Law, Public Policy, and Society

Overview

The Associate in Arts for Transfer (AA-T) Area of Emphasis: Law, Public Policy and Society is a degree program designed to prepare students for the further study of law. The coursework required to earn this degree has been identified as preparation for law school upon completion of a bachelor’s degree. Students in this program will be introduced to the legal field and will gain an interdisciplinary understanding of legal concepts and policy issues related to diverse populations. This program emphasizes the development of skills essential in the legal profession, including communication, argumentation and critical thinking. As an interdisciplinary AA-T degree, this program includes core courses in several majors offered at four-year universities. Students are encouraged to further explore these other majors when selecting electives to complete this AA-T Area of Emphasis: Law, Public Policy and Society degree.

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Develop legal and critical-thinking skills in judicial issues.
2. Evaluate legal issues in a variety of different environments.
3. Analyze issues by application of relevant rules of law, ethical standards, and social mores.

Potential careers students may enter upon completion are as follows:

• Intellectual property lawyer
• Judge advocate in the U.S. military
• Compliance attorney
• Political lawyer or policy attorney
• Immigration attorney
• Elder law attorney
• Environmental lawyer
• Judicial clerk
• Administrative or regulatory attorney
• Trial lawyer
• Appellate lawyer
• Corporate lawyer
• Human rights or civil rights lawyer
• International lawyer
• Labor and employment lawyer
• Legal librarian
• Legal librarian
• Legal advisor
• Paralegal
• Politician
• Legal editor
• Law school counselor
• Professor
• Policy analyst
• Union organizer
• Contracts administrator
• Lobbyist
• Arbitrator
• Foreign service officer
• FBI agent
• CIA agent

Requirements

Associate Degree for Transfer Graduation Requirements

Associate Degrees for Transfer require students to meet the following requirements:

• Completion of 60 semester units or 90 quarter units of degree-applicable courses,
• Minimum overall grade point average of 2.0,
• Minimum grade of “C” (or “P”) for each course in the major, and
• Completion of Cal-GETC.

Students should consult a GWC counselor to select the best pathway to meet their educational goals. For students who intend to transfer, the choice of general education will be specific to both their major and transfer institution.