Legal Studies

Legal Studies | Courses | Faculty

221 Hampshire House

Degree: Bachelor of Arts

Contact: Department

Office: 221 Hampshire

Phone: 545-0021

Web site: www.umass.edu/legal/

Chair of Department: Professor Janet Rifkin. Professors Arons, d'Errico, Katsh, Pipkin; Associate Professor Brooks; Assistant Professor Mednicoff; Lecturer Holmes.

The Field

Legal Studies is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of law and society. As a department within the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Legal Studies offers its courses to the entire University and maintains a major. The purpose of this multifaceted program is to develop of the study of law within a liberal arts framework and to explore the myriad ways in which law study is connected with other disciplines pertinent to an understanding of society.

One can say that Legal Studies is education about law, whereas law school is education in law. The critical, humanistic approach of the program encourages students to investigate and develop their attitudes toward law and justice within the context of a growing literature of Legal Studies and related disciplines.

Legal Studies also examines law and society from the perspective of other cultures. The department encourages study abroad to expand cross-cultural understanding in an increasingly global political community.

The Major

Admission to the major is by sign-up in the office for regular students, and by negotiation with a faculty member for honors students. Enrollment in LEGAL 250 prior to admission is advised.

Students should consult the semester pre-registration guide for Honors offerings.

Requirements

1. 250 Introduction to Legal Studies

2. Seven courses drawn from the 200-400 levels (excluding 250, 298, 396, 450, 496, 498-499)

Courses usually offered include:

275 Interdisciplinary Legal Studies

333 Law and Culture in America

342 Legal Imagination

350 Modern Political Trials

375 Human Rights and Wrongs

391 Due Process in the Criminal Trial

Victims and Offenders in the Legal
Process

Law and Social Activism

397 Special Topics:

Alternative Dispute Resolution

Crime on Film

Family Law

Law, Crime and Society

Law and Public Policy

Law as Melodrama

Legal Construction of Gender

460 Legalization of the American Indian

465 Globalization

470 Indigenous PeoplesóGlobal Issues

480 War Crimes Tribunals

485 Death Penalty in America

491 Seminars:

Law and Cyberlaw

Dynamics of Law and Race

Feminist Legal Theory

Law and Conscience

Law, Politics and Religion in the Contemporary Middle East

Media Censorship

The Rule of Law in Comparative Perspective

Explaining Terror: The Middle East and the United States

497 Special Topics:

Civil Rights Law in the United States

Law and Social Science

The Legal Profession

Workers' Rights in United States Law

3. 450 Legal Research and Writing (Junior Year Writing requirement)

4. Two liberal arts law-related courses outside the department selected from a list prepared by the department each semester.

Total: 33 credits.

Special Opportunities for Majors

Each year the Legal Studies faculty makes available to a few legal studies majors in their junior and senior years the opportunity to shape an area of concentration within the field. These special opportunites require extra work beyond major requirements, and are based on current projects or special interests of the faculty. Students who wish to explore this opportunity are invited to make an appointment with the faculty member whose current project interests them most. If an agreement is reached between a student and faculty member, the student could expect: additional academic advising tailored to the faculty-student interest, suggestions for coursework and for the integration of legal studies courses with those of other disciplines, independent study opportunities, involvement in the research or special project currently being pursued by the faculty member, possible participation in departmental honors, and a transcript notation or faculty letter indicating the student's area of concentration and accomplishments.

Honors Work

The department encourages students in the major to consider honors courses and other honors work. Virtually all Legal Studies faculty are open to being approached by students wishing to establish Honors Colloquia or Independent Studies, or to create honors thesis or project committees. For additional information, contact the Departmental Honors Coordinator, Dianne Brooks, tel. 545-2001 or brooks@legal.umass.edu.

Independent Study Opportunities

The department offers Independent Study opportunities to graduate as well as undergraduate students through LEGAL 496, 596, 696 and 796.

Legal Studies/MCAD Clinical Project

The Department of Legal Studies and the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrim-ination in Springfield have cooperated to define an academic/clinical project that includes three courses for majors interested in a clinical placement focused on civil rights and anti-discrimination law. Students must be enrolled in or have previously completed LEGAL 497 Civil Rights Law in the U.S., or Workers' Rights in U.S. Law to apply for this placement. Applications are made mid-fall for the following spring and mid-spring for the following fall.

In each semester, a different group of students undertake a full-time (40 hours per week) placement at the MCAD in Springfield, with professional supervision and responsibilities. Students also take a Legal Studies course at the 400 level, focused on practice and procedure at MCAD, state law, ethical dimensions of the work, and special problems of anti-discrimination work in Massachusetts.

In the fall semester, all the previous year's project students will take the senior integrative seminar. The seminar is designed to reflect on the experience at MCAD, put MCAD's work in the context of other conflict handling mechanisms, and familiarize students with strengths and weaknesses of various ways of dealing with discrimination, and integrate learning gained by students throughout their experience in the major.

The project includes paid summer internships (depending on availability of funding), community education initiatives, and a civil rights fellowship, a full year staff position at MCAD for a graduate of the project. For further information, contact Professor Arons, tel. 545-3536 or arons@legal.umass.edu.

Five College Legal Studies

The University's Legal Studies Department is allied with law and law-related faculty in the four area colleges. Students at one school may take courses at any of the other schools.

Career Opportunities

The focus of Legal Studies is to help students become informed, active, well-rounded, critical thinkers. Modern society is increasingly dominated by law and legal consciousness and legal literacy is important for many careers.

Legal Studies graduates have found employment in the justice system; as mental health advocates, legislative aides, and teachers; and in other public agencies. Over 20 percent of legal studies graduates go on to law schools, including the most prestigious in the country. A clear understanding of the role of law in modern society is increasingly important to any career concerning public issues. Legal Studies is useful preparation for graduate work in such fields as psychology, history, anthropology, natural sciences, journalism, economics, or sociology.

Legal Studies | Courses | Faculty