Master of Legal Studies

The law touches every career. Accordingly, students that apply to the Master of Legal Studies (MLS) come from a diverse range of professional backgrounds and are looking to move up the ladder in their current career or to pursue new and exciting career options.

The online Master of Legal Studies at Arizona State University is a unique advanced legal degree for non-lawyers. Offered through ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, this 30-credit program enables professionals to gain a foundation in U.S. law in as little as one year and without pursuing a full law degree.

The MLS program is a customizable degree with nine possible focus areas (each focus area is four courses in a particular subject):

• Conflict resolution.
• Construction law.
• Corporate and health care compliance.
• Contract management.
• Criminal law.
• HR and employment law.
• Intellectual property law.
• Law and sustainability.
• Sports law and business.

The program explores the relationship between law and a wide variety of topics that are important to fields such as business, criminal justice, engineering, sports, sustainability, education, banking, intellectual property, entrepreneurship, human resources and many others. International students will find the MLS program to be a valuable resource for gaining a general understanding of U.S. law and how decisions are made within the U.S. legal structure. Graduates that earn an MLS degree will have a basic understanding of U.S. law, legal structures, and legal reasoning.

Additionally, graduates will be able to apply the law to situations that affect their professional and personal lives, including an understanding of when a legal issue is present that requires an attorney to be involved. The skills and expertise developed in the program is unique and will help differentiate graduates from others in their career fields.

The Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law offers the master’s degree program for students who do not wish to practice law, but believe that education in the law would be beneficial to their advancement in their careers or in other fields.

Admission to the program is competitive.

In order to be admitted to the MLS program, you must have completed a bachelor’s degree from an accredited four-year college or university in the United States or attained a comparable degree from a foreign institution.

Graduate school entrance exams (e.g. LSAT, GRE, GMAT) are not required. All MLS applicants are required to complete the MLS application online at law.asu.edu/MLSApply.