At a Glance
- Flexible, 100% online format: Earn your M.L.S. in two years on a flexible part-time schedule.
- Hands-on, expansive coursework: Start with core courses in legal methods, research and writing, then advance to real-world ethics and application and round out the program with a capstone that brings it all together through practical application.
- In-demand concentrations: Specialize in health law, human resources law or compliance or select electives for a general M.L.S. path.
- Legal courses made for non-lawyers: Work through courses specifically designed to address the unique legal challenges faced by non-J.D. professionals.
Barbara Glesner Fines, Professor of Law
The UMKC Law online Master of Legal Studies is a comprehensive, 30-credit online program designed for individuals seeking practical legal skills to advance in regulated fields such as health care, human resources and compliance.
Concentrations
To satisfy a concentration, students must take at least 12 credits from the concentration courses identified below or as approved by the advisor.
Our health law concentration empowers practicing and aspiring health-care professionals to navigate complex compliance, liability and regulatory issues. Courses address real-world health-care challenges that prepare students to manage risk and enhance policy adherence within their organizations.
Designed for current and aspiring HR managers and specialists, this concentration covers essential topics like employment law, EEO compliance and workplace policy. This prepares students to confidently and ethically handle legal matters in workforce management.
Ideal for those responsible for organizational compliance, this concentration builds skills in regulatory standards, policy drafting and corporate accountability so that students can act decisively on ethical and legal issues across sectors.
This concentration allows you to choose from any of the electives we offer to craft a curriculum that fits your goals.
Program Outcomes
The program outcomes for the M.L.S. are as follows:
- Knowledge. Gain mastery of core doctrinal knowledge relevant to the delivery of legal services in industry settings.
- Legal analysis, research and writing. Garner competency in objective legal analysis, effective legal research and professional writing on legal issues in industry settings.
- Professional work environment. Demonstrate the ability to work with people in a professional environment; in particular, the ability to recognize the need for attorney assistance and the ability to work effectively with attorneys and regulators.
- Professional ethics. Learn to identify ethical constraints in the delivery of legal services by non-lawyer professionals.
Course List and Structure*
The program comprises four main sections: foundational courses, an advanced ethics course, elective or concentration courses and a capstone experience. These components encompass the essential skills needed to understand, interpret and apply legal principles in various professional contexts.
*Please note that course availability may vary. The university does not guarantee that all courses will be available each term or year. Course offerings are subject to change as the program evolves. Contact an admissions advisor to learn more.
Foundational Courses (9 credits)
This course will provide an introduction to the U.S. Legal System, including the powers of the different branches of government; checks and balances on governmental powers; function and importance of the Constitution; the importance of judicial power and the common law; the role of administrative regulation; and the functioning and importance of federalism. The course will also provide an introduction to the foundational areas of legal study such as contracts, torts, property, criminal law, civil procedure and constitutional law.
This course will provide an introduction to legal reasoning and analysis, including reading cases, statutes and regulations; case synthesis and application to facts, statutes and regulations; and standards of review.
This course will provide instruction in effective written communication when dealing with legal issues, including structure, style and citation. Written formats will include email, letters, memoranda and guidelines.
Introduction to research sources in the U.S. and techniques to systematically process and solve basic legal research problems found in professional settings involving law but without direct supervision of lawyers.
Advanced Required Course (2 credits)
Students will explore basics of ethical reasoning and the influence of communities of practice in organizational settings and learn about the professional regulation of legal services and the professional responsibilities of attorneys through problem study and discussion.
Capstone Courses (3 credits)
This course explores the dimensions of professional development of non-lawyers in a work environment, including the capacity for reflection, deliberate improvement in knowledge and skills and the ability to form meaningful professional relationships with lawyers and non-lawyers. Students will have an opportunity to reflect on and analyze professional ethics in the context of the work environment.
This course gives students the opportunity to reflect on their achievement of the learning outcomes for the M.L.S. program. Students will collect, showcase and present work products completed during the program. Assignments will include reflection papers, assembling a portfolio, preparing a final presentation to a panel, answering questions about achievement of the learning outcomes and demonstrating competence in the learning outcomes for the program.
Elective Courses (16 credits)
Students must complete 16 credits of electives. To complete a concentration in health law, compliance or human resources law, students need 12 credits within their chosen emphasis area. For the general area of study, students can choose from any of the electives in these tracks to complete their 16 credits.
General
Introduction to contract law doctrines, the method and practice of contract review and basic elements of contract drafting.
This course covers the fundamentals of insurance including the nature of insurance and insurance contracts, special rules of construction and standard policy provisions. Topics include first-party and third-party insurance as well as the core principles of insurance regulation.
This course provides students with the opportunity to advance their knowledge in the software skills used by professionals who work on legal issues including word processing, visual communications, cloud computing, document automation, data analytics and project management.
Provides a basic overview of laws that influence the impact of a wellness program or business, including laws such as federal incentive law, HIPAA and data privacy, civil rights discrimination, state licensure and scope of practice laws and FDA regulation of wellness products and devices.
Provides a basic overview of laws that regulate privacy and provide security and protection of personal data including the common law, various federal laws (such as HIPAA and FTC regulation) and state privacy laws.
