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Ph.D. Program

The ph.d. in law degree.

The Ph.D. in Law degree program is designed to prepare J.D. graduates for careers as legal scholars and teachers through a doctoral program aimed at the production of a substantial body of academic research and writing under the close supervision of a three-member faculty dissertation committee. Unlike programs designed for students who wish to learn about law from the disciplinary perspectives of the social sciences or the humanities, the Ph.D. in Law is directed at students who wish to pursue advanced studies in law from the perspective of the law. This program offers emerging scholars an opportunity to contribute to the development of law as an academic field, and it provides an alternate pathway into law teaching alongside existing routes such as fellowships, advanced degrees in cognate fields, legal practice, and clerkships.

Because our entering Ph.D. students will have already completed their J.D. degrees, the anticipated course of study toward the Ph.D. in Law degree is three academic years and two summers in residence. In their first two semesters, Ph.D. students will enroll in courses designed to help them acquire the background and research skills needed to complete a dissertation in their field of interest and to prepare them for qualifying examinations that test the depth and breadth of the literacies and skills they have acquired. During their second year, students will prepare a dissertation prospectus and begin work on a dissertation. The dissertation may take the form of either three law review articles or a book-length manuscript and will make up a portfolio of writing that will be essential for success in the job market. Ph.D. students will also gain experience in the classroom, and receive the full support of Yale Law School’s Law Teaching Program , which has had remarkable success in placing graduates in tenure-track positions at leading law schools.

Ph.D. students receive a full-tuition waiver, a health award for health insurance coverage, and a stipend to cover their year-round living expenses, as well as support for participation in national and international conferences.

Applications for admission to the Ph.D. in Law program are available starting on August 15. The deadline for submission of all materials is December 15. Applicants to the Ph.D. in Law program must complete a J.D. degree at a U.S. law school before they matriculate and begin the Ph.D. program. Any questions about the program may be directed to Gordon Silverstein, Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs, at [email protected] .

Watch Gordon Silverstein, Assistant Dean for Graduate Programs, describe the Ph.D. program at Yale Law School.

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Top 10 Best PhD in Law Programs [2024]

Lisa Marlin

A PhD in law is an advanced qualification that will make you a true legal expert. You can use that credential to work as a legal research scholar or teach at a post-secondary level. This is not only a prestigious career path but also a lucrative one — today’s law PhD holders have an average salary  of $93,000.

Today’s law schools emphasize an interdisciplinary approach to legal education, equipping students to work in a diverse range of fields.

Interested in an advanced criminal justice  career? Below we’ll cover the top PhD in law programs, universities, and what you need to know before pursuing a doctorate in law.

Table of Contents

Top PhD in Law Programs

Yale university, law school.

Yale University logo

Yale University’s Law School ranks first  in the nation, with its 20 legal clinics offering an immersive experience for students. This PhD program has a purely academic focus. To qualify for admission, you’ll need to already have a JD (Juris Doctor) degree. If accepted, you’ll be able to benefit from Yale Law School’s acclaimed “Yale Teaching Program.”

  • Courses: Criminal law & administration, international human rights, and complex civil litigation.
  • Duration:  3 years
  • Delivery: On-campus
  • Tuition: Fully funded
  • Financial aid: Full tuition coverage, health insurance, and stipend.
  • Acceptance rate:  7%
  • Location: New Haven, Connecticut

Stanford University

Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD)

Stanford University logo

Stanford University is another highly acclaimed institution in the field of law education with a tough admissions process. Only a few exceptionally gifted students with an international JD or LLB or a SPILS (Stanford Program in International Legal Studies) qualification are accepted into this program every year. The program has an emphasis on an interdisciplinary approach to law.

  • Courses:  Advanced antitrust, current issues in business law, and reinventing American criminal justice systems.
  • Credits: 44 units
  • Duration: 4 years
  • Tuition : $64,350 per year
  • Financial aid: Scholarships, fellowships, grants, assistantships, federal work-study, and loans.
  • Acceptance rate: 5%
  • Location:  Stanford, California

The University of Chicago, The Law School

Doctor of Jurisprudence (JSD)

University of Chicago logo

The Law School of the University of Chicago is renowned for its interdisciplinary approach to teaching and cross-lists its courses with other departments. The faculty include philosophers, political scientists, historians, and law scholars. Students also have the option to pursue a Doctorate in Comparative Law (D.Comp.L.) instead of a JSD if they wish.

  • Courses: Antitrust & intellectual property, civil rights clinic: police accountability, and American legal history.
  • Duration: 5 years
  • Tuition : $7,647 per year
  • Financial aid: Full tuition scholarship, fellowship, and health insurance.
  • Acceptance rate: 7%
  • Location: Chicago, Illinois

Columbia University, Law School

JSD Program

Columbia University logo

The Columbia Law School emphasizes experiential learning with law clinics, moot courts, and externships, offering opportunities for innovative education and valuable intellectual exchange. Students can conduct independent research with the help of their faculty advisors and they need to submit a DPR (Dissertation Progress Report) at the end of each year.

