Program Requirements for Master of Legal Studies

Applicable only to students admitted during the 2025-2026 academic year.

Master of Legal Studies

School of Law.

Graduate Degree

Admissions Requirements.

Master of Legal Studies

Advising

Students will be assigned an academic advisor upon acceptance into the program and should meet with their advisor at least once a semester to review their progress towards graduation. The registrar will conduct a semesterly degree progress report which can be reviewed with the academic advisor. Students may also consult with faculty in their area of study.

Specializations:

To earn a specialization, a student must earn at least 10 units of credit from the course list provided for each specialization, including units earned for any required specialization courses.

The current specializations are:

  1. Business Law
  2. Criminal Law & Policy
  3. Employment & Human Resources Law
  4. Entertainment & Media Law
  5. Environmental Law
  6. Government & National Security Law
  7. Health Law & Policy
  8. Law & Technology
  9. Public Interest Law

With the approval of the Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Professional Programs, students may develop their own individualized specialization, but individualized specializations must be materially different from any of the existing standard specializations.

A specialization is not required for Master of Legal Studies degree. Students may choose to pursue a general course of study and not earn a specialization designation.

For additional information, students should consult the program’s website.

Specialization Course Requirements:

To earn a specialization, at least 10 units must be completed in the specialization area. In addition, the following courses are required to earn each specialization:

