Like most colleges and universities, Luther intentionally does not have a formal pre-law curriculum where students take prescribed courses for law school. There are two reasons for this:

1. Law schools insist that the best preparation for the study and practice of law is to take a wide range of intellectually demanding courses from challenging professors. Therefore, we encourage students who are thinking about a legal career to work with an advisor in shaping their Luther education to fit their interests. We prefer that students take the liberal arts seriously because that, rather than a prescribed set of courses, is the best way to prepare for law school.
2. We expect students to use their time at Luther to explore. We hope students will explore disciplines they might not have known about before coming to college. We also encourage them to do internships and study abroad or in the nation’s capital. And we hope they will take risks both at Luther and when they graduate.

We're concerned that if we provide a neat checklist of pre-law courses that students won't take full advantage of their time at Luther to discover themselves.

The beauty of a Luther education is that exploring, taking risks, and challenging oneself is the best way to prepare for law school if that remains one’s goal. In short, we believe the best way to prepare for law school is not to think of the Luther education as a means to the study of law but as an end in itself.

For many years Luther has had good success in preparing students for the study of law using this approach and will continue to do so in the years ahead.