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Concentration · CIP 22

Legal Professions and Studies

Legal Professions and Studies is a 13-major family spread across 478 colleges — and it is smaller and more specialized than its name implies. The vast majority of completions cluster in two programs: Legal Assistant/Paralegal, which produced 5,188 graduates at the associate's and bachelor's levels, and Legal Studies, which produced 2,891. Both prepare students for careers in legal support, not legal practice. Actual lawyers earn a median wage of $151,160, but they require a JD from an accredited law school, which is a graduate degree entirely outside this family. The family's median earnings of $45,897 reflect its true center of gravity: paralegal and legal support roles that pay $54,000 to $61,000 and are in genuine demand at law firms, corporations, and government agencies.

Majors
11
Colleges
482
Annual completions
10,137
Top career
Lawyers
Majors in this concentration

Sorted by popularity

Legal Assistant/Paralegal

Top career: Paralegals and legal assistants

482 colleges · 5,177 completions/yr

Legal Studies

Top career: Paralegals and legal assistants

188 colleges · 3,279 completions/yr

Legal Professions and Studies, Other

32 colleges · 604 completions/yr

Pre-Law Studies

79 colleges · 551 completions/yr

Legal Support Services, Other

2 colleges · 201 completions/yr

Advanced Legal Research/Studies, General

Top career: Lawyers

4 colleges · 118 completions/yr

Court Reporting and Captioning/Court Reporter

Top career: Court reporters and simultaneous captioners

33 colleges · 102 completions/yr

Legal Administrative Assistant/Secretary

Top career: Legal secretaries and administrative assistants

47 colleges · 63 completions/yr

American/U.S. Law/Legal Studies/Jurisprudence

Top career: Lawyers

6 colleges · 34 completions/yr

Tribal/Indigenous Law

Top career: Lawyers

1 colleges · 6 completions/yr

Legal Research and Advanced Professional Studies, Other

Top career: Lawyers

1 colleges · 2 completions/yr
Section 9 · Frequently asked

Common questions

Can I practice law with a bachelor's degree from this concentration?
No. Practicing law in the United States requires passing the bar exam in your state, which in turn requires a Juris Doctor (JD) degree from an ABA-accredited law school. A JD is a graduate degree that takes three years after your bachelor's. None of the 13 majors in this family — not even Advanced Legal Research/Studies or Pre-Law Studies — confer any right to practice law or represent clients. A bachelor's in Legal Studies or Pre-Law Studies prepares you to apply to law school; it does not replace it.
What is the difference between Legal Assistant/Paralegal and Legal Studies?
Legal Assistant/Paralegal (5,188 completions, 478 colleges) is a career-entry credential training students to do substantive legal work — drafting documents, conducting research, managing case files — under attorney supervision, targeting the paralegal occupation at a median wage of $61,010. Legal Studies (2,891 completions, 177 colleges) is more academic: it covers constitutional law, jurisprudence, and legal history, and it is commonly used as a pre-law major by students intending to apply to JD programs. Both titles appear on resumes in law offices, but they signal different goals to employers and admissions committees.
What do graduates in this concentration typically earn?
The family median sits at $45,897, which reflects the reality that most completions feed into paralegal and legal support roles rather than attorney positions. Paralegals and legal assistants earn a median of $61,010; legal secretaries and administrative assistants earn $54,140. Lawyers earn $151,160, but that figure is irrelevant for undergraduates in this family because the lawyer credential requires a JD earned after the bachelor's — it is not an outcome of these programs. Students who complete a Legal Assistant/Paralegal program and enter the paralegal workforce directly should expect wages in the $55,000–$65,000 range depending on geography and employer.
Is a Legal Studies degree a good pre-law path compared to other majors?
Law schools do not require a specific undergraduate major — they accept applicants from any field, and there is no evidence that Legal Studies majors are admitted at higher rates than, say, political science or English majors. The advantage of Legal Studies (177 colleges, 2,891 completions) is familiarity with legal reasoning and vocabulary before the LSAT and 1L coursework. The risk is that a Legal Studies bachelor's has limited labor market value on its own if law school plans change, whereas a major like business or computer science provides broader fallback options. Pre-Law Studies (81 colleges, 520 completions) carries the same tradeoff at a smaller scale.
How in-demand are paralegals, and where do they work?
Paralegals and legal assistants hold one of the more stable support roles in the legal sector. The median wage is $61,010, and demand is driven by law firms, corporate legal departments, government agencies, and non-profit legal aid organizations. Legal Assistant/Paralegal programs at 478 colleges produce 5,188 completions annually, so the field is competitive in major metro markets but less so in smaller cities where trained paralegals are harder to recruit. Certification from the National Association of Legal Professionals (NALA) or the National Federation of Paralegal Associations (NFPA) can differentiate candidates and support higher starting wages.