Undergraduate Embedded Certificate in Pre-Law

The mission of the Pre-Law program is two-fold. The first aspect of our mission is to enable students to make an educated decision about whether to attend law school and embark on a career in law. Unlike most academic disciplines, law has no undergraduate major leading to a degree in the field. Accordingly, it can be difficult for a student majoring in any of our undergraduate programs to make an informed decision about becoming a lawyer. Students will have an idea about careers in their fields of study, or about graduate education in their fields, but students are unlikely to be in a position to make an informed decision about law practice or legal education. By the time a student completes the Law Science & Technology minor or the Pre-Law certificate, that student will be well positioned to decide on whether to become a lawyer. The program is designed to inform students who are interested in applying to law school and to inform students who want to understand elements of legal practice that are useful in other career choices.

The second aspect of our mission is to develop the skill set necessary for Georgia Tech students to excel in law school. This is different than the skill set emphasized in engineering or scientific majors. As law students, written communication skills are essential. Law students must learn to read large volumes of complex material, synthesize it with other material, and prepare a well-written analysis. To help develop these skills, many of our classes contain a significant writing component. While introducing students to the fundamentals of legal writing, we are necessarily practicing the fundamentals of good writing in general. This training will position our students to be competitive with their peers in law school.

Program of Study

Required course
PUBP 3000American Constitutional Issues3
or PUBP 3016 Judicial Process
or PUBP 3610 Pre-Law Seminar
or PUBP 4609 Legal Practice
Electives 39
Introduction to Computer Law
Survey of Telecommunications and the Law
Information Security Strategies and Policies
Privacy, Technology, Policy, and Law
CS 4803
Internet Law
Economics of Information, Transactions Costs, and Contracts
Economics of Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship
Law and Economics
History of American Business
United States Labor History
Law, Technology, and Politics
Human Rights in a Technological World
International Political Economy 1
International Law
INTA 4803
International Law
INTA 4803
International Human Rights
INTA 4803
National Security Law
INTA 4803
The Laws of War
ME 4803
Engineering Law and Ethics
ME 2803
Patent Preparation and Process
Legal, Social, Ethical Aspects of Business 2
Managing Human Resources within a Regulatory Environment 2
Principles of Commerical Law
International Business Law
Technology Law and Ethics
Legal Aspects of Real Estate
Law for Entrepreneurs
Business Taxation
MGT 4803
Business and Government Regulation
MGT 4803
Corporate Governance
MGT 4803
Legal Issues in Sports Management
Logic and Critical Thinking
PHIL 4803/PUBP 4803
Health Care Law, Policy, and Management/Ethics
PHIL 4803
Philosophical Analysis with Argument Mapping
American Constitutional Issues
Judicial Process
Pre-Law Seminar
Internet and Public Policy
Business and Government
Science, Technology, and Regulation
Legal Practice
Environmental Law
Technology Law, Policy, and Management
Internet Law
OLA Legal Internship
PUBP 4803
Biomedical Law, Policy, & Ethics
PUBP 4803
Biotechnology Law & Policy
PUBP 4803
Current Controversies
PUBP 4803
Race, Gender, and the Fourteenth Amendment
PUBP 4803
History of American Law
PUBP 4803
Intellectual Property Transactions
PUBP 4803
Law and Science
PUBP 4803
Legal Internship
PUBP 4803
Mock Trial
PUBP 4803
Science, Philosophy, and the Law
PUBP 4803
Transactional Law
PUBP 4803
Survey of Telecommunications and the Law
PUBP 4803
Sports Law and Public Policy
PUBP 4801
Advanced Intellectual Property Law
PUBP 4801
Legal Research and Writing
Environmental Law
Total Credit Hours12
  • At least 9 hours must consist of upper-level coursework (courses numbered 3000 or above).
  • Special topics courses set forth above may be counted toward the Pre-Law Certificate electives requirement. These courses may be 1-hour, 2-hour, 3-hour, or 4-hour courses. You may apply any combination of these courses toward satisfying the 9-hour Certificate electives requirement.
  • Special problems courses, as designated by the Director of the Law, Science & Technology Program on a case-by-case basis, may be counted toward the Pre-Law Certificate electives requirement. These courses may be 1-hour, 2-hour, 3-hour, or 4- hour courses. You may apply any combination of these courses toward satisfying the Certificate electives requirement, but you may not count more than 4 hours of special problems courses toward this requirement.
  • Courses specifically required by name and number in a student’s major degree program may not be counted toward the Pre-Law Certificate.
  • Courses applied to fulfill electives requirements for the student’s major (free electives, technical electives, humanities electives, social science electives, etc.) may be counted toward the Certificate.
  • No course applied to satisfy any requirement for the Pre-Law Certificate may be applied to satisfy any requirement for any other Certificate or Minor.
  • All courses applied to satisfy any requirement for the Pre-Law Certificate must be taken in residence at Georgia Tech.