  • Courses:  Intellectual property & technology, international & comparative law, and law of the workplace.
  • Duration:  5-6 years
  • Tuition : $75,572 per year
  • Financial aid: Grants, loans, and first child allowance.
  • Location:  New York City, New York

Harvard University, Law School

Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)

Harvard University logo

Harvard University is one of the world’s most famous centers for education, and its Law School  is equally renowned. The school has a unique grading system that uses the classifications honors, pass, low-pass, and fail. This flexible SJD program allows students to design their own study plan and choose faculty supervisors for independent research.

  • Courses: Advanced comparative perspectives on US law, environmental justice, and strategic litigation & immigration advocacy.
  • Duration:  4 years
  • Delivery:  On-campus
  • Tuition : $67,720 per year
  • Financial aid:  Scholarships, grants, and loans.
  • Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

The University of Pennsylvania, Carey Law School

Doctor of Science of Law (SJD)

University of Pennsylvania logo

Carey Law School’s curricula cut across disciplinary and international lines to create law experts in every field, including business, health, technology, education, and social work. For admission to the Carey Law School PhD, you must already hold an LLM or JD from the same school or an institution of similar standing.

  • Courses: Privacy & racial justice, appellate advocacy, and disability law.
  • Tuition : Refer tuition page
  • Financial aid: Full tuition, stipend, health insurance, and scholarships.
  • Acceptance rate: 9%
  • Location: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

The University of Arizona, James E. Rogers College of Law

University of Arizona logo

The University of Arizona’s James E. Rogers College of Law is one of the country’s most affordable top-tier law schools. This PhD law degree offers the choice of two concentrations: International Trade & Business Law, and Indigenous Peoples Law & Policy.

  • Courses:  International business & investment structuring, federal Indian law, and trusts & estates.
  • Duration:  3-5 years
  • Tuition and fees : $26,000 per year
  • Financial aid:  Scholarships, federal work-study, loans, veteran benefits, and fellowships.
  • Acceptance rate: 85%
  • Location: Tucson, Arizona

The University of Texas at Dallas, School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences

Doctor of Philosophy in Criminology

University of Texas logo

The University of Texas’ School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences creates professionals capable of dealing with modern issues like risk management, political violence, social inequality, healthcare, and international trade & conflict resolution. You’ll need a bachelor’s in criminology or a related discipline to apply for this PhD in criminology.

  • Courses: Advances in criminology theory, evidence-based crime prevention, and regression & multivariate analysis.
  • Credits: 75 semester credit hours
  • Financial aid: Scholarships, grants, and loans.
  • Acceptance rate: 79%
  • Location:  Richardson, Texas

Abraham Lincoln University, School of Law

Juris Doctor (JD)

Abraham Lincoln University logo

This school was founded with to provide affordable education to working professionals who cannot attend regular law school. This doctorate in law is a flexible JD degree that can be completed entirely online through the university’s high-level education technology.

  • Courses:  Criminal law, civil procedure, and wills & trusts.
  • Delivery: Online
  • Tuition : $10,100 per year
  • Acceptance rate: 90.3%
  • Location:  Glendale, California

Walden University

Online PhD in Criminal Justice

Walden University logo

Walden University aims to help working professionals pursue advanced degrees and has been ranked #1  in research doctorates for African-American students. This program was one of the first online doctorates in criminal justice and allows students to explore national and international issues in criminal justice administration with a dual emphasis on contemporary theory and practice.

  • Courses: History & contemporary issues in criminal justice, policy & analysis in criminal justice systems, and research theory, design & methods.
  • Credits: 77 quarter credits
  • Tuition : $636 per quarter hour
  • Financial aid: Grants, scholarships, loans, and veteran benefits.
  • Acceptance rate: 100%
  • Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

What Do You Need to Get a PhD in Law?

The exact requirements vary depending on the program, but you’ll typically need a LLB, LLM, or JD as a basic prerequisite.

As part of the admission process, you usually need to submit:

  • Academic transcripts from previous studies
  • Personal essay and/or research proposal
  • Recommendation letters

To earn your doctorate, you’ll have to complete coursework, qualifying examinations, and usually a dissertation to a high standard.

Preparing for a Law Doctorate Program

The best PhD in legal studies programs are competitive, so it’s important to start preparing early. Keep up to date on developments in the field and research the best universities that offer your preferred specialization.

Look into leading faculty members in your areas of interest, and network by joining relevant professional communities. Once you’ve decided on your dream program, check admission requirements to prepare the strongest possible application.

Things to Consider When Choosing a Law PhD Program

Choosing the best law PhD program will depend on a range of factors, including your passions and interests. However, there are a few general factors that are essential for everyone deciding on a law school for their PhD to consider:

  • Location:  First, a school close by could save you on accommodation costs. But that’s not the only location consideration. You should look at your school destination for evidence of a booming legal or education industry. For example, New York is a hub for business, while Boston is known as a center for technology.
  • Cost and funding:  Ensure the program costs align with your budget and explore financial aid opportunities.
  • Specialization:  Some schools offer unique specializations like social justice, law and economics, and international law. Choose a program with a focus on your preferred specialization.
  • Faculty:  The university’s reputation is important, but its faculty credentials are equally critical. Explore faculty backgrounds by researching published papers and social media profiles like LinkedIn.
  • Class sizes:  Smaller class sizes mean better one-on-one attention; however, a larger cohort offers better networking opportunities.
  • Placement support:  What happens after graduation? Are you on the hook for finding a job on your own, or does the school offer placement options? Find out where alumni are employed to get an idea.

