Why Pre-Law?
Law schools are unique in that they accept students from a wide range of academic disciplines and backgrounds. No one major definitively prepares students for the type of work they will encounter as they study and eventually master the practice of law. Some argue that a background in English makes for attorneys that are stronger writers. Others say that a political science major leads to a deeper understanding of the political system on which our legal system balances. Nearly any field of study can lend specific skills to students who choose to go forth and study the law.
Applications to law schools have risen steadily in the last few decades. Too often, students feel pressured to choose a major that they think law schools will deem appropriate, when in reality, their interests may lie elsewhere. To combat this, the University of Richmond’s School of Arts & Sciences launched the minor in law and the liberal arts.
The program takes a broad approach to studying the law, letting students examine the legal system through classes in nearly every field of study on campus—a women, gender and sexuality studies class is as likely a laboratory as a philosophy or political science course.
