Information and Policies
Introduction
Legal Studies (LGST) is an interdisciplinary, liberal arts major focused on legal ideas, institutions, and issues in and beyond the U.S. Our courses introduce students to the integral roles of law in social life, including its complex relation to values and shifting views of justice, rights, liberty, equality, citizenship, and authority; to culture and social practices; and to historical, political, and economic forces and institutions.
Our program is housed under the auspices of the Politics Department, but operates independently and is designed to provide different disciplinary lenses on intersections between law and other realms. These include the relation of law to human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and property rights; to immigration, citizenship, borders, and sovereignty; to racial, gender, and economic inequalities; to environmental and health justice; to the scope and limits of governmental power; to the law of democracy and relation between citizens and the state; to relations between among nation-states; and to concerns regarding access to justice, justice gaps, and historical and systemic injustices.
Students who join this major have the opportunity to take courses with faculty from a range of backgrounds in the social sciences, humanities, arts, and law. Our curriculum includes course offerings spanning from anthropology, art, economics, environmental studies, feminist studies, history, Latin American and Latino studies, literature, music, philosophy, politics, psychology, and sociology. This allows our students to engage their interests through different approaches and analytical frameworks, and to consider many dimensions of law and its operation. For example, legal studies students might learn how to use approaches from psychology or philosophy to think about crime and punishment; they might use approaches from political theory or economics to think about property rights or social welfare policies; they might consider civil rights or privacy issues through approaches from critical race theory or feminist studies; they might use approaches from history or sociology to consider law in different eras or in relation to different groups; they might use approaches from politics to consider human rights and legal systems outside the U.S.
The legal sttudies major provides a broad academic platform from which students can pursue many different career paths and/or advanced studies. Alumni from our program work in many areas: law and the legal profession, government, non-profits, education, health, and community services, technology and software engineering, business, consulting and accounting, the entertainment industry, media, journalism, and communications. Our alums are also successful in pursuing graduate degrees in many fields. Although legal studies is often of interest to students considering law school or law-related careers, the major is not designed as a “pre-law” preparation for law school. (Students who are considering law school should visit the Career Center's website and pre-law coach.
Our program strongly encourages students to enrich their studies with additional learning and opportunities. Legal Studies sponsors a speakers series and co-sponsors other talks and events, including career and alumni panels. We also encourage students to pursue internships or field experiences, such as through our legal studies internship seminar (LGST 185); through the UCDC program, a one-quarter study and internship program in Washington, D.C.; or through the UC Center Sacramento, which offers a one-quarter study and internship program at the state capitol. Students may also want to study abroad through the Education Abroad Program (EAP) at UCSC, and some may want to consider developing independent research projects on topics of special interest to them. Students with strong academic preparation who know they want to attend law school may consider the UCSC/UC Hastings 3+3 program, in which students take the LSAT and fulfill requirements needed to apply to Hastings Law School during their junior year, and, if admitted, can earn their B.A. and J.D. degrees in six years.
Academic Advising for the Program
Undergraduate Adviser
The undergraduate adviser offers specific information about navigating through the program and the curriculum and assists students with prerequisites, requirements, policies, procedures, learning support, guidance on internships, scholarships, and opportunities for undergraduate research. Please contact the LGST undergraduate adviser at legalstudies@ucsc.edu.
Peer Advisers
Peer advising can assist in academic planning in regards to major and minor requirements, help prepare declaration of major and minor paperwork and provide guidance on 3+3 and UCDC program requirements. Please contact the LGST peer advising team at lgstpoli@ucsc.edu.
Transfer Students should also consult the Transfer Information and Policy section.
Program Learning Outcomes
Upon completion of the major, students will have achieved the following areas of learning and skills:
- an understanding of the nature and function of law, including legal theory, institutions, and analysis;
- an understanding of the role of law and legal institutions in the broader society, including the social, political, and economic context in which it operates;
- an understanding of the distinct nature of legal institutions and practices from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives;
- the ability to analyze and critically evaluate arguments about legal theories, practices, and institutions based on logic and evidence, and from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives; and
- the ability to develop, sustain, and communicate coherent written and oral arguments and analyses regarding legal issues based on appropriate empirical and/or theoretical evidence and logic.
Major Qualification Policy and Declaration Process
Major Qualifications
Students may declare the major after completing the following course: LGST 10, Introduction to the Legal Process.