  1. Business Law: Law 115. Business Law for Non-Lawyers OR Law 230. Business Associations
  2. Criminal Law & Policy
    1. At least two courses (for a total of eight credits) must be selected from the following core course options:
      1. Law 202, Criminal Procedure: Investigations (4 units)
      2. Law 211, Evidence (4 units) [Note that M.L.S. students would be given permission to enroll in the Evidence section created for LL.M. students]
      3. Law 309, Criminal Law (4 units)
      4. Law 295, Criminal Procedure: Adjudication (4 units)
    2. Up to one course may be selected toward the ten credits required from this list. Note that priority enrollment will not be granted for seminar courses for M.L.S. students:
      1. Law 269, National Security Law
      2. Law 296, Criminal Procedure: Habeas Corpus
      3. Law 298, International Criminal Law
      4. Law 299, Federal White Collar Crime
      5. Law 389, Prison Law and Policy
      6. Law 429, Capital Punishment in America
      7. Law 449, Business Crime
      8. Law 503, Current Topics in Criminal Law
      9. Law 529, Criminal Procedure: Policing Poverty
      10. Law 534, Sentencing Law and Policy
      11. Law 545, Suing the Police
      12. Law 547, Criminal Law and Psychology
      13. Law 551, Philosophy of Punishment (Law and Philosophy Fellow)
      14. Law 593, Preventative Detention
      15. Law 613, The Criminal (In)Justice System
      16. Law 614, Global Perspectives on Criminal Procedure
      17. Law 629, Topics in Post-Conviction Law and Policy
      18. Law 657, Contemporary Issues Facing the International Criminal Court
      19. Law 658, Human Rights and War Crimes Digital Investigations
      20. Law 668, The Eighth Amendment Punishments Clause
      21. Law 669, Law and Psychology: Wrongful Convictions (Visiting Professor)
      22. Law 685, Principled Prosecution
      23. Law 697, Gun Control
      24. Law 952, Re-Envisioning the Lawyer’s Role: Trauma Informed Lawyering and Restorative/Transformative Justice
      25. Law 987, Business Crime (Visiting Professor)
      26. Law 214, Civil Rights
      27. Law 273, International Human Rights Law
      28. Law 276, Federal Indian Law
      29. Law 331, Immigration Law
      30. Law 541, Problem Solving in the Public Interest [Subject to Enrollment Availability]
      31. Law 542, Race, Sexuality, and the Law
      32. Law 645, Race Conscious Remedies
  1. Employment & Human Resources Law: Law 261. Employment Law
  2. Entertainment & Media Law: Law 305. Entertainment Law OR Law 683. News Media Law in the Digital Age
  3. Environmental Law: Law 290. Environmental Law & Policy
  4. Government & National Security Law: None
  5. Health Law & Policy: Law 326. Health Law & Policy
  6. Law & Technology: 1) Law 307. Intellectual Property; or 2) Law 109. Intellectual Property: Copyright and Trademark; or 2) Law 306. Patent Law AND Law 302. Copyright Law
  7. Public Interest Law: One course from “Substantive Law” and one course from “Inequality.”
    1. Substantive Law
      1. Law 260. Labor Law I
      2. Law 261. Employment Law
      3. Law 267. Federal Indian Law
      4. Law 273. International Human Rights Law
      5. Law 282. Education Law and Policy
      6. Law 285. Local Government Law
      7. Law 286. Land Use
      8. Law 290. Environmental Law and Policy
      9. Law 293. Public Natural Resources Law
      10. Law 295. Adjudicative Criminal Procedure: Bail to Jail
      11. Law 301. Art and Cultural Property Law
      12. Law 316. Disability Law
      13. Law 317. Family Law
      14. Law 319. Election Law
      15. Law 321. Legislative and Regulation
      16. Law 326. Health Law and Policy
      17. Law 331. Immigration Law
      18. Law 350. Energy Law
      19. Law 363. Tax-Exempt Organizations
      20. Law 380. State and Local Taxation
      21. Law 383. Political Asylum and Refugee Law
      22. Law 389. Prison Law and Policy
      23. Law 440. Introduction to Food Law and Policy
    2.  Inequality
      1. Law 214. Civil Rights
      2. Law 266. Critical Race Theory
      3. Law 318. Law and Sexuality
      4. Law 325. Public Benefits Law and Anti-Poverty Policy
      5. Law 329. Women and the Law
      6. Law 332. Immigrants’ Rights
      7. Law 376. Law and Dissent
      8. Law 429. Capital Punishment in America
      9. Law 507. Labor Law and Social Policy
      10. Law 509. Indigenous Peoples, Sustainability, and Climate Change
      11. Law 558. Political Crimes and Legal Systems
      12. Law 566. Laws of War & the War (s) on Terror
      13. Law 584. Human Rights and Sexual Politics
      14. Law 589. Strategies for Success Human Rights Advocacy
      15. Law 619. Environmental Justice Law
      16. Law 629. Topics in Post-Conviction Law and Policy
      17. Law 637. Good (Native) Governance
      18. Law 645. Race Conscious Remedies
      19. Law 653. Advanced Critical Race Theory
      20. Law 655. Feminist Legal Theory
      21. Law 667. Voting Rights
      22. Law 668. The 8th Amendment Punishments Clause
      23. Law 670. The Sociology of Law
      24. Law 674. Trafficking in Human Beings: Law and Policy
      25. Law 677. Muslims, Race and Law

Foreign Language Requirement

None.

Course Requirements

Degree requirements: To complete the degree, a minimum total of 26 units of coursework with a cumulative grade point average of 3.0 or higher is required.

Core Curriculum: The following courses are required:

  1. Law 111. Introduction to American Law
  2. Law 112. Private Law: Property and Contract
  3. Law 113. Public Law
  4. Law 114. Legal Analysis and Communication
  5. Law 115. Business Law for Non-Lawyers (OR Law 116. The Civil Dispute Resolution System OR Law 230. Business Associations)

Registration Requirement: Every student is required to enroll in at least three (3) units of study each semester and may not enroll in more than sixteen (16) units each semester. A student who completes a course that concludes before the end of the semester (e.g. a J-Term course) will earn those units even if the student later drops all full-semester length courses and falls below the three (3) units threshold. A student may petition the program’s Assistant Dean to exceed the sixteen (16) unit maximum with good cause. The maximum number of intensive January term courses a student may take during one January term is two (2) for a total of no more than three (3) units of credit. For purposes of calculating maximum units during spring semester, completed units during a UCLA Law January Term shall not be included.

Medical Doctor (M.D.) and Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.)

M.D.-M.L.S Articulated Degree Program requires the completion of M.L.S. Course Requirements as stated above, in addition to the requirements for the M.D. degree.

