Law and Society
Study the legal and policy underpinnings of collective life.
Where Theoretical Concerns Meet Practical Applications
Public Policy and Advocacy
Oberlin’s Law and Justice Scholars Program is a yearlong program that provides students interested in legal careers with relevant academic and work experience.
Pre-Law and Legal Careers
Law schools want to see the kind of academically serious, socially engaged students Oberlin is known to cultivate. Our pre-law advisors support students as they prepare for the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and the application process.
Undergraduate Research
I felt discouraged because I believed my research interests were too niche. That quickly changed when I found a professor who encouraged me to follow my passion.
Featured Courses
Judicial Simulation
This is a simulation-based course where participants will simulate the roles of lawyers and Supreme Court justices. The central aspect of this course is exploring judicial selection, judicial procedure, and the dynamics of decision-making behavior. How do Supreme Court nominees get on the Court? How do Supreme Court justices accept a case? How do the justices make decisions? The topics covered in this course include oral arguments, opinion writing, and the constraining role of precedent.
- Taught by
- Ali Masood
Law and Society: An Overview
Law frames the way we live as a society, from providing practical resolutions to contentious issues to guiding policies that affect how we relate to one another. This course introduces students to various types of law and fields of inquiry that examine how law and society impact one another. Film viewing required.
- Taught by
- Joyce Kloc Babyak
Religious Outsiders and the American State
This course explores the relationship between select outsider religions – Native Americans, Jews, Catholics, Muslims, Mormons, Buddhists, and new religious movements – and the American state from the beginnings of the nation until the present day. In a country that is premised on the separation of church and state but that also includes diverse religious communities, the place of religion in public life and of the government’s role in regulating and defining religion have long been contested. In this course, we will explore these questions in relationship to immigration, education, national security, first amendment jurisprudence, and more.
- Taught by
- Shari Rabin
Politics & Power of International Law
From climate change and poverty, to war and repression, we increasingly seek legal solutions to major global problems. And yet, international law has not developed the kind of enforcement mechanism that anchors domestic regimes. The course explores this paradox while examining what international is, and what its impact on global politics can be.
- Taught by
- Joshua Freedman
Student Profiles
A Tribute to Toni Morrison
Iesha-LaShay Phillips ’22, a law and society and Africana studies double major, was featured on the Today Show’s special on the life, legacy, and impact of author Toni Morrison.
Flexing the Reporting Muscles
At Oberlin, Jenna Gyimesi ’19 was the news editor for the Oberlin Review, a varsity field hockey player, and a triple major in politics, law and society, and philosophy. Now, she is working toward a master’s in journalism at Columbia University.
Double-Degree Beebe Fellow
At Oberlin, Max Bessesen ’16 majored in law and society and jazz saxophone performance. After graduation, he was awarded a Beebe fellowship to study in India.
