Legal Practice
- Certificate
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Practical Skills and Professional Excellence
The Legal Practice Certificate is designed to provide comprehensive, practical training in legal reasoning, document preparation, and professional ethics. It includes hands-on experience in crafting legal documents, a survey of key legal practice areas and ethical issues, and a semester-long internship in a law office to apply and refine these skills.
The Legal Practice Certificate is for:
- undergraduate students who are part of our pre-law program or planning to attend law school and aiming to gain practical insights into legal principles
- any student or professional seeking to assist attorneys and support client representation in various legal fields.
Related Majors
Students pursuing a degree in these related majors may be interested in the Legal Practice Certificate:
Undergraduate Programs
Program Benefits
Practical Appreciation of Law You will gain a practical understanding of how legal principles taught using the Socratic Method in the classroom are applied to real-world problems.
Enhanced Representation Skills: You will learn how to translate classroom knowledge into high-quality representation for clients facing real-world issues.
Career Advantages: A practical understanding of the law will give you a considerable edge when seeking positions with law firms and government agencies.
Curriculum
You can earn the Legal Practice Certificate by completing four courses during your undergraduate studies, all of which can also count as criminology electives.
Two courses are offered online, and the third is scheduled outside typical work hours, ensuring accessibility for both working professionals and full-time students.
- Legal Reasoning and Analysis: This in-person course focuses on analyzing legal problems using statutes and precedents. Students will tackle hypothetical cases, explore different arguments, and learn statutory interpretation principles.
Because group analysis of legal problems is a common and effective method used by law firms and government agencies to resolve complex issues, this is an in-person class. Group interaction will be scheduled to fit participants' availability. - Crafting Legal Documents: This online course covers effective legal research, compelling document writing, and authoritative source citation. Students will create documents like civil complaints, motions in criminal prosecution, and sales agreements, learning to present them clearly and authoritatively for court review.
- Survey of Legal Practice: This online course covers legal ethics and key areas of practice, including criminal and civil litigation, property law, and wills & estates. Practicing attorneys will present insights into these fields. The course will conclude with students preparing a PowerPoint presentation on a topic of interest that may address ethical challenges.
- Practicum: Students will complete a one-semester internship at a law office in their chosen field and submit a report on their experience.
Admission Requirements
Admission for undergraduates requires the satisfactory completion of at least two of the following courses offered at Saint Vincent or comparable courses offered at another institution:
PS339: Constitutional Law -National Powers
PS369: Constitutional Law-Civil Rights and Liberties
CLS227: Criminal Law and Process
CLS 230:Constitutional Criminal Procedure
BA340: Business Law
CLS205: Criminal Trial Evidence
CLS375: International Criminal Law
CLS344: White Collar Crime
CLS376: Federal Criminal Law
CLS440: Constitutional Litigation and Analysis
PS390: Environmental Law
PS345: Domestic Public Policy
Admission to the Legal Practice Certificate Program for non-traditional students requires some evidence of practical exposure to the study/practice of law, either from prior course work or experience working in a law or government office.
For more information about admission to the Legal Practice Certificate program, contact gradadmission@stvincent.edu