Pre-Law Certificate
This is content from the Catalog 2022–2023 past issue. Please visit the current catalog for current information.
Coordinator:
Email: marusek@hawaii.edu
According to the American Bar Association’s Statement on Pre-Law Preparation, students wishing to pursue legal education should “take advantage of opportunities to develop research and writing skills” in order to develop a lawyering skill set.1 Through rigorous engagement in a variety of subject areas taught by demanding instructors, such lawyering skills include “problem solving, critical reading, writing and editing, oral communication and listening, research, organization and management, public service and promotion of justice, relationship-building and collaboration, background knowledge, and exposure to the law.” This interdisciplinary certificate has been developed to provide students, particularly transfer students, with a wide array of upper division electives from a variety of majors, including Anthropology, Business, English, Gender and Women's Studies, Geography, History, Management, Philosophy, Political Science, and Sociology.
Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs) for the Pre-Law Certificate
- Distinguish between descriptive and normative approaches to social, legal, and cultural problems
- Interpret law, moral principles, and institutions using a variety of interdisciplinary approaches, methods, and methodologies
- Identify and analyze contemporary and historical perspectives on the intersectionality of race, class, gender, and sexuality
- Incorporate academic approaches with the collaborative techniques of organization and problem-solving to address issues of public concern
- Produce research papers and projects with high levels of written and oral communication
Pre-Law Certificate Course Requirements (24 Credits)
1. Foundations (6 Credits)
Choose two courses, each from a different department/course alpha
- BUS 290 Critical Thinking (3)
- ENG 202 Literature of Human Rights (3)
- ENG 287 Introduction to Rhetoric (3)
- GEOG 382 Qualitative Research (3)
- HIST 471 US Constitutional History (3)
- HIST 481 Land & Sovereignty in Pacific (3)
- PHIL 209 Reasoning (3)
- PHIL 220 Social Ethics (3)
- PHIL 345 Symbolic Logic (3)
Jurisprudence (6 Credits)
Choose any two courses
- PHIL 325 Philosophy Of Law (3)
- POLS 220 Intro to Law and Legality (3)
- POLS 321 Constitutional Law (3)
- POLS 325 Legal Geography (3)
- POLS 327 Law and Identity (3)
- POLS 328 Rights (3)
- POLS 342 International Law (3)
- POLS 444 Law, Property, and Nature (3)
(In)Justice (6 Credits)
Choose two courses, each from a different department/course alpha
- ENG 323 The Literature of Hawaiʻi (3)
- HIST 284 History of Hawaiʻi (3)
- HIST 324 Militarization in the Pacific (3)
- HIST 332 Hawaiian Kingdom (3)
- HIST 333 Twentieth Century Hawaiʻi (3)
- HIST 336 Epidemics in Hawaiʻi (3)
- MGT 423 Business Ethics (3)
- PHIL 304 Ethics and Cultural Diversity (3)
- PHIL 315 Ethical Theory (3)
- PHIL 327 Bioethics (3)
- PHIL 329 Environmental Ethics (3)
- PHIL 370 Indigenous&American Philosophy (3)
- PHIL 375 Feminist Philosophy (3)
- PHIL 412 Philosophy of Nature (3)
- PHIL 416 Science, Technology & Values (3)
- WS 352 Gender and Sexuality (3)
Regulatory Environments (6 Credits)
Choose two courses, each from a different department/course alpha
- ANTH 310 Contemp Iss in Hawaiian Anth (3)
- ANTH 389 Cultural Resource Management (3)
- BUS 240 Business Law (3)
- GEOG 328 Cultural Geography (3)
- GEOG 340 Intro to Land Use Planning (3)
- GEOG 387 Lit of the Environment (3)
- GEOG 430 Gender, Place and Environment (3)
- GEOG 441 Environmentl Impact Assessment (3)
- POLS 323 Criminal Law and Procedure (3)
- POLS 324 Criminology (3)
- POLS 335 Envir Politics & Policy (3)
- POLS 348 International Human Rights (3)
- SOC 326 Juvenile Delinquency (3)
- SOC 328 Gender, Crime, and Justice (3)
- SOC 360 Health Care Policy (3)
- SOC 365 Sociology of Deviance (3)
Notes
- All course must be passed with a grade of ‘C’ or higher.
- STAR recognizes cross-listed courses according to the Instructor’s course alpha.