Legal Studies
Download as PDF
Program Type
Overview
Legal Studies is an interdisciplinary, liberal arts major that engages the meanings, values, practices, and institutions of law and legality. The Legal Studies curriculum examines how law shapes and is shaped by political, economic, and cultural forces. The major is designed to stimulate the critical understanding of and inquiry about the theoretical frameworks, historical dynamics, and cultural embeddedness of law.
The Legal Studies faculty and students grapple with important questions of social policy within the framework of significant concerns in jurisprudence and theories of justice. These concerns include individual liberty, privacy, and autonomy; political and social equality; the just distribution of resources and opportunities within society; the relationship between citizens and the state; democratic participation and representation; the moral commitments of the community; and the preservation of human dignity.
The major’s course offerings examine law and legality from both humanist and empirical perspectives. Courses are organized into interdisciplinary topical areas that transcend disciplinary boundaries in the interest of collaborative inquiry.
The Legal Studies major is under the academic supervision of the School of Law faculty.
Declaring the Major
Students may declare the major after completing two of the four prerequisites with a 2.0 grade point average (GPA) between the two courses and an overall UC Berkeley GPA of 2.0. For details regarding the prerequisites, please see the Major Requirements tab on this page. All courses taken for the major must be taken for a letter grade.
A score of 3 or higher in the following AP exams will fulfill three of the four prerequisites:
Statistics: AP Statistics History: AP U.S. History or AP European History Social Behavioral: AP Micro Econ or US Govt & Politics Philosophy: Cannot use AP credit
Please visit our website for more details under 'About the Major' then 'Declaring the Major'.
Honors Program
A student majoring in Legal Studies with an overall UC Berkeley grade point average (GPA) of 3.5 and a GPA of 3.5 in Legal Studies courses by the end of the spring semester junior year may apply during the summer and may be admitted to the honors program. The student must have completed at least half of the major requirements before being admitted to the honors program.
To graduate with departmental honors, students must:
Enroll in LEGALST H195A honors seminar in the fall semester before writing the thesis;
Enroll in LEGALST H195B and LEGALST H195C in the spring semester following successful completion of the LEGALST H195A honors seminar and meet the GPA requirements;
Meet periodically throughout the semester with the faculty supervisor during the spring;
Complete an honors thesis, with a minimum of 40 written pages, approved by the student’s faculty supervisor; and
Finish their final semester with at least a 3.5 UC Berkeley GPA and at least a 3.5 major GPA.
The thesis is read by the faculty supervisor who will assign a letter grade. There are three levels of departmental honors: honors, high honors, highest honors. The level of honors is based on the final upper division major/honors GPA and the quality of the thesis as decided by a student’s faculty supervisor.