What Courses You Should Take Before Applying For Law School?

To be an effective lawyer, you must be able to think, speak, and write analytically and logically, be able to work well with people, and have a strong sense of professionalism. As an undergraduate there is generally not a specific prelaw major. However, certain courses taken in high school and/or college should provide you with a well-rounded background and give you a competitive edge over students who have never taken such courses.




Courses suggested to develop your analytical and logic skills include science and engineering, math such as geometry and algebra, statistics, computer programming and computer literacy skills, philosophy, and logic.

Courses suggested to develop your speaking skills, of utmost importance if you are planning to become a litigator, would entail speech and communications, argument and persuasion, debate, rhetoric, and foreign languages.

Courses suggested to develop your writing skills include composition, journalism, and literary theory. Writing skills are important in the drafting of various documents such as contracts, wills, trusts, memoranda, appellate briefs, and for writing interrogatories and preparing cases for trial.

Practicing law also involves the ability to work well with others, whether it be helping your colleagues on a case, taking depositions, or consulting with a client. Courses that should enable you to better understand people and their personalities include psychology, sociology, and anthropology.

Other courses that should be taken by anyone contemplating a career in law include various political science courses: American history, American government, economics, and business law courses. These courses provide the political and historical foundation needed as a basis for law school.

Tax accounting and accounting courses are suggested if a particular law school requires an income tax course for graduation. You will fare much better in law school if you have had exposure to similar courses before you get there. However, before you can take income tax accounting, you usually have to lake such prerequisites as financial and managerial accounting courses. Since several credit hours would be required to obtain a workable background in accounting, if you are not a business major it might be in your best interest to wait until law school to pursue this course of study. Hopefully, you will locate someone there who has a background in tax to help tutor you through the course.

If you are ultimately contemplating practicing corporate law or practicing solo, you should also consider taking some finance and general business, and management and marketing courses.

Each of the above courses will now be discussed in greater detail.

Suggested Analytical and Logic Courses:

Science and Engineering Courses:

Engineering majors, with their technical backgrounds, would make excellent candidates for practicing patent law because they possess the necessary knowledge to understand the workings of the very item sought to be patented. Science majors have the perfect background to practice intellectual property law or medical malpractice law. Intellectual property, which consists of products of human thought processes, formulas, and computer programs, ties in nicely with a scientific education. Science courses such as chemistry, biology, and physics would serve well someone interested in both medicine and the practice of law.

Geometry:

Problem-solving in Geometry entails proceeding in a logical progression, proof by proof, to an ultimate conclusion. Geometry utilizes the deductive reasoning approach-the major premise, the minor premise, and the conclusion-which is especially important in the study of law. To illustrate the major premise, minor premise, and conclusion, we will make the assumption that students entering law school are required to have undergraduate degrees. The major premise would then be as follows: All law school students have undergraduate degrees. The minor premise: John is a law school student. The conclusion: John has an undergraduate degree.

Basic Statistics:

Basic statistics is concerned with testing samples drawn from a population to deter-mine if the sample is representative of that population; the measures of central tendency, that is, the mean, median, and mode; measures of variability such as the range, variance and standard deviation; probability; random variables; types of data; binomial and Poisson formulas; Central Limit Theorem, and hypotheses (null and alternative).

Computer Literacy:

Students simply must be able to operate computers to function in today's society. There are numerous legal packages on the market for use in the practice of law, including computerized bar review courses. If students are familiar with such computerized legal research services, they can utilize such services for research purposes in law school, and if necessary, can often even access them off-site through a modem.

Many computer courses are offered in high school; if these courses are not taken then, they should definitely be taken in college. Students should also take applications courses that would include information on word processing, spreadsheets, and database usage, as well as operating systems, integrated software systems, graphics, and telecommunications software systems.

Philosophy:

Philosophy involves the human quest for a more significant understanding of the world and the human experience. It involves logical thinking as does law school.

Logic:

Logic emphasizes evaluation of argument, development of practical applications of logic, and inductive and deductive reasoning. On law school exams, you must be able to argue both sides of every issue (utilizing the facts provided), apply the appropriate law to those facts, and reach a logical conclusion.

Suggested Speaking Courses:

Speech and Communications:

To improve your speaking skills, you should take Public Speaking courses, which will teach you the art of research, reasoning, and communication skills in delivering speeches, and for purposes of extemporaneous speaking.

Argumentation and Persuasion:

Other courses such as Argumentation and Persuasion are relevant if you are considering becoming a litigator, that is, one who advocates his or her client's case in court.

Debate:

If you show exceptional promise in public speaking courses, you should take Debate courses-they are quite effective in teaching you the art of persuasion.

Rhetoric:

If you are planning to enter politics after graduation from law school, you should take a course in rhetoric, defined as the effective use of words and/or artificial eloquence. Various politicians, including President Obama, are well-versed in this art. In fact, it's almost a prerequisite to getting elected-all those campaign promises!

