Undergraduate Law Studies Minor

The Minor in Law Studies at the University of Colorado Denver (CU Denver) is an interdisciplinary course of studies intended to help students become intelligent and critical scholars of legal and political discourse. While the minor may be useful for students contemplating law school, it is also intended to appeal to a wider group of students interested in issues relating to law and society and careers in public policy related fields. The minor is designed to achieve the following three interrelated goals.

First, to introduce students the major areas of law that affect life in the United States and important legal issues that influence current events. Second, to enable students to become familiar and fluent with a legal vocabulary and legal reasoning. Third, to better prepare students with the analytical and conceptual tools to be critical citizens in our constitutional democracy. In addition to these goals, students who complete the minor and who intend to attend law school may find themselves more prepared than they otherwise would be for the often mystifying and rigorous first year of law school. To help these students, the program contains a strong advising component which assists students who are contemplating law school to provide them with a realistic appraisal of law school and of the legal profession. The counselors will aid students with the law school application process.

• Required Courses
• More Information

Required Courses: A total of 18 semester credit hours must be completed for the Law Studies minor. Students must pick six courses chosen from the list of three clusters below. All courses must be taken at CU Denver. Courses taken for the minor cannot serve to fill requirements of the undergraduate core. A minimum grade of C is required in each course and students must maintain a GPA of 3.0 in courses taken toward the minor. Courses taken for a student’s major cannot be used to fulfill any requirements for the minor unless prior permission is granted by the minor coordinator.

Cluster #1 (Foundations) [6 units]

HUMN 4251: Introduction to Legal Studies 
HUMN 4050: Legal Advocacy and Social Engagement

Cluster #2 (Constitutional Thought) [6 units] Choose Two:

PSCI 4477 Constitutional Law I
PSCI 4487 Constitutional Law II
HIST 4050  First Amendment: Theory and Context

Cluster #3 (The Social Context of Law) [6 units] Choose Two:

COMM 3231 Famous U.S. Trials
CRJU 4430 Law and Society
ECON 4230 Law and Economics
HIST 4308 Crime, Policing, and Justice in Amer. History 
HUMN 4050 Gender and the Law
PHIL 4260 Philosophy of Law
PSYC 3505 Psychology and the Law
SOCY 4700 Sociology of Law