Law Librarianship
Students can pursue the MLIS Law program online or on-campus in Seattle. Online students may attend full-time or part-time.
*Find an upcoming law librarianship information session.*
Combine your background in law with new skills in knowledge organization that will transform your career. As a law librarian and legal information professional, you will tap into the power of information to support the mission of courts, federal and state government, law schools, corporations and more.
The UW iSchool’s law librarianship program provides the highest level of preparation for a career in legal information. The curriculum blends a strong theoretical foundation in the principles of information science with the specialized legal research, technological and operational background you will need to thrive as a law librarian. An accompanying internship allows you to further build your technical skills.
Admission to the law librarianship program requires the completion of a JD from an ABA-accredited law school (or a foreign equivalent law degree). Classes are offered over four consecutive academic quarters in the residential mode and over seven quarters for the online, part-time mode. The Law MLIS degree requirements differ from the residential and online MLIS programs, although MLIS residential students without a JD may take some of the specific legal information classes as electives.
Curricular & Experiential Program Components
The curricular component of the program is 10 months for full-time students and 22 months for part-time students, beginning in Autumn Quarter and ending the following accelerated Summer Quarter (Summer A-term). Students in the program will earn the MLIS degree with a specialization in Law Librarianship after successful completion of 41-43 quarter credit hours. The program follows the UW Academic Calendar.
The experiential component of the program for residential students is an internship working in the Gallagher Law Library, which is part of the UW School of Law. During the internship, law librarianship students will be trained in a variety of operational aspects and special projects in the law library to make transitioning to the profession and work environments easier.
Full-Time Degree Requirements
The average course load in the full-time program is 12 credits per quarter. Ten credits per quarter is the minimum for students who need to meet certain financial aid requirements. Library and Information Science course descriptions are located in the UW course catalog, and the sequential full-time Law MLIS curriculum is as follows:
Year 1
1. Autumn Quarter (12 credits)
- LIS 520 Concepts, Services, and Issues for Information Professionals (4 credits)
- LIS 579 Instructional Strategies for Legal Information (3 credits)
- LIS 592 Legal Research Methods (4 credits)
- LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship (1 credit)
2. Winter Quarter (14 credits)
- LIS 530 Organization of Information and Resources (4 credits)
- LIS 547 Design Methods for Librarianship (4 credits)
- LIS 598 / LAW A 599 Legal Informatics (3 credits)
- LIS 598 Foundations of Law Librarianship (1 credit)
- Open Elective (2+ credits)
- LIS 593 Law Teaching Practicum (2 credits) OR
- Other Elective (2+ credits)
3. Spring Quarter (10 credits)
- LIS 572 Introduction to Data Science (4 credits)
- LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship (1 credit)
- LAW E 553 / LIS 598 Technology Law & Public Policy Seminar (2 credits)
- Open Elective (3+ credits)
- LIS 556 Copyright (3 credits) OR
- LAW E 586 / LIS 5XX Low Bono Legal Research (3 credits) OR
- Other Elective (3+ credits)
4. Summer A-term (5 credits)
- LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship (2 credits)
- LIS 594 Leadership & Management Skills in Law Libraries (3 credits)
Part-Time Degree Requirements
The average course load in the part-time program is 6 credits per quarter. Students may still be eligible for financial aid with a part-time schedule. Library and Information Science course descriptions are located in the UW course catalog, and the sequential part-time Law MLIS curriculum is as follows:
Year 1
1. Autumn Quarter (5 credits)
- LIS 520 Concepts, Services, and Issues for Information Professionals (4 credits)
- LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship (1 credit)
2. Winter Quarter (8 credits)
- LIS 530 Organization of Information and Resources (4 credits)
- LIS 547 Design Methods for Librarianship (4 credits)
3. Spring Quarter (5 credits)
- LIS 572 Introduction to Data Science (4 credits)
- LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship (1 credit)
4. Summer A-term (5 credits)
- LIS 595 Research and Writing in Law Librarianship (2 credits)
- LIS 594 Leadership & Management Skills in Law Libraries (3 credits)
Year 2
1. Autumn Quarter (7 credits)
- LIS 579 Instructional Strategies for Legal Information (3 credits)
- LIS 592 Legal Research Methods (4 credits)
2. Winter Quarter (6 credits)
- LIS 598 / LAW A 599 Legal Informatics (3 credits)
- LIS 598 Foundations of Law Librarianship (1 credit)
- Open Elective (2+ credits)
- LIS 593 Law Teaching Practicum (2 credits) OR
- Other Elective (2+ credits)
3. Spring Quarter (5 credits)
- LAW E 553 / LIS 598 Technology Law & Public Policy Seminar (2 credits)
- Open Elective (3+ credits)
- LIS 556 Copyright (3 credits) OR
- LAW E 586 / LIS 5XX Low Bono Legal Research (3 credits) OR
- Other Elective (3+ credits)
More Information
- Join us for an upcoming information session.
- Dig into the details in our Law Librarianship FAQ.
- Read more about the history of the law librarianship program and the work of past law librarianship students in the law school's institutional repository.
- For more information about a career in the legal information profession, visit the American Association of Law Libraries' Education for a Career in Law Librarianship webpage.
Contact Us
For further information, contact the iSchool (iAsk@uw.edu) or the Law Librarianship program director, Carla Wale (cpwale@uw.edu).