Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law has launched a Bachelor of Arts in Law, becoming only the fourth law school in the nation to offer an undergraduate degree in Law.
“We are excited to offer a bachelor’s degree in law to better serve undergraduate students interested in gaining deep knowledge of law—whether they want to become lawyers or use the knowledge of law to gain deeper understanding of how regulation impacts almost every area of American business and industry,” said Dean Dan Filler.
Undergraduate Law students will learn about the role of law in society (including questions of power, authority, inequality and justice), legal systems, and the development of legal doctrine through the intersection of laws, while honing professional skills such as legal reasoning, research and writing.
“Kline has always believed that a working knowledge of law is really important for everyone, so offering an undergraduate degree made a lot of sense,” said Rose Corrigan, associate dean for undergraduate education at the law school. “It’s linked to citizenship as well: how laws are made, how agencies implement laws and shape policies. Understanding how law works gives us the chance to shape good, just, participatory societies.”
The BA in Law major includes nine required courses (32 credits) and 28 credits of electives, up to 16 of which may be taken outside of Law. Law majors also complete a minor or second major, combining the general study of law with expertise in other subject areas such as Spanish, sociology, film & TV studies, mechanical engineering, environmental science, nursing, biomedical engineering, and psychology.
“There are some great creative mashups of fields,” Corrigan said. “It’s going to be really exciting to see where [students] go.”
While current Drexel students may now choose to join the major or minor, the program will welcome its first class of first-year students next fall.
“We’ve had a lot of enthusiasm,” Corrigan said. “Already students are picking up the law minor. And several undergraduate students have added the major, without even having a class yet.”
Me’Aira Nuni ’25, a Public Health major, has chosen the minor in Law to discover how the two fields intersect.
“There’s a recent initiative in Pennsylvania to create safe injection sites,” Nuni explained. “There’s a push and pull: who pays, what type of policy is implemented, how decisions are made. There are so many legal aspects that impact decisions.”
Nuni considers the minor an advantage for her future skills. “It’s a great opportunity,” she said. “I appreciate the initiative to offer something like this for people who don’t want to practice law but are using it as an informative tool.”
Zachary Groesbeck ’24, who’s co-majoring in Marketing along with Real Estate Management and Development, has also chosen to minor in Law.
“[At first] I wasn’t sure what I wanted to major in but had the eventual goal of law school. I originally picked up a minor in Real Estate Management and Development (REMD) and was wondering how to also dip my toes into legal studies while at Drexel,” Groesbeck said. “I heard about the introduction of the Law minor and decided to pick it up while upgrading my REMD minor to a co-major.”
Groesbeck kicked off his experience last year by taking “Law & Society,” one of the undergraduate law program’s foundational courses. “I absolutely love the minor in Law, and I am so grateful that it was introduced during my time as an undergraduate at Drexel. It offers a more encompassing and in-depth approach to learning about the legal world, in ways that will prepare me for my post-undergraduate studies in law school.”