Why Get a Doctorate in Law?

A doctorate degree in law will allow you to pursue roles in the legal field as a scholar, researcher, or academic, and build a worthwhile career.

Several candidates apply for admission to PhD in jurisprudence programs every academic year, but top law schools have low acceptance rates, and only a few are accepted. For example, Harvard only has around 70 SJD students  while hundreds or thousands may apply. Therefore, with this qualification, you’ll belong to an exclusive group of in-demand professionals.

Jobs for PhD in Law Degree Holders

Here are some common roles for PhD holders in law with the average annual salaries for each:

  • General Counsel ($170,183 )
  • Staff Attorney ($71,106 )
  • Professor of Law ( $131,926 )
  • Project Manager ( $76,264 )
  • Senior Research Associate ( $75,029 )

Course Costs

The cost greatly depends on where you study, but prestigious law schools can charge annual tuition of around $65,000. Once you factor in living expenses, books, and facility fees, the total cost can add up to around $100,000 a year. However, you can find programs with tuition and fees for as little as $7,500 a year. Moreover, most top institutions offer full-tuition scholarships, stipends, and similar financial aid that cover almost all of your expenses.

Course Length

Typically, a PhD in law takes 3-5 years to complete. However, most programs will give you extra time to complete your doctorate if needed.

Skills You’ll Gain through a PhD in Law

Aside from giving you in-depth and expansive legal knowledge, PhD in law programs can also help you develop the following skills:

  • Communication
  • Presentation
  • Critical Thinking
  • Project Management
  • Problem Solving

Key Takeaways

A PhD in law is an excellent choice for legal professionals seeking a career in research or academia. While a JD or Juris Doctor is equivalent to a PhD, the former equips you to become a law practitioner.

On the other hand, if you want to teach at a post-secondary level or conduct further legal research, you will need a PhD. Prepare early and choose a program that will best help you to achieve your career goals.

For more law education advice, take a look at our guide on the best master’s in criminal justice programs , or weigh up your options with the highest-paying PhDs .

PhD in Law FAQs

What is a phd in law called.

A PhD in law is usually called a Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws. Some universities offer a JD (Juris Doctor or Doctor of Jurisprudence) degree, while others offer SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) or JSD (Doctor of Science in Jurisprudence) programs.

Is a PhD in Law the Same as a JD?

A JD (Juris Doctor) degree is suitable for anyone who wants to practice as a licensed legal professional. These programs usually take three years to complete and are mostly coursework-focused.

On the other hand, a PhD in law may take 5-6 years to complete and usually involves a dissertation or major research project. If your aim is professional research or a job in academia in the discipline rather than practicing law, a PhD is better for you.

What is the Highest Degree in Law?

A PhD in law is generally considered the most advanced law degree. While some universities call it by other names, such as SJD (Doctor of Juridical Science) or JSD (Doctor of Jurisprudence degree), this is essentially the same thing.

How Long is a PhD in Law?

PhD Law programs typically take 3-5 years to complete. You may take longer for individual reasons, such as if you choose to study part-time.

What Does a PhD in Law Do?

A PhD in law will equip you to work in legal research or academia.

Lisa Marlin

Lisa Marlin

Lisa is a full-time writer specializing in career advice, further education, and personal development. She works from all over the world, and when not writing you'll find her hiking, practicing yoga, or enjoying a glass of Malbec.

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Doctor of Science of Law (JSD)

January 2023, JSD cohort with Professor Amalia Kessler, Associate Dean for Degree Programs

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

Luis Bergolla

  • JSD Candidate
  • Teaching Fellow, LLM Program in International Economic Law, Business and Policy (IELBP)
  • Lecturer in Law

Silindile 1

Silindile Buthelezi

Janka

Rolando Garcia Miron

Yutang

Yutang Hsiao

Tai-jan huang.

Takuma

Takuma Iwasaki

You

Maria Palacio

Michael Thorburn

Michael Thorburn

Having a jsd from stanford law school opens up countless career opportunities..

Teaching in US Academia

Teaching Outside the US

Working in the Public Interest Sector

Working in the Private Sector

The PhD in Law program prepares students who have earned a JD from an American Bar Association accredited law school to enter law teaching or other careers that require a scholarly mastery of law. The program is designed to provide a broad foundation in the canonical texts and methods of legal scholarship and to support students in producing original scholarship in the form of a dissertation. The program strongly encourages, but does not require, interdisciplinary approaches to the study of law.

  • Programs of Study
  • PhD - Doctor of Philosophy
  • Yale Law PhD Program

Robert Post

Director of Graduate Studies

Gordon Silverstein

Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs

Thais Sobczak

Departmental Registrar

Admission Requirements

Standardized testing requirements.

GRE is not accepted.

Program-Specific Application Requirements

A writing sample and a research proposal are required by this program. 

English Language Requirement

TOEFL iBT or IELTS Academic is required of most applicants whose native language is not English.

You may be exempt from this requirement if you have received (or will receive) an undergraduate degree from a college or university where English is the primary language of instruction, and if you have studied in residence at that institution for at least three years.

