Pre-Law
What is the Pre-Law Advisory Program?
LMU's Pre-Law Advisory Program helps students prepare for law school and develop critical thinking, analytical, communication, and negotiation skills that carry over to many other career and life choices.
The program assists students in the selection of courses that meet the expectations of law schools - regardless of the student's major. There is no recommended or preferred major or set of required courses for pre-law students.
Because of LMU's rigorous core curriculum and major requirements, our graduates are highly attractive to law schools.
What do Pre-Law Advisory Program students do?
Students select a course of study that ensures the development of the skills essential to the successful study of law. These include the ability to use language, communicate effectively, and think critically and creatively. In addition, each student's chosen curriculum must provide broad understanding of basic human institutions and values. For example, pre-law students might gain such an understanding by studying constitutional law and civil liberties, criminal law, psychology and the law, legal rhetoric, children and the law, and business law.
Students are encouraged to choose their courses in consultation with the University Pre-Law advisor. The advisor also serves as a resource for students interested in the early admission program at Loyola Law School Los Angeles, or those seeking admission to other law schools.
Is this major right for you?
You might be a Pre-Law Advisory Program student if you:
- Are analytical
- Follow court cases and proceedings
- Like politics
- Are interested in social justice
- Are an excellent communicator
About our faculty
Pre-Law faculty advisors have earned law and doctoral degrees, practiced law, and are experts on topics such as courts, judges, crime, constitutional law, child advocacy, alternative dispute resolution, and the sociology of law. Faculty advisors have written articles on topics such as freedom of speech, and have published books such as Same-Sex Marriage and the Constitution.
About our students and graduates
Our students learn how to analyze, make decisions, research, write, be leaders, and manage conflict. In addition to the legal field, the program prepares students for careers in the public sector, colleges and universities, consulting firms, research organizations, political interest groups, labor unions, the business world, media companies and the armed forces.
Many of our graduates are admitted to Loyola Law School. Located in downtown Los Angeles, Loyola Law is home to prominent faculty, dedicated students and cutting-edge programs. It was the first American Bar Association-approved law school in California with a pro bono requirement for graduation. The school is committed to legal ethics and the public interest, and has produced top attorneys for nearly a century.
Representative courses
LMU law-related courses have included:
- United States Constitutional Law
- Courts, Law, and Society
- Law and Economics
- Philosophy of Law
- Sociology of Law
- Criminal Law
- Women and the Law
- Jurisprudence and Healthcare Law
- Asian Pacific Americans and the American Law
- International Law
- The Law and Presidential Power
- The Elderly and the Law
- Forensic Psychology
- Special Studies in Public Law
- Independent Studies