The School of Law's newly created Critical Race Studies specialization - the first of its kind in the nation - will offer students the chance to focus on the interconnections between race and the law.

The specialization is aimed at future lawyers interested in critical race theory, civil rights, public policy and other legal-practice areas who are likely to work with racial minority clients and communities or specialize in combating racial inequality.

Program administrators also hope that the specialization will help increase the law school's enrollment of underrepresented minorities, which has declined steadily since California voters passed Proposition 209 and the University of California Regents adopted SP-1 and SP-2, ending the use of affirmative action in admissions.

"One impact will be to signal to the larger community that race is still a subject that UCLA takes very seriously, from both a scholarly and pedagogical view," said Jerry Kang, law professor and co-director of the specialization. "We want to send the right signal about the climate at UCLA and hopefully increase the enrollments of those people who would otherwise be somewhat deterred from coming to UCLA in a post-209 environment."

Already more than 25 prospective applicants nationwide have inquired about the program, Kang said. And two law students, who have completed the Critical Race Studies requirements, will graduate in May with the specialization certified on their transcripts.

Students in the specialization must complete two core courses: Civil Rights and Critical Race Theory. Then, they must take four additional courses from a list of 25 that include Asian American Jurisprudence, Law and Terrorism, Immigration Law and Street Law. Finally, students must complete a writing requirement, either working indepen-dently with a faculty member or via an approved seminar.

"There have been a number of courses related to race and law over the years, but students have taken them in a hodgepodge fashion," said Laura Gomez, law professor and the other co-director of the concentration. "So students have not benefited from the intellectual punch from it. This will make their legal education much more coherent."

Generally, the tendency among law schools has been to provide a generalist education, Kang said. Students take many classes, and one can tell from a transcript if there is an emphasis in a particular niche. But recently, some law schools, realizing the power of packaging in a modern consumer environment, have begun to offer students the chance to concentrate in certain areas of the law such as intellectual property or environmental law, he said.

In fall 1998, the law school developed its first such specialization in business law, in which 34 students have graduated.

In addition, the law school offers several joint degree programs in urban planning, public policy, social welfare, American Indian Studies, African American Studies and business administration.