Academic Information

GSAS Advising Guidelines

Academic Resources

Academic calendar.

The Graduate School's academic calendar lists important dates and deadlines related to coursework, registration, financial processes, and milestone events such as graduation.

Featured Resource

Registration Information and Dates

https://registration.yale.edu/

Students must register every term in which they are enrolled in the Graduate School. Registration for a given term takes place the semester prior, and so it's important to stay on top of your academic plan. The University Registrar's Office oversees the systems that students use to register. Instructions about how to use those systems and the dates during which registration occurs can be found on their registration website.

Financial Information

Phd stipend & funding.

PhD students at Yale are normally full-funded for a minimum of five years. During that time, our students receive a twelve-month stipend to cover living expenses and a fellowship that covers the full cost of tuition and student healthcare.

  • PhD Student Funding Overview
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  • Health Award
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Alumni Insights

Below you will find alumni placement data for our departments and programs.

Graduate Program

Jurisprudence & social policy graduate program, march 8, 2024, march 4, 2024, february 28, 2024, february 7, 2024, december 19, 2023.

Berkeley Law offers a unique interdisciplinary program of graduate study in law and society, leading to the Ph.D. degree in Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) . The JSP Program promotes the study of law and legal institutions through the perspectives of several disciplines, including economics, political science, philosophy, sociology, history, psychology, and criminal justice

The Jurisprudence and Social Policy Ph.D. is ideal for students interested in:

The scholarly study of legal ideas and institutions from the standpoint of one or more of the basic disciplines, such as, history, economics, philosophy, sociology, or political science.

Policy analysis and applied research on law-related issues in such fields as criminal justice, poverty and discrimination, human rights, urban planning, and environmental protection.

Preparation for teaching legal studies in graduate and undergraduate curriculums.

Interdisciplinary preparation for teaching law.

A Note from Associate Dean Dylan Penningroth:

Thanks for visiting our website.  The Jurisprudence and Social Policy (JSP) Program is a unique doctoral program focused on the interdisciplinary study of law. JSP is housed within the School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley, but organized under UC Berkeley’s Graduate Division. Established in 1978, JSP was the first law-focused PhD program in the United States and continues to be the leading program of its kind anywhere.

By integrating the study of law with the humanities and social sciences, JSP seeks a broad context for understanding and developing legal policy. While there are many productive ways to link law to the research tools of the disciplines, we are committed to pursuing plural, interdisciplinary scholarship that includes humanistic and social scientific approaches to the study of law. Our students generally specialize in some portion of this spectrum while learning from teachers and peers with diverse research interests. Students take a mix of interdisciplinary courses offered within JSP, as well as classes in the Law School’s traditional JD curriculum. These and other features of our program have become a model for other doctoral programs in interdisciplinary legal studies, many of which have recruited our alumni for their faculties. 

JSP faculty are leading scholars in their field who hail from a variety of disciplines – including political science, sociology, economics, history, philosophy, and psychology. Beginning with the JSP Orientation Seminar and through a range of course offerings in the humanities and social sciences, we offer students training in both empirical and normative analysis of law. Over the past decade, JSP has grown, adding faculty who offer a range of cutting-edge courses in quantitative and qualitative research methods and research design that are specially oriented to the study of law. Our substantive course offerings also have increased in scope, pushing the boundaries of knowledge across multiple fields.

JSP is closely integrated with the Center for the Study of Law and Society (CSLS), which attracts visiting scholars from all over the world, hosts one of the most dynamic speaker series on campus, and provides an intellectual hub for top-notch research on law and legal institutions. CSLS also offers the Berkeley Empirical Legal Studies (BELS) Graduate Fellowship, which brings together doctoral students studying law and social science from JSP and other programs on the Berkeley campus in a year-long research workshop. Berkeley Law is also home to a vibrant array of other research centers dedicated to issues ranging from law, energy, and the environment to reproductive rights and justice; from law and business to law and social justice; from law, morality, and public affairs to law and technology. 

This is an extraordinary time for scholars and students who have interdisciplinary training in law. The collective challenges confronting us today span diverse legal systems, fields of expertise, cultures, and regions of the world. In this context, the training we provide is not only an advantage for a professional career in academia, public service, or policy advocacy, but also urgently needed kindling for innovative theorizing, creative problem-solving, and breakthrough empirical research.

On this website you can get to know our students and our faculty and learn more about the JSP program by viewing recent course offerings and upcoming conferences. I especially urge you to learn more about our advanced graduate students currently on the academic job market, as well as our alumni. Nothing reflects so well on our program as our graduates, and what they are accomplishing with their training here at Berkeley continues to inspire us. 

If you have any questions about the JSP Program, please feel welcome to contact me, our Graduate Advisor, Sarah Song, or our Graduate Student Advisor, Michael Paz.