Students will ideally have completed some or all of the remaining lower-division requirements before declaring the major.
Transfer students should also consult the Transfer Information and Policy section.
How to Declare a Major
Students who are eligible to declare the major must bring a completed declaration of major worksheet and legal studies major worksheet to the Legal Studies advising office to officially declare.
Students develop a program of study during the major declaration process. The major requirements consist of 11 courses, mapped out in the Requirements and Planners tab. Please also see the bottom of the Requirements and Planners tab for a four-year sample course plan for legal studies majors.
Appeal Process for Declaring the Major
Students who are informed that they are not eligible to declare the major may appeal this decision by submitting a letter to the program director within 15 days from the date the notification was made. Within 15 days of receipt of the appeal, the program will notify the student, college, and the Office of the Registrar of the decision.
Transfer Information and Policy
Transfer Admission Screening Policy
Students planning to apply to UC Santa Cruz in this major are not required to complete specific courses for consideration of admission.
Transfer students considering the legal studies major are strongly encouraged to complete most, if not all, general education requirements before transfer. Transfer students are encouraged to complete any introductory philosophy course in ethics or logic at their prior institution, and this will be accepted in lieu of the requirement in the program to complete PHIL 9, PHIL 22, or PHIL 24. To ensure that students desiring a transfer to UCSC's legal studies major are on track for meeting these goals, they need to connect with their community college advisers for guidance and course planning.
Getting Started with Legal Studies at UCSC as a Transfer Student
Transfer students can designate legal studies as their intended major and begin working on the requirements as soon as they arrive at UCSC. However, they will not be able to formally declare until they complete LGST 10, Introduction to the Legal Process, at UCSC. Students who wish to pursue the legal studies major should arrange to meet with the legal studies undergraduate adviser as early as possible to discuss plans for enrolling in LGST 10, declaring the major, and other course planning. Students should bring a copy of their UCSC Transfer Credit Summary to the meeting with the undergraduate adviser. This may be printed from the student portal.
Letter Grade Policy
This program does not have a letter grade policy.
Course Substitution Policy
Students may petition the department to substitute only one upper-division independent study or field study toward the elective requirement in the legal studies major. UCDC and UCSAC internships are exempt from this limit.
Honors
Honors in the major are awarded to graduating seniors based primarily on a review of grades, whose academic performance is judged to be consistently excellent by a faculty committee. Highest honors in the major are reserved for students with consistently outstanding academic performance.
Requirements and Planners
Course Requirements
In addition to completing LGST 10, legal studies majors are required to take an introductory course in philosophy, a course on constitutional law, and a course on international or comparative law. They must also take courses in each of three broadly defined thematic areas: theory, public law and institutions, and law and society. Within the theory theme, students may take courses such as legal theory, jurisprudence, ethics, logic, and social and political thought; within the law and society theme, courses topics range from gender to race to psychology to economics; within the public law and institutions theme, courses range from environmental law to human rights law to criminal justice to public policy. To fulfill the senior exit requirement, students can take a senior capstone seminar, or they may opt to write a senior thesis.
Lower-Division Courses
All students are required to complete and pass LGST 10 prior to declaring the major. This course is normally taken the first year.
| LGST10 | Introduction to Legal Process | 5 |
Choose one of the following courses:
All legal studies majors are required to take one of these philosophy courses (transfer students are strongly encouraged to take a similar course prior to enrolling at UCSC).
| PHIL9 | Introduction to Logic | 5 |
| PHIL22 | Introduction to Ethical Theory | 5 |
| PHIL24 | Introduction to Ethics: Contemporary Moral Issues | 5 |
Upper-Division Courses
Complete one of the following courses:
Plus one of the following courses:
Thematic Core Course Requirement —6 courses
Legal studies majors are required to take six thematic core courses, two in each of the following three thematic areas:
A. Theory
B. Public Law and Institutions
C. Law and Society
A. Theory Theme Courses
The following courses are offered by the Legal Studies Program or are crosslisted with LGST by another department. Enrollment in either rubric will count toward the legal studies major requirements.
| POLI105A
/LGST 105A
| Ancient Political Thought | 5 |
| POLI105B
/LGST 105B
| Early Modern Political Thought | 5 |
| POLI105C
/LGST 105C
| Modern Political Thought | 5 |
| SOCY128C
/LGST 128C
| Social History of Democracy, Anarchism, and Indigenism | 5 |
| SOCY128J
/LGST 128J
| The World Jury on Trial | 5 |
| PHIL144
/LGST 144
| Topics in Social and Political Philosophy | 5 |
| LGST155 | Topics in American Legal History: Making of American Constitutionalism | 5 |
| LGST157 | Political Jurisprudence | 5 |
| Placeholder | |
Additional Theory Courses
The following courses are offered bylegal studies faculty affiliates through their home departments. Students enroll in these designated courses through the home department's rubric, but they will automatically count toward the LGST major requirements.
