Program Description

Legal Studies is designed for students who seek to employ various academic perspectives and methodologies to study legal issues, and to use the conceptual framework of the law to illuminate empirical and theoretical concerns in the social sciences and humanities. It is not a "pre-law" program. Legal Studies conceives of law broadly to include the study of legal institutions, legal actors, and legal processes. Law, broadly conceived, is a social institution that provides an excellent lens through which students may learn about and critically examine a variety of themes central to other disciplines, shedding light on both the understanding of law as well as debates central to those disciplines. Legal Studies emphasizes the reciprocal relationships between law and society to examine the social environment.