Paralegal Studies Minor

Department of Political Science and International Relations
615-898-2708

The Paralegal Studies minor is designed for those who do not plan to attend law school but who would like to work as legal assistants in law offices, governmental agencies, or other law-related organizations. Such assistants typically do legal research and handle routine legal matters under the supervision of attorneys. The minor requires a total of 30 hours, but where appropriate, students are permitted to double count classes in their major and minor. There is no limit on the number of hours a student may take in a single discipline. Students interested in this minor should contact an advisor in the Department of Political Science and International Relations as early in their careers at MTSU as possible.

Interdisciplinary Minors

Interdisciplinary minors require the student to complete a minimum of 15 to 21 hours from a list of specific courses. Unless otherwise noted, a student may take no more than 6 hours of courses from a single department until he or she surpasses the required minimum number of hours necessary for completing the minor. Exceptions to this rule may be found within the discussions of several of the minors. In most cases, a student is also limited to just 3 hours of credit toward the minor in the same department or discipline in which he or she is taking a major. Except for the Paralegal Studies minor, no course may be counted both for major and minor credit. Students must fulfill all departmental prerequisites for any course within an interdisciplinary minor. In some cases, advisors may approve course substitutions within these program requirements.

Required Courses (15 hours)

PLEG 3010 - Litigation 3 credit hours
PLEG 3410 - Family Law 3 credit hours
PLEG 3420 - Torts 3 credit hours
PS 2440 - Law and the Legal System 3 credit hours
PS 3530 - Legal Writing and Research 3 credit hours

Electives (6 hours)

PLEG 4010 - Internship 3 credit hours
PS 4590 - Administrative Law 3 credit hours
BLAW 3400 - Legal Environment of Business 3 credit hours
BLAW 3430 - Commercial Law 3 credit hours
BLAW 3460 - Insurance Law 3 credit hours
BLAW 4470 - Real Property Law for Commerce and Agriculture 3 credit hours
BLAW 4490 - Industrial Relations Legislation 3 credit hours
BLAW 4500 - Employment Discrimination Law 3 credit hours
RIM 3700 - Copyright Law 3 credit hours
CJA 2400 - The Judicial Process 3 credit hours
CJA 3250 - Criminal Law 3 credit hours

Collateral Requirements (9 hours)

BCED 2330 - Word Processing Concepts 3 credit hours
INFS 2200 - Introduction to Microcomputing 3 credit hours
PS 1005 - Introduction to American Politics 3 credit hours