Six Things You Can Expect from Master of Legal Studies Programs

While some MLS programs offer concentrations, all will provide some level of legal education. Depending on your specialization or track, your MLS program may include business law, entertainment, health care compliance or cybersecurity.

Here are some courses you might take to gain or expand your legal knowledge:

Legal professionals need to effectively communicate with their team, clients and the courts. They also need to back up their arguments with solid research. This is why some MLS programs incorporate research and writing into their curriculum. coursework may include:

Depending on your concentration, you might also take courses that are focused on an area of legal research, such as business or the environment.

This will benefit you if you want to become a paralegal or work in a law firm, because your duties may involve legal research and writing. Many other industries use legal writing principles. Patents, contracts and grants all require legal interpretation. No matter what your career goals, strong writing and research skills will help you stand out among other candidates.

The American Bar Association considers negotiation the primary tool for lawyers to solve client problems. Paralegals or legal assistants working with lawyers will likely also face clients on a daily basis. Even in non-legal industries companies may focus on fair agreement for sales, service contracts and other business transactions. You can be a valuable asset to your employer if you learn how to effectively negotiate. MLS coursework that may help with these skills includes:

There are also master’s in dispute resolution programs and concentrations in dispute resolution that focus on negotiation skills. Examples of courses within these programs include:

Good communication is the foundation for effective negotiation. Most MLS programs teach communication skills alongside negotiation skills with courses such as client interviewing and counseling and effective communication for litigators.

Organization skills include the ability to manage your schedule, complete tasks on time, break large projects into smaller tasks and successfully manage multiple projects at once. You will practice all of these skills in an MLS program by completing assignments on time and taking multiple courses at once. 

Legal matters are often complex, so organization skills are key for any career in the industry. Your employer may ask you to work on several matters at once, handle multiple documents or keep track of updates to existing laws. You need to demonstrate you can handle the workload.

Decision making goes hand-in-hand with critical thinking, and both skills are integral to legal matters. Master of Legal Studies coursework hones your ability to think critically by asking you to analyze legal principles and apply them to real or hypothetical situations. 

For example, in contract law, you’ll look at the foundational principles of contractual arrangements and how they’ve developed throughout history, then apply these concepts to modern contract law. 

While your MLS courses will mainly focus on technical skills like writing and research, “soft” skills such as empathy and persistence are also important to succeed in your chosen field. Most schools offer networking resources for current students. These may include professional organizations, virtual networking events or alumni mentors. Your professors and classmates are also a valuable source of connection.

The goal of networking is to connect you with a wide variety of people in the industry. These contacts may provide you with learning resources and job opportunities. For example, you might shadow an alumnus for a day to see if you’re interested in a similar career, or a professor might tell you about a job opening that was recently posted.