The College of Law

For more information about degree offerings by the faculty of the College of Law, visit the College of Law webpage. For information on the College of Law’s J.D. program, see the College of Law Bulletin.

The College of Law offers students opportunities for small class sizes, one-on-one interactions with professors and individualized career counseling. Professors and students enjoy newly-renovated facilities that include state-of-the-art electronic classroom technology. Academic life is enriched by the College of Law’s many lectures, conferences, and programs which are open to the entire Tulsa community.

The College of Law offers unique opportunities for undergraduate students at The University of Tulsa: The undergraduate Law, Policy and Social Justice Minor  and the Business and Law Accelerated Program .

Law, Policy and Social Justice Minor

The undergraduate Law, Policy and Social Justice Minor  at The University of Tulsa College of Law has the general aim of making the law a centerpiece for interdisciplinary inquiry into the diverse ways in which cultures-notably, but not exclusively, American society-have sought to achieve order and justice through appeals to recognized authority. The subject of law as a field worthy of study is widely acknowledged at The University of Tulsa but until now has been accessible mainly to J.D. students who pursue a professional degree in the College of Law or to undergraduates who take courses that include legal subject matter but typically are ancillary to a chosen concentration in the humanities or business. The law is much more than either of these applications. Instead, it provides a way to think through a different intellectual lens about the evolution of society and the problems that threaten fairness, justice, and inclusiveness in society. Social history; conceptions of social conformity; juridical expectations regarding rights, obligations, and interpersonal relations; evolving ideas of justice and punishment from cross-cultural perspectives and from perspectives of history are all revealed through study of the law.

The Law, Policy and Social Justice Minor  enables students to explore law as a diverse human effort to achieve collective order without sacrificing individuality or the freedoms of discrete and insular minorities. The use of law as an instrument of policy for effecting change and improvement in human societies is examined in historical and present-day contexts, and in descriptive and normative modes of inquiry. Areas that students may pursue through coursework in the minor include, for example, morality, responsibility, theories of punishment, the American legal system, international law, legal and political philosophy, literature, the death penalty, sex crimes, climate and the environment, copyrights and intellectual property, and the internet as a space both for self-expression and for piracy and other controversial activities.

Business and Law Accelerated Law Program

Through a collaborative program with the College of Law and the Collins College of Business, selected students can complete their undergraduate degree and a J.D. in six years. At the end of their first year in law school and the completion of 124-125 applicable semester hours, students in the program will be awarded a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (B.S.B.A.) degree with a major in business and law.  Students in the Collins College of Business are eligible to apply for admission to the Business and Law Accelerated Law Program in the fall of their third year of undergraduate study at The University of Tulsa. Admission is highly selective. Visit the College of Law Business and Law Accelerated Law Program page for requirements for applicants and the Accelerated Business and Law Program for Exceptional Students  page for curricular requirements.

For more information about this program, contact April Fox, Associate Dean and Director of Admissions, TU College of Law, at april-fox@utulsa.edu, or Adrien Bouchet, Chair of the Department of Management and Marketing in the Collins College of Business, at adrien-bouchet@utulsa.edu.

Pre-law Study

Information about pre-law programs offered by other Colleges at The University of Tulsa may be found on the Pre-law  page.

Programs

Minor

• •  Law, Policy and Social Justice Minor

Courses

Law

• LAWU 2013 The Law, Ethics and Psychology of Responsibility

  
  (3 hours) Block Two

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  Examines philosophical, psychological, and neuroscientific debates about the possibility of responsibility, with particular emphasis on how these debates apply to criminal and tort law.
• LAWU 2023 Steal This Course: Piracy from the High Seas to the Internet

  
  (3 hours)

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  Explores many kinds of “piracy,” beginning with piracy on the high seas and emphasizing intellectual-property piracy, lawful and unlawful, in today’s Internet culture. Readings include Robert Louis Stevenson’s novel Treasure Island (1883), Lawrence Lessig’s Remix (2008), and materials on YouTube, Google, and other media. Students will complete specified writing assignments.
• LAWU 3003 The Art of Analytical Thinking

