Legal management (academic discipline)

Legal management or paralegal studies is an academic, vocational, and professional discipline that is a hybrid between the study of law and management (i.e., business administration, public administration, etc.). Often, alumni of legal management programmes pursue a professional degree in law such as Juris Doctor (JD) or Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) while some profess as paralegals, law clerks, political analysts, politicians, public administrators, entrepreneurs, business executives, or pursue careers in the academe. The degree was designed in the Philippines and was first introduced in Ateneo de Manila University in the 1980s by former Philippine Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. A similar degree known as Legal Studies is offered at the University of California Berkeley, but without management courses. Legal management student organisations across the Philippines are represented by the Alliance of Legal Management Associations of the Philippines (ALMAP) to the Securities and Exchange Commission, as a non-stock, non-profit, student-run corporation. Legal management is currently offered in multiple degree formats depending on the offering college or university. Its variety and flexibility is a focal point among schools that have it in their roster of academic degrees. Some capitalise in the legal aspects, while others for the business aspects. Some schools may offer the degree either as a predominantly preparatory law programme, a liberal arts focused programme, or a business and management programme. Core subjects include: law, philosophy, literature and management (public and business). Depending on the school, the ratio of law courses to management courses vary between 40:60 to 90:10.