Issues
Philos/Envir St 441 Environmental Ethics
Philos/Jewish St 442 Moral Philosophy and the Holocaust
Philos 541 Modern Ethical Theories
Philos 543 Special Topics in Ethics
Philos 549 Great Moral Philosophers
Philos/Med Hist 558 Ethical Problems Raised by Biomedical Technology
Philos 559 Philosophy of Law
Philos/Med Hist/Agronomy/Rur Soc 565 Modern Biotechnology
Poli Sci 530 Ethics and Values in Policy Making
*Fulfills the requirement that at least one course in the major must have substantial content dealing with countries or cultures other than the United States.
131 Criminal Justice in America. (Crosslisted with Soc) I, II; 3-4 cr (S-E). Day-to-day functioning of the elements of the criminal justice system in the U.S. Nature of crime in the U.S., ideas about causes and solutions. Emphasis on the sociology of the components of criminal justice system—organization and roles of police, lawyers, court and correctional personnel. P: Open to Fr & So only, until end of Fr reg period. Stdts may receive cr for only one of the following: Soc 131 or 431.
217 Law, Politics and Society. (Crosslisted with Poli Sci) I or II or SS; 3-4 cr (S-I). Introduction to the legal process. Examination of the various concepts of law, the perennial problems of the law, legal reasoning, and the nature and function of law and the courts. P: Fr & So only.
400 Topics in Legal Studies and the Social Sciences. I or II or SS; 3-4 cr (S-A). This course can be repeated by students, but not with the same content. P: Jr st; prerequisite may vary with topic.
422 Women and the Law. (Crosslisted with Women St) I or II or SS; 3 cr (S-D). Legal system, laws, and proposed legislation that have specific impact on the lives of women. Topics investigated in both the social and legal contexts. P: A woman-related course and a soc sci course; or cons inst.
442 The Civil Law Tradition. I; 3 cr (S-A). This course is an introduction to the civil law tradition which represents the family of legal systems most common in Western Europe, Latin America, and East Asia. P: A prev law-related class.
444 Law in Action. II; 3 cr (I). A review of the interaction of law (judicial decisions, legislation, administrative actions) with public policy by studying the approaches used to resolve a number of significant issues by use of law and examining the actual impact of such efforts. P: So st.
450 Topics in Legal Studies and the Humanities. I or II or SS; 3-4 cr (H-A). Topics courses will address a variety of issues linking various humanities perspectives to the central themes of law and legal institutions. This course may be repeated by students, but not with the same content. P: Jr st; prerequisite may vary with topic.
477 Law and Society of Ancient Athens. (Crosslisted with History, Classics) I or II; 3 cr (L-I). Examination of the daily lives of ordinary Athenians and the impact of legal institutions on social structures through a survey of the court cases of Classical Athens. P: So st or cons inst.
600 Special Topics in Legal Studies. I or II or SS; 1-3 cr (I). Special seminars are designed for opportunities such as short international seminar courses, the summer forum, and other special opportunities. P: Prereq varies by topic.
641 Sociology of Law. (Crosslisted with Law, Soc) I or II; 3-4 cr (S-A). Theory and research on the social origins, processes and effects of law; examination of law-related behavior, legal institutions, law and social structure, and law and social change; linkage to contemporary theoretical and political debates. P: Jr or Sr st. When crse is offered for 3-4 cr, law stdts register for 3 cr, undergrads for 4 cr.
650 Advanced Seminar in Legal Studies. I or II or SS; 2-3 cr (A). A topics seminar typically taught by a member of the Law School faculty. The course may be taught on a "meets with" basis with a Law School topics course or seminar. P: Legal studies major; Sr st; cons inst may be required.
663 Introduction to Cyberlaw. (Crosslisted with LIS) 3 cr (A). This is an introductory course in the law of cyberspace. The emphasis is on critical thinking about a broad variety of legal and policy problems that arise because of ever-changing information and communication technologies. P: Jr st & cons inst, or Grad st in SLIS.
681 Senior Honors Thesis. I; 3-4 cr (A). Individual study for majors writing theses for honors degree. P: Sr st, legal studies major, admission to Honors Progm, cons inst.
682 Senior Honors Thesis. II; 3-4 cr (A). Individual study for majors writing theses for honors degree. P: Sr st, legal studies major, admission to Honors Progm, cons inst.
691 Senior Thesis. I; 3 cr (A). Individual study for majors writing senior thesis (nonhonors). P: Legal studies major, Sr st, cons inst.
692 Senior Thesis. II; 3 cr (A). Individual study for majors writing senior thesis (nonhonors). P: Legal studies major, Sr st, cons inst.
694 Criminal Justice Field Observation. (Crosslisted with Soc) SS; 3 cr (A). Field placements and seminar sessions to develop sociological understanding of criminal justice processes. Placement in criminal justice agencies and lectures and discussions applying concepts and theories to field experience. P: Soc 131; Soc 421, 441 or 446; and Soc Work 453; or cons inst.
699 Directed Study. I, II, SS; 1-4 cr (A). Directed study in legal studies. P: Cons inst.