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What Can I Do With A Degree In Law and Society?

Become A Paralegal


What is a Paralegal?

paralegal

PARALEGALS, also known as legal assistants, work in law firms, government, business, and non-profits, supporting attorneys by maintaining and organizing legal files, conducting legal research, and drafting legal documents.

Paralegals’ daily tasks include helping attorneys prepare for trials, arranging meetings with clients, and assisting in case research. In many law offices, paralegals are the first representatives with whom clients interact during cases’ initial phases, prior to working directly with attorneys.

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 Paralegal 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 Paralegal 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