  
  (3 hours)

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  Teaches critical thinking across the spectrum of disciplines, asking why certain arguments are persuasive and others are not. Students will examine the practice of law as a competitive sport of persuasion; the lawyering process in litigation; cognitive theory and analytical thinking in law; and analytical tools for building the client’s case. The course will conclude with the nexus between analysis and rhetoric, and rhetoric and the game of persuasion.
• LAWU 3023 Copyright in the Digital Age

  
  (3 hours)

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  Explores the fundamentals of United States copyright law, including the subject matter of copyrights; ownership and transfer of copyrights; duration of copyrights; the fair use doctrine and other limitations on the copyright owner’s exclusive rights; copyright infringement; and remedies for infringement. Attention will be given to digital technologies.
• LAWU 3082-3 Law and Literature

  
  (2-3 hours)

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  Libel law, obscenity law, and copyright law are explored and compared to corresponding present-day regimes in the United States. Topics involving each of these areas include The Oscar Wilde trials of 1895, United States v. One Book Called Ulysses, and Lawsuits by the Estate of James Joyce against individuals and entities for copyright infringement.
• LAWU 3393 Politics of the Global Commons

  
  (3 hours) Block Two

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  Examines contemporary governance issues and policy pertaining to the environment, ecosystems,oceans, outer space, and the poles - spaces that constitute the global commons. How are problems at the global commons likely to affect human wellbeing and security? Same as POL 3393 .
• LAWU 4133 Legal and Political Theory of Thomas Aquinas

  
  (3 hours)

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  A study of Thomas Aquinas’ treatment of law and politics. Topics include the nature of practical reason, authority, types of law, and kinds of political regimes. Same as REL 4033 . 
• LAWU 4162 Climate Change

  
  (2 hours)

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  Covers domestic and international legal and public policy issues related to climate change, including:  climate science, risk and uncertainty; political responses to climate concerns; theory and operationalization of international cooperative mitigation strategies; domestic mitigation strategies including regulation of greenhouse gas emissions, proposed legislation and regional pacts; and issues related to climate change adaptation.
• LAWU 4163 Philosophy of Natural Law and Natural Right

  
  (3 hours)

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  An introduction to the Western natural law tradition. The course is grounded in a study of Thomas Aquinas on natural law, and proceeds to examine discussions by Hobbes, Locke, Kant,
  Fuller, and Hart. Same as PHIL 4163 /REL 4163 .
• LAWU 4173 Cybersecurity Law and Policy

  
  (3 hours)

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  Introduction to the legal, policy, technical and logical dimensions of information security (computer systems and networks). Selected topics include data security regulation, security breach law, cybersecurity litigation, anti-hacking laws, emerging threats and vulnerabilities, law enforcement and the encryption debate and cyberwarfare. No technical background is required.
• LAWU 4183 Technology Law

  
  (3 hours)

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  Introduction to the challenges presented by the relationship between law, policy, ethics, emerging technologies, and disruptive innovation. Selected topics include: smartphones, autonomous weapon systems, domestic drones, robotics, driverless cars, cyberwarfare, the Internet of Things, social media, Big Data analytics, the sharing economy, and 3-D printing. No technical background is required.
• LAWU 4403 Criminal Justic and Public Policy

  
  (3 hours)

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  Addresses how criminal law and procedure affect criminal justice policy. Various topics are covered by examining relevant legal rules and historical, philosophical, economic, and empirical perspectives. Through working with practictioners, advocates, and policymakers, students will examine how rules survive contact with the real world and possibilities for changing rules to make criminal justice systems fairer and more just.
• LAWU 4861 Independent Research

  
  (1 hour)

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  Students will research and write a paper on a topic within the law, policy and social justice minor program.  Program advisor must approve the topic prior to enrollment.
• LAWU 4972-3 Seminar

  
  (2 hours)

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  Students may choose from a variety of limited-enrollment seminars that provide in-depth study of particular legal areas. Offerings vary each semester.