Curriculum

Overview

The Master of Science in Law is a part-time program structured for working professionals. To complete the program, you must earn 30 credits spread over four semesters, with a focus in one of the offered specialty areas: Environmental Law, Health Care Law, Cybersecurity Law, or Homeland Security and Crisis Management Law.

New cohorts begin each fall for all specialty areas. A spring start is offered for our Master of Science in Cybersecurity Law and Master of Science in Homeland Security and Crisis Management Law programs. Students complete the program in about 16 months, including a summer semester.

During the first two semesters, you will take foundational courses, research and writing classes, and a survey of your chosen specialization. During the last two semesters, you will take seminars in your specialty area and work on a faculty-supervised capstone project. A sample schedule is included below, and we encourage you to review course descriptions for more details.

Sample Program Schedule

First Semester	Cr.	Third Semester	Cr.
US Law and Legal System	3	Course or Seminar in Specialty	3
Legal Methods	3	Course or Seminar in Specialty	3
Legal Research	2	Dispute Resolution & Negotiation	2
Second Semester	Cr.	Fourth Semester	Cr.
Public Law & the Regulatory Process	3	MS in Law Course or Seminar	3
Survey Course in Specialty	3	Capstone Project in Specialty	4
Ethics in Law & Public Policy	1
Total Credits	15	Total Credits	15

Learning Objectives

Students will develop an understanding of the law within their chosen field while simultaneously gaining a fluency in the principles and modes of analysis that will complement their existing professional knowledge and experience. The program will allow students to develop necessary core competencies, such as:

An ability to recognize and understand the legal regimes and structures that regulate or otherwise affect their professional roles;
A capacity to read and understand legal documents, including contracts, judicial opinions, statutes, regulations, executive orders, legislative commentaries, and legal opinion letters;
An ability to identify the legal context for effectuating policy, and thus to recognize and better appreciate the legal risks that may affect decision-making in public and private organizations;
An understanding of major modes of dispute avoidance and resolution, including negotiation, private settlement, mediation, arbitration, and litigation;
The ability to conduct basic legal research and draft documents for internal use; and
The ability to assess more effectively when legal issues require or justify the engagement of legal professionals and the ability to communicate more effectively with those professionals in identifying and evaluating the range of options appropriate to specific circumstances.

Faculty

Courses are taught by a mixture of Maryland Carey Law faculty members and substantive experts from government agencies, the judiciary, and the practicing bar. The foundational and survey courses will mainly be taught by faculty members, while the specialty seminars and capstone courses will be taught by experienced practitioners in the relevant field.

Class Schedule

Courses in the online Master's programs (Environmental Law, Health Care Law, Cybersecurity Law and Homeland Security and Crisis Management Law) are all offered asynchronously online, and follow the MS in Law online academic calendar. This means that there is no “set” class schedule. However, you can expect that professors will interact with you weekly, and you will be required to complete modules within set timeframes. Also, students are expected to interact with the instructor throughout each course, including group breakout sessions, the posting of questions and commentary via discussion boards, module assessments and quizzes, multiple choice polling, requesting short answer responses via submissions, chat rooms, office hours, or postings, video simulations, and other means. Attendance is tracked automatically each time you log into your course, and the system also tracks all submitted work.