Legal History Emphasis (Pre-Law)

Optional Legal History Emphasis

The Legal History emphasis cultivates core career competencies in critical thinking, ethical judgment, and written communication through courses in constitutional, legal, and social history. Students benefit from close faculty mentoring and a strong alumni network of attorneys and judges, with opportunities for internships in law firms, courts, government offices, or advocacy organizations. This pathway prepares students for law school, including resources for preparing your application, and leadership roles requiring analytical reasoning and historical perspective.

Students opt for an emphasis in Legal History by successfully taking three courses, or nine credit hours, from the following list of upper division courses:

1. HIST 3132 – Young Republic, 1788-1848 
2. HIST 3133 – United States Constitutional History
3. HIST 3244 – European Union
4. HIST 3335 – Revolutions in France and the Caribbean
5. HIST 3740 – Women & Gender in American History
6. HIST 4130 – Georgia History 
7. HIST 4134 – The Civil Rights Movement
8. HIST 4235 – Tudor and Stuart Britain
9. HIST 4248 – Advanced History of Law
10. HIST 4335 – Women in European History 
11. HIST 4532 – Destruction of Slavery 
12. HIST 5133 – Revolutionary America 
13. HIST 5134 – Civil War and Reconstruction 
14. HIST 5137 – The Antebellum South 
15. HIST 5138 – The New South 
16. HIST 5236 – Age of Revolutions in the European and Atlantic World
17. HIST 5340 – Age of Napoleon in Global Context
18. HIST 3030 – Selected Topics in History (with departmental approval)
19. HIST 5030 – Advanced Selected Themes in History (with departmental approval)

If students have an internship in the legal field (law firm, court clerk, etc.), they can petition for inclusion of this credit in the Legal History emphasis.