Not Applicable

The Legal Studies program is designed for students interested in the study of law and legal issues or for those interested in a social sciences-oriented degree that emphasizes American or International governance, civil and criminal processes, legal systems, and the theory and philosophy of justice.

-Define law and evaluate the its central role in social, political and economic systems.
-Demonstrate an understanding of legal principles; establish an understanding of the evolution of law over time.
-Evidence of comprehension of the U.S. judicial process, comparing and contrasting this system with other nations’ systems.
-Identify the key issues and concepts in the United States Constitutional framework.
-Understand criminal law foundations, practice, and cases; distinguish why society criminalizes certain behaviors; recall sentencing and the rights of the accused.
-Extrapolate civil law foundations, practice, and cases; analyze the principles and elements of negligence and torts; decipher of how torts are prevented, avoided, mitigated, or redressed.
-Use case methodology to gain understanding of legal concepts and issues.
-Research, develop, and defend legal positions through professional written communications.
-Analyze the processes, ethics, and procedures of the modern legal practice.

Senior Seminar: The Capstone course is a senior level course designed to allow the student to review, analyze and integrate the work the student has completed toward a degree in Legal Studies. The student will complete an approved academic project or paper that demonstrates mastery of their program of study in a meaningful culmination of their learning and to assess their level of mastery of the stated outcomes of their degree requirements.

Course objectives:
A. Describe the nature of pro bono work and the competing interests of being a “plaintiff’s lawyer.”
B. Analyze the role and authority of the judicial system in interpreting the rights of same sex marriages.
C. Elucidate how the law can infringe on personal liberty.
D. Construe how multilateralism has begun to form Supreme Court precedent.
E. Differentiate between the three branches of government and identify their relationships, conflicts, and roles.
F. Comprehend the impact of copyright and privacy in the digital age.

Evaluation:
There are a total of 100 points for this course broken down as follows:
-Assignments               30 points 
-Midterm Examination  30 points
-Research Paper  40 points

Senior Seminar Results:
In 2009, 100% have passed the Senior Seminar course.  There were no students enrolled in this course prior to 2009

The Measure of Academic Proficiency and Progress (MAPP) process is a component of the Learning Outcomes Assessment Program at the American Public University System.  This graduation requirement was established to assess the outcomes of our general education program and to improve on the quality of instruction and learning efforts.  All undergraduate students are required to take the MAPP test, a nationally sponsored test by the Educational Testing Service (ETS).  The focus of the MAPP is on the academic skills developed through general education or core courses, rather than on the knowledge acquired about the subjects taught in the core.  The exam is designed to test college-level reading, college-level writing, critical thinking and mathematics within the context of the humanities, social sciences and natural sciences.  Questions do not ask for recall of specific information but, instead, test a student's ability to read carefully, make judgments about clarity, correctness, organization of material, think critically about issues and arguments, and work effectively with mathematics.

Results are available at http://www.apus.edu/community-scholars/learning-outcomes-assessment/reports/academic-profile-results/index.htm