Program Description
The accelerated B.A.-to-M.S. legal studies program enables qualified undergraduates to take graduate courses that apply to both their bachelor's and master's degrees. Students gain an advanced understanding of the law and legal principles as they fulfill bachelor's degree requirements and complete select core courses from the graduate-level legal studies program. These graduate-level courses lay the foundation for the student to ultimately examine practical legal and policy issues through the lens of a particular concentration in law and public policy, criminal justice or homeland security.
Program Coordinator
Dr. Christina A. Toras
Delivery Mode
Global Online (100% online)
Curriculum
The following curriculum shows the requirements for completing the bachelor's degree under the accelerated B.A.-to-M.S. program. Additional graduate-level courses are required to complete the master's degree; refer to the graduate academic catalog for these requirements.
| Course | Credits |
| General Education Courses | 40 or 41 |
| Building a Sense of Community UNI 100 First-Year Seminar |
1 |
| Composition ENG 101 English Composition I |
3 |
| Public Speaking Any CDC Public Speaking Course |
3 |
| Mathematics and Quantitative Literacy Any Mathematics and Quantitative Literacy Course |
3 |
| Health and Wellness Any Health and Wellness Course |
3 |
| Technological Literacy Any Technological Literacy Course |
3 |
| Humanities Any Humanities Course |
3 |
| Fine Arts Any Fine Arts Course |
3 |
| Natural Sciences Any Natural Sciences Course |
3 or 4 |
| Social Sciences Any Social Sciences Course |
3 |
General Education Options
|
12 |
| Required Major Courses | 9 |
| JUR 300 Classical Jurisprudence | 3 |
| JUR 310 Medieval Jurisprudence | 3 |
| JUR 320 Anglo-American Jurisprudence | 3 |
| Required Related Courses | 33 |
| LAW 300 The Paralegal Profession | 3 |
| LAW 310 Legal Research and Writing | 3 |
| LAW 320 Litigation and Trial Evidence | 3 |
| LAW 330 Criminal Law for Paralegals | 3 |
| LAW 340 Family Law | 3 |
| LAW 350 Real Estate Law | 3 |
| LAW 360 Law, Business and the Workplace | 3 |
| LAW 370 Administrative Law | 3 |
| LAW 380 Estates and Trusts | 3 |
| LAW 400 Constitutional Law for Paralegals | 3 |
| LAW 410 Law and Ethics | 3 |
| B.A.-to-M.S. Accelerated Option Electives | 12 |
| LAW 600 Law and Public Policy | 3 |
| LAW 601 Law and Ethics | 3 |
| LAW 602 Law, Civil Liberties and the Constitution | 3 |
| LAW 603 Law and Legal Method | 3 |
| Free Electives* | 25 or 26 |
| Total | 120 |
Additional requirements, not counted toward the General Education requirements, include:
- Special Experience Course (1 course required): JUR 310
- Writing-Intensive Component Courses (2 courses required): JUR 300 AND JUR 310
- Laboratory Course (1 course required): Any Laboratory Course
* The following LAW electives are recommended, though any upper-division course qualifies as an elective:
- LAW 390 Bankruptcy (3 credits)
- LAW 420 Law and Conflict Resolution (3 credits)
- LAW 430 Elder Law (3 credits)
- LAW 440 Immigration Law (3 credits)
- LAW 450 Labor and Employment Law (3 credits)
- LAW 460 School Law (3 credits)
Program Notes: 42 credits of the required 120 credits must include advanced-standing courses (defined as any course numbered 200 or above with at least one pre-requisite course). However, any course numbered 200-299 must have at least one pre-requisite course to be counted as upper division. Courses that are 300 level and above are counted automatically as upper division.
Additional Requirements
Undergraduate students in the accelerated program may register for no more than 6 graduate credits in any one term, and in terms when a graduate course is registered, the student may not register for more than 18 total credits.
It is the student’s responsibility to apply and meet the qualifications of the graduate program portion of the accelerated program. Failure to follow through with enrollment in the accelerated graduate program will result in additional undergraduate credits to complete the bachelor’s degree, as outlined in the Undergraduate Credit for Graduate Courses policy.
Additional accelerated program requirements may be found at: https://www.calu.edu/inside/forms/_files/academic-affairs/accelerated-program-application.pdf