Ph.D. Program Details
Why a Ph.D. in Law? • Course of Study • Placement and Support on the Law Teaching Market • Tuition and Financial Aid
Why a Ph.D. in Law?
In addition to offering an opportunity to study and contribute to the evolution of law as an academic field of study, the Ph.D. in Law program provides an excellent pathway to a career in legal scholarship and law teaching. Whether it is right for any individual candidate depends on a variety of factors. If you are trying to decide between the Ph.D. in Law program and a fellowship or a visiting assistant professorship (VAP), you should keep in mind a number of considerations, including that the Ph.D. in Law program is a three-year course of study beyond the J.D. and that it provides a more structured program—including coursework, qualifying exams, and close faculty supervision—than do most fellowships or VAPs. The Ph.D. in Law program requires coursework, a written and an oral comprehensive exam, a dissertation—which may take the form of a traditional monograph or three law review articles—and teaching experience. You should also consider the availability of appropriate mentors in different programs. At Yale Law School, you will have a three-member faculty committee advising you throughout your time in the Ph.D. program, and you will have an opportunity to work closely with a wide range of Yale faculty in your courses and in your research and writing. In addition, you will have the opportunity to engage fully in the intellectual life of Yale Law School and Yale University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences .
If you are trying to decide between the Ph.D. in Law and a Ph.D. in another discipline, many of the same considerations come into play. Please keep in mind that Ph.D. programs in economics, political science, history, and other fields train scholars to produce research responsive to the questions central to those disciplines. The scholarship produced by law faculties—and expected of candidates for teaching positions at law schools—is largely motivated by different sets of questions. While many students are able to apply their training in other disciplines to the study of law, a significant advantage of the Ph.D. in Law program is that it is designed specifically to prepare students for careers in legal scholarship, rather than in scholarship in another field. We should also stress that the Ph.D. in Law program welcomes applications from candidates with interdisciplinary research interests—significant advanced training in other disciplines as a part of the Ph.D. in Law program is encouraged, where appropriate.
Course of Study
Applicants to the Ph.D. in Law program should know the area of law in which they would like to specialize and should be prepared to articulate that interest in a research proposal. Applicants’ research proposals, however, are not expected to be as refined as a dissertation prospectus, and it is anticipated that the nature of students’ projects and interests will evolve over their time in the program. Each student will have a faculty Advisory Committee, which will work with the student to develop the research project into a dissertation prospectus and, eventually, a dissertation—which may take the form of three significant, publishable articles that might appear in a leading law review, or a single, book-length manuscript.
The First Year
Most students will dedicate much of their first year in the program to coursework. Students will work with their Advisory Committees to select as many as six courses that will best prepare them to carry out their research projects. In cases where students have already completed relevant graduate training, their Advisory Committees may waive up to four of the six required courses.
All first-year Ph.D. candidates will be required to take a two-semester pro-seminar on legal scholarship and methodologies. The first semester of this pro-seminar will be dedicated to reading and discussing canonical works of legal scholarship. The second semester will be devoted to the presentation and discussion of student papers in a workshop format. The pro-seminar, required of all Ph.D. candidates, will be the cornerstone of a genuine intellectual and professional community, serving as well as an opportunity for students working in different areas of law to interact with and to learn from each other and from the faculty leading these and other seminars and workshops.
During their second semester, all Ph.D. candidates will complete the first of two qualifying examinations. The pro-seminar will constitute the primary preparation for this first, written, examination. During their second semester and first summer in the program, students will also work with their Advisory Committees to prepare for a second qualifying exam in their area of specialization. Unlike the first qualifying exam, which measures the breadth of a candidate’s knowledge, the second is an opportunity to demonstrate mastery of the candidate’s area of specialization. The second qualifying exam will be conducted orally by the candidate’s Advisory Committee members and ordinarily will be administered at the beginning of the third semester in the program.
The Second Year
After passing the second qualifying exam, candidates will assemble a faculty Dissertation Committee. This committee often will—but does not have to—include the same faculty members who served on the candidate’s initial Advisory Committee. In their second year, students will work with their Dissertation Committees to bring their dissertation prospectus to fruition. The dissertation itself is expected to take the form of either a book-length manuscript or three publishable law review articles; it will usually constitute a portfolio of writing which students can use on the job market. Once the dissertation prospectus is approved, students are expected to spend the remainder of their time in the program, including summers, researching and writing the dissertation.
Each candidate in the Ph.D. in Law program also will gain training and experience in teaching, and will be required to participate in two semester-long teaching experiences. There will be a number of ways in which students may fulfill the teaching requirement. These may include (1) serving as a teaching assistant for a Law School course; (2) serving as a teaching assistant for a course in Yale College or another school at Yale; (3) co-teaching a class with a Yale Law School faculty member; (4) leading a Yale Law School Reading Group course; (5) teaching an independent seminar in one of the Yale Residential Colleges; or, (6) in unusual situations, teaching their own course. In all cases, students completing their teaching requirements will have faculty supervision, as well as close contact with and feedback from their advisors. The particular teaching assignment and the timing of this requirement will be determined by the candidate in consultation with his or her Advisory and/or Dissertation Committee, but ordinarily candidates will complete the first of their teaching requirements in the second semester of the second year of the program.
