Undergraduate Legal Studies Major: Degree Requirements

The coursework in legal studies is designed to provide students with a broad understanding of the legal environment in which individuals, businesses, and the judiciary operate.   Because most of the professors are judges, practicing attorneys, prosecutors, public defenders, and paralegals, this gives the student the distinct advantage of the latest legal theory and real world practice.  

Learning Goals for the Legal Studies Program:

Upon completion of the program, students should:

• Understand the fundamentals of legal reasoning and analysis.  
• Have gained insight into some of the ethical dilemmas faced by lawyers and legal assistants.
• Master the skills and knowledge necessary for understanding legal issues working from both theoretical and practical applications.
• Have learned the essential goals of legal researching, legal and logical reasoning, and begun to develop legal writing skills.
• Be able to apply the theory of legal research and writing to practical problems encountered in a legal environment.
• Have gained insight into the significant role that legal assistants/paralegals have in the legal world and the practical skills necessary to function in it.

Students are required to complete 51 credit hours, including LEGL 4910 Senior Overview. The 51 credit hours, at least 18 of which must be taken at Webster University, must include the following:

Legal Topics & Specialty Courses - 45 credit hours including:

Students must choose 6 hours from the following:

Special Requirements

Courses completed with a grade below a C- do not count toward fulfilling the specific course requirements of the major.

Transfer students must complete 18 credit hours of American Bar Association (ABA) required courses in residence at Webster University. These courses include the following:

• LEGL 3000 3 hours
• LEGL 4490 3 hours
• LEGL 4470 3 hours
• LEGL 4480 3 hours
• LEGL 4800 or above 6 hours

All other coursework for the Legal Studies major may be transferred in, only at the discretion of the Legal Studies Program. Approval for these transfer credits must come from Legal Studies advisors.

Special Note

A legal assistant or paralegal is a person, qualified by education, training, or work experience who is employed or retained by a lawyer, law office, corporation, governmental agency or other entity and who performs specifically delegated substantive legal work for which a lawyer is responsible. Paralegals or Legal Assistants may not provide legal services directly to the public, except as permitted by law. Webster University's St. Louis area paralegal programs have been approved by the American Bar Association. The Kansas City program is not approved by the American Bar Association.