Is Psychology a Good Major for Law School?
Psychology is a good major for students looking to attend law school. Psych students learn a variety of hard and soft skills that they can apply to their legal studies.
Law school applicants have many choices regarding the degrees they pursue before attending law school. Although there aren't required pre-law school degree programs, some specific majors are preferred and make more valuable foundations for legal schooling than others.
Pursuing a psychology major can help future lawyers learn how clients' minds work. This knowledge can make them more sympathetic and empathetic. Despite having different coursework and concentrations, psych majors can learn many skills. The skills help students with law school admissions.
Why Psychology Is a Good Major For Law School
Neither the American Bar Association (ABA) nor the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) have a requirement of what undergraduate degrees are needed to apply for law school. Understanding the human mind is a valuable skill for lawyers to understand their clients and people on the other side of lawsuits or mediation efforts.
Beyond that understanding, a psychology degree can prepare graduates to work in the legal profession by teaching various valuable skills.
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Improved Judgement and Communication Skills
Even though many lawyers never go on to become judges, there is never a shortage of judgment calls that a lawyer needs to make. Psychology programs teach analytical skills that allow graduates to analyze others and themselves, which will be useful in working within the legal system.
Public speaking, critical reading comprehension, and writing skills that psych majors learn make psychology one of the most valuable majors for law school applicants.
Better Problem-Solving Skills
Most legal work is directly related to problem-solving. Critical thinking skills and logical reasoning are valuable tools for pre-law students. They can use these skills to understand clients and themselves. Many career paths involve logical thinking, but few require the ability to assess others quite like a legal career does.
Strengthened Understanding of Human Behaviors and Motivations
Judgments of potential clients are enhanced by understanding human behavior. This kind of understanding cannot be taught in a law program. Psychology as a degree program focuses on understanding the brain. Other degree programs don't focus on this understanding, especially pre-law majors.
Comprehension of Societal Pressures and Influences
People don't act in vacuums, especially when making decisions that can affect their legal standing. Understanding what the mind does when pressure and society influence clients can help law school students develop empathy.
Considerable Research Skills
Both psychological and law careers are full of intense research. To earn a law degree, you will have to spend hours and hours reading past legal decisions. A psych major will study medical research methods that can be applied to law school and beyond.
Types of Law Specializations That Benefit From Psychology
Many law specializations benefit from a psychology degree and certain concentrations benefit from a psychological background. The skills learned in a psychology program will directly apply to these subsets of law and give solid foundations that other degree programs can't.
Health Law
Health law revolves around laws related to health care. Health law ranges from local to federal ordinances and laws. Clinical psychology practices are included in health care and many laws regarding privacy and other healthcare rulings. Understanding the ways that psychology is used in healthcare settings is beneficial to helping clients navigate the laws in this highly specialized industry.
Environmental Law
Even though environmental law is more focused on the laws related to pollution and other impacts that human action has on Earth's ecosystems, there is still value in understanding the human element associated with these actions. Humans don't normally act without motivation and understanding why a client took a particular action can help you build a case.
Family Law
Family dynamics are complicated, especially when dealing with elements of divorce law. Although law school can prepare students to understand the legal aspects of these proceedings, a bachelor's degree in psychology provides deep knowledge of how people think and act in various situations. Psychology also has specializations that can help you focus on learning about family dynamics to prepare for a career in family law.
Criminal Law
The criminal justice system is one of the most well-known areas of law. Understanding the mental impact that the judicial system has on individuals is crucial. People react to past trauma in a variety of ways, sometimes those reactions lead to actions that result in criminal activity. Whether you work as a defense attorney or prosecutor, learning about the motives and triggers that can cause people to act in certain ways will be helpful.
Education Law
Education law is a field of study that focuses on education rights. Education lawyers advocate for fair and equal treatment for students, regardless of non-education-related criteria. Having a background in psychology can help education lawyers relate to students with special needs or from traumatic homes to help advocate for education equity.
Is a Psychology and Law Double Major Good for Law School?
Many pre-law students pursue a double major involving law and another undergrad program to prepare them for law school. Common complementary degrees include political science, English, and philosophy majors, but psychology is one of the best to pair with an undergraduate law degree.
The combination of fundamental legal studies and social sciences, like psychology, gives students a better understanding of the law and the people who are affected by it. A psychology major has multiple hard and soft skills that can help with a legal career.
Psychology students learn valuable skills around research, critical thinking, and logical reasoning which students can take into their graduate law programs. Although these skills can be learned elsewhere, the added context that comes with a psych major can't be.
