Undergraduate students who Major in Law and Public Policy receive the methods, frameworks, and skills needed to solve real-world problems and pursue meaningful careers of leadership and service.

Our Major is designed specifically for students looking to enter the legal professions, and public and non-profit sectors, and anyone who is interested in crafting solutions to real-world public problems. Successful Majors can count on graduating with a solid understanding of the legal and political dimensions of policymaking, along with strong skills in public administration, legal reasoning, statistics, communication, and community-engaged policy design and delivery.

The Major is intended to impart broad cross-disciplinary fundamentals, as distinct from a “pre-law” program or Diploma in Public Policy. Majors can take advantage of professional development classes focused on leadership, communication, and ethical decision-making, while also gaining exposure to a range of local, national, and global challenges. Many students find the Major to be a perfect complement to their academic studies in other disciplines, since this option gives them to chance to apply their learning in a more practical and impactful way. The only restriction is that Majors in Law and Public Policy cannot Minor in Political Science, since the coursework in these programs overlaps so substantially.

The Law and Public Policy program also permits interested students to complete a Joint Major. This involves complete the requirements for a Major in Law and Public Policy and completing the requirements for a Major in another subject, excluding Political Science. The trade-off is that Joint Majors no longer have a Minor and cannot take as many electives. You can declare a Joint Major in precisely the same way as you would a Major.

Have a look at our year-by-year overview of the program for Majors to decide which option is right for you. Successful Majors are also encouraged to consider applying to our  Master of Arts (MA) program to level up their BA degree once they graduate.

Declaring 

Every March, the Department of Political Science holds a declaration celebration with our students and faculty to welcome our newest members. If you don't want to wait, you can find all the information that you need to complete the declaration of a Major or Joint Major in Law and Public Policy over at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Really, it’s as easy as completing this form and submitting it via email to the Office of the University Registrar (registrar@mun.ca) using your official @mun email account.

Program Requirements

Students intending to graduate with a Major in Law and Public Policy must complete 36 credit hours (or 12 courses) in Law and Public Policy and approved related fields over the four years of their BA degree. The curriculum follows a set sequence so that the knowledge and skills acquired in the first and second years prepare students for more sophisticated material in their third and fourth years. This sequence also allows faculty to prepare lectures, assignments, and other course materials appropriate to each student’s learning stage.

Beginning in September 2024, all 3000 and 4000 level Law and Public Policy courses have a general 45 credit hour pre-requisite, requiring students to have completed at least 45 credits of university level classes (in any subject) before enrolling in our upper-level offerings. This is to encourage students to appropriately sequence their studies.

Declared Law and Public Policy Majors will begin the first year of their studies by taking POSC 1000 (“Introduction to Politics and Government”), which is required, along with an optional class, POSC 1001 (“Critical Reading and Writing: Politics and Governance”), which helps students gain the writing and research skills to do university level work. As a bonus, POSC 1001 also counts towards the general “CRW” requirement for the BA degree.

In addition, first year Law and Public Policy Majors are strongly encouraged (though not required) to take ECON 1010 (“Introduction to Microeconomics”) and ECON 1020 (“Introduction to Macroeconomics”) to build an understanding of the economic and quantitative dimensions of policy analysis. This will prepare Majors for upper-level courses, while also counting towards the general “QR” requirement for the BA degree.

Majors in their second year take LWPP 2600 (“Public Policy and Administration”), which is required. Most also take at least two other 2000 level classes in Political Science, such as POSC 2800 (“Canadian Politics and Government”), or approved classes in other disciplines with a strong focus in law and policy, like LING 2220 (“Linguistics and the Law”) and PHIL 2370 (“Philosophy of Law”). This has the benefit of giving students a more well-rounded sense of the different aspects of politics, law, and policymaking.

The third and fourth years of the program are where Law and Public Policy Majors are given the freedom to pursue their own interests in specific areas of the law or policy topics. All Majors in their third year must complete POSC 3010 (“Empirical Methods in Political Science”) to acquire basic skills in quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. Fourth year classes typically assume some familiarity with research methods, and push Majors to evaluate legal and policy outcomes from a data-driven, evidence-based perspective. Majors are required to take at least 9 credit hours (3 courses) in courses designated LWPP at the 3000 level, and at least 6 more credit hours (2 courses) in LWPP-designated courses at the 4000 level.

Declared Majors and Minors are given priority registration for all 3000 and 4000 level Law and Public Policy classes to ensure that they can complete their programs on time. What this means, in practice, is that declared students will be permitted to enroll earlier than non-declared students for all upper-year Law and Public Policy classes, so that they are sure to get a seat. There is no early access to POSC courses not cross-listed as LWPP.  

The only difference between the Major and Joint Major is that the Joint Major requires 3 fewer credit hours in the programs of each participating department. For Law and Public Policy, this means that Joint Majors are expected to complete 33 credit hours in total, including the required courses listed above. Please note that it is not possible to do a Joint Major in and Law and Public Policy and Political Science. 

To graduate with a Major or Joint Major in Law and Public Policy, a student must have an average of 60% or better in courses required for the Political Science program (excluding 1000-level courses). A student receiving 55% or less on any Law and Public Policy course at the 2000-level or higher is expected to seek advice from the Department at the start of the next semester to ensure that adequate progress is being maintained.