Law is everywhere.
From protecting personal liberties and maintaining public safety and accountability, to governing how companies do business, the law provides structure for society. “Once you understand all of the ways in which the law touches the lives of ordinary Americans, you can’t not see it,” says Maryland Carey Law Dean Renée Laurent.
Students in the Master of Science in Law (MSL) program know this. Many of them enrolled in the MSL to gain a legal framework to advance their careers in government, medicine, cybersecurity, and more.
Now entering its second decade, the MSL is adding two new focus areas, in Employment Law and Higher Education Law, to continue providing professionals in law-adjacent positions a foundation in the workings of the U.S. legal system. The new focus areas, created in response to market demand, join existing areas of interest in Health Care Law, Homeland Security and Crisis Management Law, and Cybersecurity Law.
A decade looking through the legal lens
The MSL program launched in 2015, with its first graduating class in 2017. The class of 2027 will mark the 10-year anniversary of that first graduating cohort. The new classes in education and human resources will debut during the 2026-27 academic year.
“This is a fantastic time for the program’s growth as we celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the first graduating class,” says Associate Dean for Legal Studies Crystal Edwards, the program’s administrator.
According to Edwards, the two-year, part-time MSL is “not a typical graduate program.” Unlike a master’s in business administration or in public policy, all classes in the MSL are taught through the lens of law. On the other hand, unlike JD students, those in the MSL program generally don’t want to become practicing lawyers but rather work in positions where they encounter laws and legal issues.
The MSL helps working professional students enhance their legal understanding of business operations as well as communications with lawyers on their teams, without what Edwards calls the “false choice” between balancing career and education. By providing an understanding of the complexities of the legal system, the MSL degree helps industry leaders evaluate business decisions from a legal lens and communicate more effectively with legal counsel.
“The foundations and underpinnings that students learn in the law and the immediately applicable legal skills training are really what sets this program apart,” notes Edwards.
New courses for highly regulated fields
At the beginning of the program and before each expansion, Maryland Carey Law evaluated the needs of potential students and employers. During the most recent market study, higher education and human resources emerged as constantly evolving, regulated spaces where students would benefit from understanding legal frameworks and enhancing their legal knowledge. Courses about another highly regulated and growing industry—cannabis—also are in the works.
“Ensuring that people who are administering HR policies understand the complex web of rules and laws and regulations that govern human resources in this country is critically important. Same thing for higher ed,” says Laurent.
“There are so many rules and regulations that govern higher ed administration that having people who don’t necessarily sit in general counsel’s office, but who are maybe Title IX or Title VI [antidiscrimination] coordinators … trained to understand how those regulations interplay with the laws, and how those laws interplay with the Constitution, is vitally important.”
The program is designed to provide students in any field with a legal foundation. Every student takes foundational required courses to understand general legal concepts and principles, and then they learn more about industry specific legal issues through their electives.
Today, students typically complete the program in four semesters, taking seven or eight credits per semester. All MSL students take the same required courses, including classes on U.S. law and legal systems, legal research, ethics, dispute resolution, and public law.
“Having this generalized MSL program, … you’re getting a well-rounded introduction into our legal system,” says Lecturer Ben Yelin ’13, who teaches the required first-semester course on U.S. law and legal systems as well as a class on national security and electronic surveillance. “The degree doesn’t imply that you only learned about cybersecurity or crisis management or health. It indicates that you
have a good basis of legal knowledge.”
Starting in the second semester, students are able to take electives. That’s where focus areas, like health law, cybersecurity law, crisis management law, and the new courses in higher education and employment law, come in. Students can tailor their programs specifically to one focus or take courses, like a new one in the Law and Policy of AI, around a variety of interests.
To provide flexibility, all classes are delivered asynchronously through pre-recorded lectures. Throughout the semester, students are required to meet scheduled coursework requirements and deadlines and interact with peers and professors through discussion boards.
“We try to replicate as much of that traditional in-person experience in terms of engagement, while giving them the flexibility that they need as online students,” says Edwards, noting that most participants are full-time professionals who chose the online program so they could incorporate the courses into their busy schedules. Students are encouraged to engage with the Maryland Carey Law community to the extent they choose and have opportunities for synchronous office hours, review sessions, and workshops. Students are also invited to participate virtually in on-campus activities alongside JD and Master of Laws (LLM) students. The Career Development Office hosts a programming series geared toward MSL students, like a recent resume workshop, and has a dedicated career counselor for MSL students.
“We really do view our [MSL] students as a part of our community in a way that doesn’t wall them off,” says Laurent. “We believe that they should have access to all of the same robust intellectual engagement that our JD students do.”
Seeing the law on the job
Courses are taught by both full-time law professors, who also teach in the JD program, and by adjunct professors who, like their students, are applying classroom lessons in their jobs every day.
“One of the things I really love about the structure of our program and the feedback that we receive from current students and graduates is how immediately applicable what they learn in the classroom becomes to them,” says Edwards. “They consider words differently. They listen to the news differently. They are in meetings and hear the communications differently, resulting in a much more profound and astute way of engaging with their work.”
Many MSL students join the program as they seek promotions at their current jobs, to advance into new roles, or to apply a new legal lens in their current work. Students hold jobs in the military; as doctors, nurses, and healthcare administrators; in universities; in local, state, and federal government agencies; in the private sector and more.
“I think it enriches the program, both for me as a professor and for other students, when we’re talking about things that are very abstract, and then somebody comes in and says, ‘Well, actually, I dealt with this problem when I was an FBI agent in the field,’” says Yelin. “Having that type of insight is a real boon for this program, and it really distinguishes it from the JD program.” Not only is the law everywhere. It also is constantly changing. According to Yelin, professors update and redesign courses, as he has done for the courses he teaches. He is excited about the continuation of health law, cybersecurity law, and crisis management law, as well as what the new focus areas will bring for the future of the MSL program as a whole.
“It’s hard to believe it’s been 10 years now,” says Yelin, “and [I’m] happy to see the program thriving and expanding to serve the workforce in Maryland and beyond.”
Editor's Note: This story was originally published in Maryland Carey Law's 2026 annual magazine.