B. Public Law and Institutions Theme Courses
The following courses are offered by the Legal Studies Program or are crosslisted with LGST by another department. Enrollment in either rubric will count toward the legal studies major requirements.
| POLI111A
/LGST 111A
| Constitutional Law | 5 |
| LGST111C | Issues in Constitutional Law | 5 |
| LGST115 | Law and the Holocaust | 5 |
| LGST116
/POLI 116
| Comparative Law | 5 |
| POLI120C
/LGST 120C
| State and Capitalism in American Political Development | 5 |
| LGST125 | History of the U.S. Penal Culture | 5 |
| ECON128
/LGST 128
| Poverty and Public Policy | 5 |
| SOCY128J
/LGST 128J
| The World Jury on Trial | 5 |
| SOCY128M
/LGST 128M
| International Law and Global Justice | 5 |
| LGST131 | Wildlife, Wilderness, and the Law | 5 |
| POLI132
/LGST 132
| California Water Law and Policy | 5 |
| LGST133
/POLI 133
| Law of Democracy | 5 |
| POLI134
/LGST 134
| Congress: Representation and Legislation | 5 |
| LGST135 | Native Peoples Law | 5 |
| LGST136 | Federal Indian Law and International Comparative Indigenous Peoples' Law | 5 |
| LGST137 | International Environmental Law and Policy | 5 |
| LGST139 | War Crimes | 5 |
| ENVS149
/LGST 149
| Environmental Law and Policy | 5 |
| LGST152 | Courts and Litigation | 5 |
| LGST153 | Immigration, Citizenship, and Law | 5 |
| LGST155 | Topics in American Legal History: Making of American Constitutionalism | 5 |
| LGST156 | Administrative Law and Challenges of Regulation | 5 |
| LGST159 | Property and the Law | 5 |
| POLI167
/LGST 167
| Politics of International Trade | 5 |
| LGST173
/POLI 173
| Disability, Law, & Politics | 5 |
| POLI175
/LGST 175
| Human Rights | 5 |
| POLI186
/LGST 186
| Global Health Politics | 5 |
Additional Public Law and Institutions Theme Courses
The following courses are offered by legal studies faculty affiliates through their home departments. Students enroll in these designated courses through the home department's rubric, but they will automatically count toward the LGST major requirements.
| ENVS140 | National Environmental Policy | 5 |
C. Law and Society Theme Courses
The following courses are offered by the Legal Studies Program or are crosslisted with LGST by another department. Enrollment in either rubric will count toward the legal studies major requirements.
