Legal Studies is an interdisciplinary major in which you take courses from a variety of departments. Please refer to the list below for the most accurate list of courses offered that fulfill major requirements. If a course is listed below and it does not appear on your dars report, please email cjcp@ssc.wisc.edu.
Legal Studies Courses During Other Semesters
You need at least 12 separate courses to complete the legal studies major. Although a course may appear below in multiple sections, it can only count towards ONE theme OR a core perspective course.
Intro/Gateway Courses | Statistics | Research Design | Theme 1 | Theme 2 |
Theme 3 | Theme 4 | Theme 5 | Core Perspectives
Legal St./Soc 131: Criminal Justice in America
Econ 310: Measurement in Economics
Ed Pol 209: Introduction to Quantitative Methods
General Business 306: Business Analytics
LIS 440: Navigating the Data Revolution: Concepts of Data & Information Science
Psychology 210: Basic Stats for Psychology
Sociology 360: Statistics for Sociologists
Statistics 301: Introduction to Statistics
Statistics 371: Intro Applied Stats – Life Sciences
Ed Pol 308: Intro to Qualitative Research
Psychology 225: Research Methods
Public Affairs 240: Evidence-Based Policy Making
Public Affairs 380: Analytical Tools for Public Policy
Sociology 357: Methods of Sociological Inquiry
Theme Group 1: Legal Institutions
**Amer Ind 450: Federal Indian Law (Ethnic St.) (dars exception needed)
General Business 301: Business Law
*Geog 307: International Migration, Health, and Human Rights
*Int’l St 601: Law and Security (dars exception needed)
Legal St./Hist 262: Amer Legal History 1860s to Pres
**Legal St. 400: Incarceration and Inequality
*Legal St. 400/Soc 496: The Penitentiary in Global Perspective (dars exception needed)
Legal St. 400/Soc 496: Surveillance Cultures
*Legal St. 400/Soc 496: Sociology of International Law
*Legal St./Soc/GWS 406: Law, Sexuality, and Society
Legal St. 409: Human Rights in Law & Society
Legal St. 444: Law in Action
**Legal St./Soc 451: Race, Family and the State
Legal St/ELPA/Ed Pol 542: Law and Public Education
**Political Science 304: The Political Economy of Race in the US
*Political Science 354: International Institutions and World Order
Political Science 408: The American Presidency
Political Science 412: The American Constitution: Rights and Civil Liberties
*Political Science/Intl St. 434: Politics of Human Rights
*Political Science/GEN&WS 435: Politics of Gender and Women’s Rights in the Middle East
Pub Affr 270: Private & Public Sectors in Policymaking
**Pub Affr 520: Inequality, Race and Public Policy (ethnic studies)
Theme Group 2: Process of Legal Order & Disorder
Legal St. 694: Field Observation in Criminal Justice and Legal Studies (only available to students currently enrolled in pre-internship canvas site. If you have an internship for Spring 2026 and you are not enrolled in pre-internship canvas site, please email cjcp@ssc.wisc.edu)
Psych 526: The Criminal Mind: Forensic and Psychobiological Perspectives
Psych 626: Prisoner Re-Entry (dars exception needed)
Psych 601: Psych of Juvenile Delinquency
Sociology 441: Criminology
Theme Group 3: Law & Social Forces
**AfAm 272: Race and American Politics from the New Deal to the New Right (Ethnic St.)
**AfAm/History 321: Afro-American History Since 1900 (Ethnic St.) (dars exception needed)
**AfAm/History 393: Slavery, Civil War, and Reconstruction (Ethnic St.)
**AfAm/History 628: History of the Civil Rights Movement in the US (Ethnic St.)
**Asian Am/Soc 220: Ethnic Movements in the US (Ethnic St. and Comm B)
Amer Ind/Social Work 636: Indian Child Welfare Act)
Chicla 501: Chican@ and Latin@ Social Movements in the U.S. (Comm b) (dars exception needed)
Ed Pol/ Intl. St. 220: Human Rights and Education
*GWS/Intl St 535: Women’s Global Health and Human Rights (biological sci)
**Ed. Pol/History 143: History of Race and Inequality in Urban America (Ethnic St.) (Comm b)
Ed Pol 355: Politics of Education Injustice in the US (Ethnic St.) (dars exception needed)
History 600: Law & the Sacred (dars exception needed)
*LACIS 440: Spanish: Immigration Law Clinic
Legal St. 135: Disability and the Criminal Justice System
**Legal St. 400: Incarceration and Inequality
*Legal St. 400/Soc 496: The Penitentiary in Global Perspective (dars exception needed)
Legal St. 400/Soc 496: Surveillance Cultures
* Legal St. 400/Soc 496: Sociology of International Law
*Legal St./Soc/GWS 406: Law, Sexuality, and Society
Legal St. 409: Human Rights in Law & Society
**Legal St./Soc 451: Race, Family and the State
Legal St. 422: Women and the Law
*Legal St./Hist/Envir St 430: Law and Environment (Comm b)
**Legal St./AfroAmer 435: Civil Rights
**Legal St./Soc/ChicLa 443: Immigration, Crime & Enforcement (ethnic studies)
Legal St. 473: Health Impacts of Unmet Social Needs (application required- Find More Information Here)
Legal St./LIS 645: Intellectual Freedom
*Political Science/Intl St. 434: Politics of Human Rights
Psych 601: Legal Psych: Crim & Civil Issues
Social Work 675: Reproductive Justice (dars exception needed)
*Spanish/ChicLa 215: Border & Migration Studies of Latinx America
English 177: Narco-Narratives (Lit)
English 182: Doing Time: Race, Labor, Incarceration (Lit) (Honors)
*English 350: Topic: Human Rights and Global Literature (Lit) (dars exception needed)
*History 201: Shanghai Life and Crime (Comm B)
*Legal St. 477: History of Forensic Science
*Legal St. 510: Legal Pluralism
Journalism 563: Law of Mass Communication
*Legal St./Hist 235: Prisons: From Antiquity to Supermax
*Legal St./History 426: History of Punishment
Philosophy 341: Contemporary Moral Issues (some sections are Comm B)
*Legal St./Hist 235: Prisons: From Antiquity to Supermax (dars exception needed)
Legal St. 262: Amer Legal History 1860s to Present
**Legal St. 400: Incarceration and Inequality
*Legal St. 400/Soc 496: The Penitentiary in Global Perspective (dars exception needed)
Legal St. 400/Soc 496: Surveillance Cultures
* Legal St. 400/Soc 496: Sociology of International Law
*Legal St./Soc/GWS 406: Law, Sexuality, and Society
Legal St. 409: Human Rights in Law & Society
*Legal St./History 426: History of Punishment
*Legal St./Hist/Envir St 430: Law and Environment (Comm b)
**Legal St./AfroAmer 435: Civil Rights
**Legal St./Soc/ChicLa 443: Immigration, Crime & Enforcement (ethnic studies)
**Legal St./Soc 451: Race, Family and the State
*Legal St. 477: History of Forensic Science
*Legal St. 510: Legal Pluralism
Legal St. 600: Catholic Legal Thought
Legal St. 600: Foundations Liberal Democracy
Legal St. 600: Rights of Nature
*Meets requirement that at least two courses in the major must have substantial content dealing with countries or cultures outside the United States or with the international legal system. For this requirement, a course can count for a theme and the global requirement.
**Meets Race/Justice requirement (for students who declared Fall 2023 and later). A course can count for a theme and the race/justice requirement.