Dylan C. Penningroth, Associate Dean Jurisprudence and Social Policy

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US Law Graduate Programs in America

1-25 of 38 results

Washington University in St. Louis School of Law

St. Louis, MO •

Washington University in St. Louis •

Graduate School

  • • Rating 4.36 out of 5   11 reviews

Current Doctoral student: The faculty at WashU Law are experts in their respective subject areas, and they truly care about their students as well. Additionally, the course selection is phenomenal. ... Read 11 reviews

Washington University in St. Louis ,

Graduate School ,

ST. LOUIS, MO ,

11 Niche users give it an average review of 4.4 stars.

Featured Review: Current Doctoral student says The faculty at WashU Law are experts in their respective subject areas, and they truly care about their students as well. Additionally, the course selection is phenomenal. .

Read 11 reviews.

Cornell Law School

Ithaca, NY •

Cornell University •

  • • Rating 4 out of 5   2 reviews

Master's Student: Experiential learning at Cornell Law School is a central part of our educational model. A robust set of clinical courses helps students move beyond the classroom into the world of practice; the Lawyering Program focuses on teaching the real-life skills employed by practicing attorneys, and externships around the country and across the globe put classroom learning into practice. ... Read 2 reviews

Cornell University ,

ITHACA, NY ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says Experiential learning at Cornell Law School is a central part of our educational model. A robust set of clinical courses helps students move beyond the classroom into the world of practice; the... .

Read 2 reviews.

Dedman School of Law

Dallas, TX •

Southern Methodist University •

Southern Methodist University ,

DALLAS, TX ,

American University

Graduate School •

WASHINGTON, DC

  • • Rating 4.54 out of 5   147

Illinois Institute of Technology

CHICAGO, IL

  • • Rating 4.37 out of 5   38

American University Washington College of Law

American University •

  • • Rating 4.22 out of 5   9

Case Western Reserve University School of Law

Cleveland, OH •

Case Western Reserve University •

  • • Rating 5 out of 5   4 reviews

Master's Student: The school was amazing, the professors were amazing, the area around the campus is nice. The only downside is the winters. I hate snow, and Cleveland gets a lot. ... Read 4 reviews

Blue checkmark.

Case Western Reserve University ,

CLEVELAND, OH ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says The school was amazing, the professors were amazing, the area around the campus is nice. The only downside is the winters. I hate snow, and Cleveland gets a lot. .

Read 4 reviews.

Tulane Law School

New Orleans, LA •

Tulane University •

  • • Rating 5 out of 5   6 reviews

Other: I am currently enrolled for the Juris Doctor (JD) Program at Tulane Law School. This program gives me the opportunity to participate in Journals, Moot Court, Clinics, Externship activities etc. I am currently an Editorial Board Member of the Sports Law Journal and a Staff Writer for the Sports Law Weekly publication. The curriculum at Tulane Law School is practical and hands-on and I look enjoy every bit of the academic and student life here. ... Read 6 reviews

Tulane University ,

NEW ORLEANS, LA ,

6 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Other says I am currently enrolled for the Juris Doctor (JD) Program at Tulane Law School. This program gives me the opportunity to participate in Journals, Moot Court, Clinics, Externship activities etc. I am... .

Read 6 reviews.

University of Washington College of Arts & Sciences

Seattle, WA •

University of Washington •

University of Washington ,

SEATTLE, WA ,

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UC Irvine School of Law

Irvine, CA •

University of California - Irvine •

  • • Rating 5 out of 5   1 review

Doctoral Student: The J.D. program at the University of California, School of Law was an interdisciplinary, rigorous one. ... Read 1 review

University of California - Irvine ,

IRVINE, CA ,

1 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says The J.D. program at the University of California, School of Law was an interdisciplinary, rigorous one. .

Read 1 reviews.

Pepperdine University School of Law

Malibu, CA •

Pepperdine University •

  • • Rating 4.83 out of 5   6 reviews

Current Doctoral student: I really enjoy going to Pepperdine because the 2L and 3L students truly care about you and give you resources to help you become successful. They share their notes and even give you their old books. ... Read 6 reviews

Pepperdine University ,

MALIBU, CA ,

6 Niche users give it an average review of 4.8 stars.

Featured Review: Current Doctoral student says I really enjoy going to Pepperdine because the 2L and 3L students truly care about you and give you resources to help you become successful. They share their notes and even give you their old books. .

Loyola Law School

Los Angeles, CA •

Loyola Marymount University •

  • • Rating 4.8 out of 5   5 reviews

Other: Loyola Law School is located in the legal, financial and media capital of Los Angeles. It is home to world-renowned faculty, and academic programs at the leading edge of the legal field. Our students want to change the world, and they’re doing it. ... Read 5 reviews

Loyola Marymount University ,

LOS ANGELES, CA ,

5 Niche users give it an average review of 4.8 stars.

Featured Review: Other says Loyola Law School is located in the legal, financial and media capital of Los Angeles. It is home to world-renowned faculty, and academic programs at the leading edge of the legal field. Our students... .

Read 5 reviews.

University of Dayton School of Law

Dayton, OH •

University of Dayton •

  • • Rating 4 out of 5   7 reviews

Doctoral Student: I am a first year law student at Dayton. It was overwhelming before classes started as the emails came in listing the class requirements. The orientation week first semester brought relief. Having the year 2 students there to walk us through expectations was a game changer. Having the first year schedule set by the school was also a relief. The professors are very knowledgeable and make themselves available to work through some of the struggles of being a year 1 law student. The grading is competitive but fair. In order to succeed you have to be all in. The first semester I spent 40-50 hours a week outside of class time studying and working on assignments. Overall I am very satisfied with the pace of learning, the content we are learning and the commitment of the professors to help each student succeed. ... Read 7 reviews

University of Dayton ,

DAYTON, OH ,

7 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I am a first year law student at Dayton. It was overwhelming before classes started as the emails came in listing the class requirements. The orientation week first semester brought relief. ... .