| LGST108 | Gender, Sexuality, and Law | 5 |
| POLI110
/LGST 110
| Law and Social Issues | 5 |
| HIS110B | Revolutionary America, 1740-1815 | 5 |
| ANTH110C
/LGST 112
| California Pasts | 5 |
| LGST111B
/POLI 111B
| Civil Liberties | 5 |
| LGST113 | Gay Rights and the Law | 5 |
| LGST114 | Jews, Anti-Semitism, and the American Legal System | 5 |
| LGST117 | Sports, Law, and Politics | 5 |
| POLI120B
/LGST 120B
| Society and Democracy in American Political Development | 5 |
| POLI120C
/LGST 120C
| State and Capitalism in American Political Development | 5 |
| POLI121
/LGST 121
| Race & Justice in America | 5 |
| SOCY122
/LGST 122
| The Sociology of Law | 5 |
| SOCY123
/LGST 123
| Law, Crime, and Social Justice | 5 |
| SOCY127
/LGST 127
| Drugs in Society | 5 |
| SOCY128
/LGST 126
| Law and Politics in Contemporary Japan and East Asian Societies | 5 |
| LGST135 | Native Peoples Law | 5 |
| ANTH138
/LGST 138
| Political Anthropology | 5 |
| ANTH142
/LGST 142
| Anthropology of Law | 5 |
| PSYC147A
/LGST 147A
| Psychology and Law | 5 |
| PSYC147B
/LGST 147B
| Psychology and Law | 5 |
| LGST150 | Children and the Law | 5 |
| POLI151
/LGST 151
| Politics of Law | 5 |
| LGST154 | The Legal Profession | 5 |
| LGST155 | Topics in American Legal History: Making of American Constitutionalism | 5 |
| ECON160A
/LGST 160A
| Industrial Organization | 5 |
| ECON162
/LGST 162
| Legal Environment of Business | 5 |
| ECON169
/LGST 169
| Economic Analysis of the Law | 5 |
| LGST173
/POLI 173
| Disability, Law, & Politics | 5 |
| ECON183
/LGST 183
| Women in the Economy | 5 |
| LGST185 | Legal Studies Internship/Field Seminar: Experiences in Law, Policy, and Society | 5 |
Additional Law and Society Theme Courses
The following courses are offered by legal studies faculty affiliates through their home departments. Students enroll in these designated courses through the home department's rubric, but they will automatically count toward the LGST major requirements.
| ANTH130C | Politics and Culture in China | 5 |
| ANTH187 | Cultural Heritage in Colonial Contexts | 5 |
| ANTH187B | Cultural Resource Management | 5 |
| FMST194O | The Politics of Gender and Human Rights | 5 |
| HIS110B | Revolutionary America, 1740-1815 | 5 |
| LIT168A | The Culture of Islamic Law | 5 |
| LIT189A | De la conquista a Sor Juana | 5 |
Disciplinary Communication (DC) Requirement
Students in every major must satisfy that major's upper-division disciplinary communication (DC) requirement. The DC requirement in legal studies is satisfied by completing one of the following three alternatives:
1. Both
2. OR a Senior Seminar
3. OR a Senior Thesis (two or three quarters)
Comprehensive Requirement
Students can satisfy the senior comprehensive requirement in thelegal studies major by successfully completing one of the following two options:
Senior Capstone
The capstone is designed to provide an interdisciplinary integration of themes related to the study of law and includes a substantial writing requirement.
Senior Thesis (2-3 quarters).
Completion of a senior thesis of a minimum of 50 pages with a substantial research content, supervised by a legal studies faculty member or affiliate.
Planners
Sample four-year and two-year course plans for students majoring in legal studies are provided below.
Four-Year Sample Course Planner for Frosh Students
| Year |
Fall |
Winter |
Spring |
| 1st (frosh) |
|
LGST 10 |
Phil 9 or 22 |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
| 2nd (soph) |
LGST (Law & Society Core) |
LGST (Theory Core) |
LGST (Law & Society Core) |
| |
|
LGST 160B (Required) |
| |
|
|
| 3rd (junior) |
LGST (Theory Core) |
POLI 111A/LGST 111A (Required) |
|
| LGST (Public Law & Institutions Core) |
LGST (Public Law & Institutions Core) |
|
| |
|
|
| 4th (senior) |
LGST 196 (Capstone) |
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
In addition to the specific courses shown in this four-year planner, a student must complete courses satisfying the general education requirements. See the UCSC Legal Studies website to view courses and designations for which courses fulfill the majors' three-core thematic requirements: Theory, Public Law and Institutions, and Law & Society.
Two-Year Sample Course Planner for Transfer Students
| Year |
Fall |
Winter |
Spring |
| 1st (junior) |
LGST 10 |
LGST (Law & Society Core) |
LGST-160B (required) |
| PHIL 9* |
LGST (Theory Core) |
LGST (Public Law & Institutions) |
|
|
LGST (Law & Society Core) |
| 2nd (senior) |
LGST (Public Law & Institutions) |
LGST 196 (Senior Capstone) |
|
| LGST (Theory Core) |
POLI 111A/LGST 111A (Required) |
|
|
|
|
This planner assumes that a student has completed all general education requirements, beyond major preparation requirements before coming to UCSC. See the UCSC Legal Studies website to view courses and designations for which courses fulfill the majors' three-core thematic requirements: Theory, Public Law and Institutions, and Law & Society.
*Articulated equivalent courses may be taken prior to transfer.