The Third Year
Those students interested in pursuing a career as a professor of law generally should expect to go on the job market during their third year in the program. Ph.D. candidates will be offered access to the same wide range of support in this endeavor as Yale Law School currently provides to its students, alumni, and fellows who enter the law teaching market. Students will otherwise devote the third year to completing their dissertation and, in many cases, completing a second teaching experience. Students will generally be expected to complete the program after three years, but requests to extend the course of study beyond three years will be considered on a case-by-case basis. In such cases, funding may be limited.
Placement and Support on the Law Teaching Market
Yale Law School has enjoyed tremendous success in helping its students secure law teaching positions. The Law School often places 25-40 of its graduates in tenure-track positions at law schools each year. Despite its relatively small size, Yale Law School has produced approximately ten percent of all professors currently teaching in American law schools. A recent study found that of the 189 faculty at the top sixteen law schools who had received their J.D. in the preceding fifteen years, a plurality—80 professors—graduated from Yale Law School. Many deans at law schools across the country and around the world also are Yale graduates.
The Law School provides comprehensive support to all its students, alumni, and fellows, guiding them through all stages of the legal teaching job market. Ph.D. in Law candidates enjoy access to the full range of support services currently available to Yale Law School students, alumni, and fellows.
For more information, consult the Law Teaching Program’s website .
Tuition and Financial Aid
Ph.D. in Law candidates will receive a full-tuition fellowship and a living stipend at an amount set by the Graduate School, Yale Basic Health coverage, and a Health Award covering the cost of hospitalization and specialty coverage. Financial support is conditioned on the student's making satisfactory academic progress. The Ph.D. in Law program is administered jointly by the Graduate School and the Law School. More information on financial aid and the cost of living in New Haven can be found on the Graduate School's website .
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Doctor of Science of Law (JSD)
The Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD) is the Law School’s most advanced law degree, and is considered a doctorate equivalent to a Ph.D. It is designed for those interested in becoming scholars and teachers of law including interdisciplinary approaches to law.
Study toward the degree is open only to a small number of exceptionally well-qualified students who hold a JD or LL.B earned outside the United States. Students in the program develop substantive expertise in one or more fields of law and have the opportunity to pursue substantive and methodological training in allied disciplines across the broader university, including but not limited to, the social sciences, humanities, and engineering. The program culminates in the student producing a dissertation under the personal supervision of a Faculty committee comprised of law school professors as well as, where appropriate given the student’s interests, faculty from other departments of the university.
There are two different tracks for admission into the JSD program. A minimum of two students will be admitted from among students who have completed the Stanford Program in International Legal Studies (SPILS) at Stanford Law School. In addition, students at Stanford and at other law schools in the United States who will have completed LLM degrees prior to the commencement of the JSD program are encouraged to apply for admission and will be seriously considered. To be competitive, students applying from LLM programs must have completed (and must submit) a serious piece of independent, original research demonstrating their scholarly potential.
Admission to the JSD program is on a highly selective basis. Please note that admission to SPILS or to any Stanford LLM program does not imply a commitment by Stanford Law School to accept a student into the JSD program.
Some need-based funding, as well as funding to conduct research and attend conferences is available to admitted JSD students.
Questions concerning the JSD program should be directed to [email protected] .
HOW TO APPLY
JSD Candidates
Luis Bergolla
- JSD Candidate
- Teaching Fellow, LLM Program in International Economic Law, Business and Policy (IELBP)
- Lecturer in Law
Silindile Buthelezi
Rolando Garcia Miron
Yutang Hsiao
Tai-jan huang.
Takuma Iwasaki
Maria Palacio
Michael Thorburn
Having a jsd from stanford law school opens up countless career opportunities..
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Northwestern's JD-PhD program is open to students who intend to pursue an academic or research career and whose teaching and research will be enriched by both degrees. The program is designed to allow students to complete both degrees more effectively than they would through consecutive degree programs. Students are able to complete the entire program, including dissertation, in as few as six years.
Northwestern JD-PhD graduates have obtained faculty positions in law and graduate schools as well as prestigious judicial clerkships.
Advantages of Northwestern's JD-PhD Program
The most integrated program of its kind.
The program offers a coherent course of study on a set track that integrates the rigorous terrains of doctoral and law studies. Faculty members from each of the schools jointly supervise students' research and dissertations.
An Accelerated Course of Study
Students can complete the entire program in as few as six years (varies by department). All students can earn both degrees more quickly than they would through consecutive degree programs. JD-PhD students spend the first two years doing graduate-level course work in various disciplines through The Graduate School, the following two years at the Law School, and the final years completing their dissertations.
A Strong Community
Students from various doctoral programs are treated as a cohort, so they have a community of peers in law, in their disciplines, and among those seeking the combined degree. Both law and graduate school faculty are involved at every step to support students' progress in the program and to ensure that each student progresses consistently.
An Important Qualification
There is a growing trend among top law schools to hire faculty who have PhDs as well as law degrees. Northwestern's JD-PhD program presents the most efficient option to obtain these credentials.
Outstanding Faculty
Interdisciplinary study is a hallmark of Northwestern and the Law School has a higher percentage of PhD-trained scholars than any top law school in the country.
The Most Generous Funding in the Country
Northwestern offers the most financially generous JD-PhD program in the country, typically providing full funding—including tuition and living expenses—for seven academic years and six summers.
Related Links
The Graduate School | Law School Course Catalog | JD-PhD Brochure (pdf)