Read 7 reviews.

School of Law - The University of Alabama

Tuscaloosa, AL •

The University of Alabama •

The University of Alabama ,

TUSCALOOSA, AL ,

Washington, DC •

  • • Rating 4.22 out of 5   9 reviews

Doctoral Student: WCL has a really great and supportive network to help its law students. The classes are interesting and its very fun! I think that anyone who can should go, and its a really great experience, and I have enjoyed what I have done so far. It's really great being at such a supportive school, and I feel that I am learning a lot. ... Read 9 reviews

American University ,

WASHINGTON, DC ,

9 Niche users give it an average review of 4.2 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says WCL has a really great and supportive network to help its law students. The classes are interesting and its very fun! I think that anyone who can should go, and its a really great experience, and I... .

Read 9 reviews.

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University of Connecticut School of Law

Hartford, CT •

University of Connecticut •

  • • Rating 4 out of 5   3 reviews

Doctoral Student: I am currently a 1L at the university of Connecticut, School of Law. The best part of this program is that I am able to work during the day and go to school at night. The flexibility allows me to pursue a JD while I work during the day. The teachers are extremely understanding, reasonable, and flexible as they understand my day job will take precedence. The university gives evening division students the ability to be active on campus and make clubs and programs accessible. ... Read 3 reviews

University of Connecticut ,

HARTFORD, CT ,

3 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I am currently a 1L at the university of Connecticut, School of Law. The best part of this program is that I am able to work during the day and go to school at night. The flexibility allows me to... .

Read 3 reviews.

Sturm College of Law

Denver, CO •

University of Denver •

  • • Rating 3.33 out of 5   6 reviews

Doctoral Student: I currently attend the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, and my experience thus far has been wonderful. Despite the difficulty and amount of content that comes with being a first year law student, the professors have shown us success is attainable, and supported me in achieving that success. ... Read 6 reviews

University of Denver ,

DENVER, CO ,

6 Niche users give it an average review of 3.3 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says I currently attend the University of Denver, Sturm College of Law, and my experience thus far has been wonderful. Despite the difficulty and amount of content that comes with being a first year law... .

University of Missouri - School of Law

Columbia, MO •

University of Missouri •

University of Missouri ,

COLUMBIA, MO ,

KU School of Law

Lawrence, KS •

The University of Kansas •

  • • Rating 3 out of 5   2 reviews

Current Doctoral student: Some professors are very personable and friendly. The program itself is fairly comprehensive and covers most 1L topics as they should. Overall though the style of teaching is not the most conducive to learning and not a great environment to learn the law in. ... Read 2 reviews

The University of Kansas ,

LAWRENCE, KS ,

2 Niche users give it an average review of 3 stars.

Featured Review: Current Doctoral student says Some professors are very personable and friendly. The program itself is fairly comprehensive and covers most 1L topics as they should. Overall though the style of teaching is not the most conducive... .

Nebraska College of Law

Lincoln, NE •

University of Nebraska - Lincoln •

  • • Rating 4 out of 5   1 review

Current Doctoral student: I love how many opportunities there are for internships and externships. The law school really goes above she beyond to help students find meaningful law experience during our time here. There are also many resources and support to help sieves prepare for and do well on the bar exam. The job placement statistics and bar pass rate speak for themselves. ... Read 1 review

University of Nebraska - Lincoln ,

LINCOLN, NE ,

1 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Current Doctoral student says I love how many opportunities there are for internships and externships. The law school really goes above she beyond to help students find meaningful law experience during our time here. There are... .

Chicago - Kent College of Law

Chicago, IL •

Illinois Institute of Technology •

Doctoral Student: Some professors were wonderful to learn from, but then had horrific exams. The curve in 1L year was very difficult to fight against. ... Read 6 reviews

Illinois Institute of Technology ,

CHICAGO, IL ,

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Some professors were wonderful to learn from, but then had horrific exams. The curve in 1L year was very difficult to fight against. .

Thomas R. Kline School of Law

Philadelphia, PA •

Drexel University •

  • • Rating 4 out of 5   4 reviews

Master's Student: I am starting courses in January of 2024, however, the enrollment, registration, and orientation process through Drexel's school of law has been very easy. Before the start of courses, there's been a substantial amount of support and resources provided, along with the opportunity to connect with individuals in charge of programs. The most beneficial experience thus far was the orientation and "test drive" event so that graduate candidates could meet their academic advisor and practice accessing the online learning platform before the start of courses. I'm looking forward to courses and interaction with peers and professors. ... Read 4 reviews

Drexel University ,

PHILADELPHIA, PA ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 4 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says I am starting courses in January of 2024, however, the enrollment, registration, and orientation process through Drexel's school of law has been very easy. Before the start of courses, there's been a... .