This course introduces the administrative process covering the role, function and processes of administrative agencies, policy issues in administrative government and judicial review of agencies and regulations.
This course is in development.
This course is in development.
This course is in development.
Health Law
Introduction to the fundamentals of health-care compliance using the topics covered by the Health Care Compliance Association (HCCA) as a guide, including such topics as compliance administration, policies and procedures, oversight and committees, enforcement and reporting requirements, screening of employees and vendors, billing and coding basics, auditing and monitoring, education and training, investigations, fraud and abuse laws and HIPAA.
This course is in development.
This course is in development.
This course explores bioethics and key legal and ethical issues in medicine, focusing on decision-making at the beginning and end of life, reproductive rights and assisted reproductive technologies. Topics include the patient-provider relationship (fiduciary, treatment, confidentiality and disclosure obligations); physician obligations regarding informed consent and patient care issues; potential hospital and physician liability for medical malpractice; end-of-life decision-making (withdrawal and refusal of life-sustaining treatment by individuals and their surrogates) and physician-assisted suicide.
This course is in development.
This course focuses on the principles of and complex relationship between cost and efficiency and effectiveness and health care quality outcomes. Economic perspectives and needs from industry, organizations, providers and consumers will all be examined. Throughout the course, issues regarding the inextricable link between cost and quality within the complex health-care environment will be examined and addressed with emphasis on DNP nurse intervention and leadership.
This course is designed to focus on the integral relationship between health-care policy and advocacy. Content will include principles and processes related to U.S. health policy and politics in relation to the overall system and issues of cost, quality and access; interrelationships between policy, political trends and quality of care and access at the point of service; elimination of health-care disparities, ethical and obligatory values related to the role of the health-care professional.
Compliance
Provides a basic overview of compliance systems used for corporations and other businesses, including various federal and state laws such as the Securities Act, the Securities Exchange Act, Sarbanes Oxley, Dodd-Frank and Corporate Transparency Act as well as applicable state laws such as a state’s General Corporation Law. It will go into the actions required to comply with those laws such as policies, training, reports and filings.
This course provides students with an overview of key federal environmental statutes and their inter-relationships, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Students will learn about inspections, enforcement and liability, environmental management systems and auditing; and generally, how Congress and the EPA formulate environmental law and regulations and the roles in the processes for the legislature, regulators, regulated communities, citizens and public interest groups.
Human Resources Law
This course will address compliance with various employment and anti-discrimination laws by covering topics such as employment at will, wage and hour law, and law related to various types of discrimination, including race, sex, sexual orientation and gender identity, age, religion and disability.
An interdisciplinary study of the law relating to disabled persons in the areas of employment, education and access to transportation, health, welfare and social services to provide an understanding of how the law affects individuals with disabilities and public and private entities. Legislation considered include the American with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Family and Medical leave Act, the Fair Housing Act, the Voting Accessibility for the Elderly and Handicapped Act and the Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Substantive and procedural aspects of Equal Employment Opportunity Act and related matters.
Survey of legal doctrines regulating the employment relationship, including the regulation of wages, hours and benefits; privacy in the workplace; workers' compensation; suits for suits for wrongful termination; non-competition agreements; and unemployment compensation.
This course will examine the evolving status of sexual orientation and gender identity in the law. The course will start with a brief history of the LGBT+ rights movement before looking at issues that arise with relation to sexual orientation and gender identity. Subjects covered include criminal justice and the penal system, public accommodations, employment discrimination, domestic relations, treatment and care of LGBT+ youth and the Constitution.
This course is in development.
This course is in development.
Provides a basic overview of compliance systems used for corporations and other businesses, including various federal and state laws such as the Securities Act, the Securities Exchange Act, Sarbanes Oxley, Dodd-Frank and Corporate Transparency Act as well as applicable state laws such as a state’s General Corporation Law. It will go into the actions required to comply with those laws such as policies, training, reports and filings.
This course is in development.
This course provides students with an overview of key federal environmental statutes and their inter-relationships, including the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act, the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. Students will learn about inspections, enforcement and liability, environmental management systems and auditing; and generally, how Congress and the EPA formulate environmental law and regulations and the roles in the processes for the legislature, regulators, regulated communities, citizens and public interest groups.
Provides a basic overview of laws that regulate privacy and provide security and protection of personal data including the common law, various federal laws (such as HIPAA and FTC regulation) and state privacy laws.
This course is in development.
Nature of insurance, nature of insurance contract, special rules of construction, standard policy provisions, first-party and third-party insurance, principles of insurance regulation.
This course is in development.
This course is in development.
J.D. to M.L.S. Bridge (offering for Summer Term 2024)
This course is designed to allow J.D. students to transition from the J.D. program to the M.L.S. program. The course will supplement the student’s J.D. training so that the student’s educational program will meet the objectives of the M.L.S. program. This course has flexibility in the modules that may be included depending on the needs of the individual student. Prerequisites: At least one semester (15 credit hours) of courses in the J.D. program.
Request Information
To learn more about the online Master of Legal Studies at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law and download a program brochure, please fill out the form. You can also talk one-on-one with an admissions advisor directly by calling 816-451-8748.