Attendance Requirements:

1. A Master of Legal Studies student who fails to attend classes for two consecutive weeks or a total of ten instructional days during the semester (or the equivalent), without the clearance of their instructors whose classes are missed, may be subject to dismissal from the program by the Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Professional Programs and the Dean of Students. A student so dismissed may appeal the decision to the Graduate Studies Committee. A professor may create stricter attendance policies for any given course.

2. For in person courses:

  1. A student’s remote attendance via livestream or access to a video recording of a class meeting or meetings shall be permitted only if approved by the UCLA Center for Accessible Accommodation(CAE)
  2. In all other cases, the law school’s expectation is that students will attend class in person, even when it is not convenient for them to do so. If the course instructor chooses, the instructor has discretion to grant exceptions and provide access to live streams or class recordings to students for reasons such as an illness, personal obligations, or a family emergency. But the student’s requests to attend class remotely via livestream or access to video recordings should not cumulatively exceed 16% of a course’s class meetings.
  3. Any student’s request to attend more than 16% cumulatively of the course’s class meetings remotely via livestream or access to video recordings requires approval from the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs after consultation with the instructor. The Assistant Dean may grant this approval only in exceptional circumstances. In any event, the student may not be approved to attend more than 33% of the course’s total class meetings remotely via livestream or access to video recordings.

Credits for Internship: With the approval of the Assistant Dean, students may earn credits for relevant internship placements based on the number of hours worked in the placement. Any credits earned for internship hours will not count towards the 26-unit graduation requirement. Students enrolled in internships must simultaneously enroll in a one-unit internship seminar. Credit earned for the internship seminar will count toward the 26-unit graduation requirement and the 10-unit specialization requirement (assuming the internship is appropriate for the area of specialization).

Teaching Requirements

None.

Field Experience

None.

Capstone Plan

There are several ways to complete the capstone requirement:

  1. Complete a seminar course in the field of specialization and a substantial research paper (20-50 pages with multiple drafts) in satisfaction of the seminar requirement, earning a grade of B or better; or
  2. Complete a substantial project in conjunction with the Capstone Seminar, earning a grade of B or better.
  3. Participate in a substantial project as part of one of the School of Law’s Policy Clinics, earning a grade of B or better.

Thesis Plan

None.

Time-To-Degree

Students must finish the degree within four academic years.

DEGREE NORMATIVE ATC (Semesters) NORMATIVE TTD (Semesters) MAXIMUM TTD (Semesters)
M.L.S.T 2 (Full-Time)
4 (Part-Time)		 2 (Full-Time)
4 (Part-Time)		 8

Academic Disqualification and Appeal of Disqualification

University Policy

A student who fails to meet the above requirements may be recommended for academic disqualification from graduate study. A graduate student may be disqualified from continuing in the graduate program for a variety of reasons. The most common is failure to maintain the minimum cumulative grade point average (3.00) required by the Academic Senate to remain in good standing (some programs require a higher grade point average). Other examples include failure of examinations, lack of timely progress toward the degree and poor performance in core courses. Probationary students (those with cumulative grade point averages below 3.00) are subject to immediate dismissal upon the recommendation of their department. University guidelines governing academic disqualification of graduate students, including the appeal procedure, are outlined in Standards and Procedures for Graduate Study at UCLA.

Special Departmental or Program Policy

Grading courses P/NC:

Classes graded exclusively as P/NC (the Division of Graduate Division’s equivalent of S/U) count towards the graduation requirements of the degree (e.g. Law 111. Introduction to American Law).

Additionally, Students may prospectively elect to be graded on a Pass/No Credit basis in no more than one additional (1) course, carrying no more than four (4) semester units of credit.  This option must be elected by the last day of instruction.

The above option applies to courses in which letter grades would otherwise be assigned.

This option, once elected, shall not be revocable or transferable, even if hindsight proves conclusively that a different choice would have been more beneficial.   The course chosen with this election will count towards the graduation requirements towards the degree.