Loyola University Chicago School of Law

Loyola University Chicago •

  • • Rating 5 out of 5   3 reviews

Master's Student: A very personal and perspective changing experience. Professors are both knowledgeable and approachable at any time. Some external resource website are sometimes less user friendly. As a veteran, I feel the institution provides a valuable transition opportunity for military service members returning to civilian life. Associates in veteran's center seem both knowledgeable and willing to understand the difficulties involved in reentering a civilian lifestyle. The frequent on and off campus events allow students from a variety of ethnic, geographical, and religious backgrounds to be introduced outside traditional social settings. Promoting open and honest dialog without the fear of being judged. As a disabled veteran, it is very important to feel that you are heard and understood rather your views are agreed with or opposed. This is the environment I have witnessed so far in my personal academic journey at Loyola University Chicago. ... Read 3 reviews

Loyola University Chicago ,

3 Niche users give it an average review of 5 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says A very personal and perspective changing experience. Professors are both knowledgeable and approachable at any time. Some external resource website are sometimes less user friendly. As a veteran, I... .

DePaul University College of Law

DePaul University •

  • • Rating 4.5 out of 5   4 reviews

Doctoral Student: Staff and students are amazing! Can always count on professors to give me the one-on-one time! I cannot recommend enough! ... Read 4 reviews

DePaul University ,

4 Niche users give it an average review of 4.5 stars.

Featured Review: Doctoral Student says Staff and students are amazing! Can always count on professors to give me the one-on-one time! I cannot recommend enough! .

McGeorge School of Law

Sacramento, CA •

University of the Pacific •

  • • Rating 4.86 out of 5   7 reviews

Master's Student: The program is very flexible and allows me to work full time. I think it has been very valuable and has prepared me for my career path. ... Read 7 reviews

University of the Pacific ,

SACRAMENTO, CA ,

7 Niche users give it an average review of 4.9 stars.

Featured Review: Master's Student says The program is very flexible and allows me to work full time. I think it has been very valuable and has prepared me for my career path. .

Liberty Law School

Lynchburg, VA •

Liberty University •

Liberty University ,

LYNCHBURG, VA ,

School of Law - St. Mary's University - Texas

San Antonio, TX •

St. Mary's University •

  • • Rating 3 out of 5   3 reviews

St. Mary's University ,

SAN ANTONIO, TX ,

3 Niche users give it an average review of 3 stars.

Loyola University New Orleans College of Law

Loyola University New Orleans •

Loyola University New Orleans ,

Vermont Law and Graduate School

SOUTH ROYALTON, VT

  • • Rating 3.6 out of 5   25
  • • Rating 4.83 out of 5   6

Tulane University

NEW ORLEANS, LA

  • • Rating 4.17 out of 5   35

Showing results 1 through 25 of 38

Program finder image

The Juris Doctor (J.D.) is a three-year program that first gives students the intellectual foundations for legal study, and then gives them the opportunity to focus their studies on areas of particular interest through advanced classes, clinics, and writing projects.

The Master of Laws (LL.M.) is a one-year advanced degree program for students who have already received their first law degrees. It attracts intellectually curious candidates of diverse backgrounds from 65+ countries, including lawyers working at firms or NGOs, government officials, law teachers, judges, activists, doctoral students, entrepreneurs, diplomats, and others.

Harvard Law School’s most advanced law degree, the Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) is modeled on the very best Ph.D. programs in other disciplines, and is designed for aspiring legal academics who, through sustained independent study, research and writing, work to produce a dissertation that constitutes a substantial and valuable contribution to legal scholarship.

Students interested in combining legal education with advanced training in a field not covered by one of the Law School’s formal joint degree programs can consider completing the J.D. program concurrently with another graduate degree program at Harvard University or another institution. In the past, students have arranged concurrent degree programs with the Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Harvard Divinity School, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

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Harvard Law Bulletin

Winter 2024

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Charles ogletree jr. : 1952-2023, supreme court tackles water rights in the west in texas v. new mexico and colorado, follow us on social media.

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What would Benjamin Franklin do…about social media?

Caselaw access project conference marks full release of digitized decisions, harvard law professor ruth okediji explains why she believes music — and faith — foster hope in difficult times, featured areas of interest.

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Law and Technology

Starting with a focus on intellectual property, Berkeley Law’s law and technology program has expanded over the years to develop an equally deep expertise on privacy. Our activities now encompass the full range of technology law, including cybercrime and cybersecurity, biotech, entertainment law, telecommunications regulation, and many other areas of constitutional, regulatory, and business law.

Intellectual Property

Over the years, Berkeley Law’s pioneering intellectual property program has provided not only an unmatched classroom education for our students, but also a multitude of conferences and other events where scholars, attorneys, and policymakers meet to consider the complex and dynamic issues arising in the field of intellectual property.

The Berkeley Law faculty includes leading privacy experts with concentrations spanning international and comparative privacy law, consumer privacy, cybercrime, and the law of government surveillance. In addition to teaching, research, and writing, faculty work with corporations and organizations and testify before legislative hearings and other government bodies .

Digital Entertainment

Berkeley Law is exploring the challenges raised as sports and entertainment law converges with digital technology. Significant conferences and networking opportunities as well as innovative courses such as seminars on music law and video game law provide students an introduction to this diverse and rapidly changing field.

