What Can I Do With A Degree In Law and Society?
Become An Attorney
What is an Attorney?
ATTORNEYS are lawyers licensed to practice law. They represent the interests of individuals, governments, businesses, and other organizations in all manner of legal proceedings, disputes, and transactions. Attorneys conduct legal research, advise clients, prepare legal documents, and craft legal arguments, working in a wide array of specialties.
Purdue does not offer a specific pre-law major, making Law and Society a top choice for students interested in careers in the law. The program’s coursework, mentoring, and internship and research opportunities offer an excellent foundation for success on the LSAT and in legal education, and many of our majors go on to top-ranked law schools after graduation.
What Employers Look For In This Position
Many employers look for universal skills such as communication, cultural awareness, interpersonal skills, problem-solving, and the ability to work collaboratively. To be marketable in today’s workforce, persons should strengthen their abilities be flexible while adapting to change in a technological, diverse, and dynamic society. Skills such as resilience, problem solving, and adaptability are valuable at work and elsewhere.
How Law And Society Enhances Career Development
The Law and Society program provides students with essential preparation for successful, law-related careers and responsible citizenship. Academic excellence is achieved through a student-centered learning environment combining theoretical knowledge and practical application. Students are exposed to social science research about law and lawbreaking and develop the ability to think creatively and critically about human behavior, societal understandings of normality and deviance, and systemic problems in the American legal system and law enforcement. Law and Society majors are guided through a curriculum that prepares students to become conscientious, responsible change-agents in their future careers.
How Law And Society Prepares Students For A Legal Career
Students majoring in Law and Society are required to complete 33-34 credit hours of coursework in specified Sociology courses.
The degree focus consists of fifteen (15) required credit hours of coursework designed to build a foundation in sociological inquiry and quantitative methods, and nine (9) credit hours of Law and Process courses, and nine hours of sociology electives.
Targeted coursework for a Legal Career
- SOC 220 Social Problems
- SOC 324 Criminology
- SOC 328 Criminal Justice
- SOC 402 Sociological Theory
- SOC 326 Social Conflict and Criminal Justice
- SOC 352 Drug, Culture, and Society
- SOC 411 Social Inequality
- SOC 419 Sociology of Law
- SOC 426 Social Deviance and Control