Foreign Language:

You should take foreign language courses if you are considering a career in International Law. With the increasing emphasis on NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement), Spanish or French might be considered essential second languages.

Suggested Writing Courses:

Composition:

Lawyers need to be able to effectively communicate their thoughts in writing. This includes grammatical proficiency, sentence structure, spelling, and outlining and organizational skills for such purposes as writing briefs, memoranda, law school exams, and bar exams.

Journalism:

Some lawyers become journalists upon graduation from law school and some journalists attend law school to become lawyers. Each lends itself equally well to the practice of the other because both involve fact-gathering and presentation skills. Journalism includes writing basic types of news stories, magazine articles, and public relations writing including press releases, newsletters, brochures, and annual reports.

Literary Theory:

A course in literary theory would entail the writing of analytical papers employing a variety of critical methods of reading and interpretation. This critique of other literary works would demonstrate to a future attorney the most effective styles and expressions to promote his or her specific case.

Other Suggested Courses:

Interpersonal Courses:

Interpersonal skills are essential for success in the legal field or any other field where people help people. Whether it be working with other attorneys on a case involving numerous pages of complex documents, intelligently discussing the resolution of a client's problems, or advocating zealously before a judge and/or jury on behalf of your client, you must be able to speak effectively and persuasively. Therefore, excellent interpersonal skills are crucial.

Psychology:

Psychology constitutes the study of individual behavior, human growth and development, motivation, and behavior organization. You must understand the human psyche. This is especially true if you plan to practice as a public defender or prosecutor in the criminal law area. It is important that you be able to understand why a judge reached a particular decision and to correctly interpret the demeanor of the various jurors to determine whether they are favorably or unfavorably predisposed toward your client.

Sociology:

Sociology emphasizes the study of society, more specifically, group behavior, its structure, and processes. Social movements include the labor movement, gender movement, new religious or political movements, family patterns, urban and rural movements, race and ethnic group relations, medical sociology (that is, the physical, mental and social organization of health-care services and of the health profession), childhood, leisure, sports, aging, and other related topics.

This course is very important to the study of Constitutional law (especially the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment), Family Law (adoption cases), and Wills and Trusts (will contests and inheritance problems).

Anthropology:

This course emphasizes the origin of humans, including the nature and diversity of humanity, past and present-such as human evolution, prehistoric culture, ancient civilizations, race, language, and cultural traditions. By studying where humanity has been and what it has accomplished, perhaps we can better estimate where we are going and what the legal system can do to steady the course.

Political Science:

Political science courses emphasize the political system and how it works-federal, state and local, the three branches of American government (the legislative, executive, and judicial branches), foreign policy, constitutional law, and civil liberties. Other topics include public policy, public law, public administration, international relations and issues, and municipal government.

American History:

American history emphasizes the evolution of the United States from its infancy to its leadership role as one of the world's superpowers. Of special significance is the constitutional development of the federal government, evolution of the nation's economic system, emphasis on industrialization and urbanization, and the impact on socioeconomic and international developments. This course is a fundamental prerequisite to the understanding of Constitutional Law in law school.

Economics:

The study of law involves economic relationships among individuals, businesses, and governments. This can be better understood through knowledge of economics, which is generally divided into separate courses entitled macroeconomics and microeconomics.

Management and Marketing:

If you are planning to practice as a solo practitioner, you need to be familiar with marketing techniques for the successful "selling" of your firm. A management course would also be beneficial to teach you office management skills-a real asset whether you practice as part of a team or act alone.

Business Law:

Business law courses are not what they used to be. Students taking an introductory business law course entitled the Legal Environment of Business are now introduced to such concepts as civil procedure, antitrust law, consumer law, administrative law, employment law, environmental law, international law, business torts, constitutional law, labor law, alternative dispute resolution, business ethics, and intellectual property such as patents, copyrights, trademarks, and computer law, in addition to the old standbys such as contracts, sales, and torts.

Tax Accounting:

If you are contemplating practicing as a tax attorney or if the law school you're planning to attend requires income tax to graduate, you should consider taking tax accounting. The first tax accounting course considers the principles of income and current tax laws as they relate to the income tax problems of individuals. All of these courses provide an invaluable background for your future practice.

Professionalism:

To be effective, lawyers must also have a strong sense of professionalism, that is, ethics. Ethics courses teach students what constitutes right and wrong behavior, good and bad human conduct, and ethical principles as they relate to moral issues. A lot of people argue that you cannot teach someone to be ethical. We agree, but believe you can be made aware of ethics and the recognized schools of thought in this area. The study of ethics causes you to think more about the ramifications of your actions, which will hopefully result in more ethical decision making on your part.

Speed-Reading Course:

While you may find this suggestion rather amusing, you may wish that you had taken several speed-reading courses when you have to tackle the onerous task of reading 75 to 125 pages per night, and then briefing the assigned cases. There is a trick to reading rapidly and maintaining a high information retention rate and it can be learned.

Check around to determine which courses are the best buys and which really work. It will be time and money well spent.