A Global Perspective

In today’s interconnected world, technology law issues are global in scope. Recognizing this, Berkeley Law collaborates with international scholars, lawyers, and public officials to compare the IP and regulatory regimes of various countries and to confront issues surrounding the international development of technology law. Our Berkeley Center for Law and Technology has strong working relationships with universities around the world, including Tel Aviv University, Israel; Renmin University, Beijing; Peking University, Beijing; and the Institute for Information Law, University of Amsterdam.

Berkeley Center for Law and Technology Much of what happens at Berkeley Law in the areas of law and technology occurs under the umbrella of the Berkeley Center for Law and Technology (BCLT) . BCLT’s program extends beyond the classroom, providing students diverse opportunities to immerse themselves in the ever-expanding field of technology and the law. From informative networking events to career fairs and more, BCLT supports a number of co-curricular and extracurricular activities to enrich the law school experience.

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Cutting to the Chase: Barbershop Launches 2L Dominick Williams to Prestigious Journal’s Top Role

Williams has parlayed working at Lord Tony’s in Sacramento to becoming editor in chief of the California Law Review, where he’s pushing to expand the journal’s accessibility and reach.

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LL.M. Student Deshna Desai Unravels the Fashion Industry’s Legal Threads

Desai, who wrote an article recently published in the Fashion & Law Journal, probes some of the compelling aspects, important nuances, and timely issues at the nexus of law and fashion.

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From Crypto to the Meaning of Truth, New Courses Build Knowledge Across a Broad Spectrum

More than 20 new classes are just part of a record number of courses offered this spring, giving students a rich range of choices.

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Student-Led Digital Rights Project Helps Score a Big Privacy Victory in the Bay Area

Working with the ACLU of Northern California, the group spent hundreds of hours reviewing thousands of geofence warrants issued from January 2018 to August 2021 to figure out where police used them and who was affected. 

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Greatest Hits: A Dozen Stories From 2023 That Reflect Berkeley Law’s Impact

From helping to write a tribe’s constitution to providing free training worldwide on digital investigations of human rights violations to propelling crypto industry reform, the school had quite a year. 

What You Need To Know About Law School

  • by Ryleigh J. Praker
  • March 27, 2024

Two students in business attire sit at a desk. They deliberate together over a yellow legal pad.

Do you enjoy learning about history and politics? Do you have a passion for serving underrepresented groups and fighting for social justice? Are you an ace at arguing, in-person or on paper? If you answered yes to any of these questions, law might be the field for you.

Before you can enter into law, though, you’ll have to think about law school. The idea of continuing your education beyond undergrad may be daunting, but don’t fret. Read on for a crash course on what law school is, how to get in, what law school is like and what you can do with a law degree.

Law school basics

A student wearing a commencement robe and tie displays a green stole embroidered with the words "Environmental Law Class of 2022 UC Davis School of Law."

What is law school?

If you want to be a lawyer, you’ll need to go to law school. A law school is a graduate-level educational institution where you can earn a professional degree in legal studies.

Can you be a lawyer without going to law school?

Although it is possible to become a licensed attorney in California without a law degree, the vast majority of lawyers go to law school.

What is a J.D.?

The basic degree you will earn by completing law school is a J.D. degree . J.D. stands for Juris Doctor and prepares you to enter the legal profession.

How long is law school?

If you attend law school full-time, it usually takes three years to complete your J.D. Of course, you will need to earn a four-year bachelor’s degree first, so the minimum education length for becoming a lawyer is about seven years. That’s a big time commitment!

Should I go to law school?

Anyone who is set on becoming a lawyer should attend law school. Since it’s such a large time and money commitment, though, you should make sure it’s the career you want before starting.

If you’re unsure about whether it’s for you, talk with an experienced advisor like those at the UC Davis Pre-Law Advising Office . You should also consider talking to current lawyers or law students, visiting a law school or finding a law-related internship.

What is law school like?

Two students sit at a desk in a library, smiling and looking down at the textbook open between them.

Law school is a challenging academic experience meant to build analytical reasoning and argument skills along with knowledge of case law. You will spend much of your time studying case law, honing writing skills and participating in mock legal exercises like moot court.

The first year of law school is fairly standard across programs. You will develop a foundation in constitutional law, criminal procedure, civil procedure, contract law, tort law and more. The remaining years allow for more customization, with students choosing legal specializations and participating in clinics or internships. By the time you complete law school, you’ll have plenty of knowledge, skills and experience under your belt.

Many law schools allow students to specialize in certain areas of law and earn certificates in that area. UC Davis School of Law offers eight areas of concentration , including business law, environmental law and health care law. Each of these areas includes a specific course of study and allows you to earn a special certificate.

To learn more about what law school is like, explore LSAC’s guide .

How to get into law school

A student in a blue commencement gown and regalia, including a stole with the words "First Generation" walks across the stage at the UC Davis School of Law commencement ceremony.

The list of requirements for law school is short. At minimum, you need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited university. There is no required undergraduate major — law schools will and have accepted applicants from a wide variety of majors. Some of the most common undergraduate majors for law students include political science, economics, philosophy and history.

Whatever your major, you’ll want to keep your GPA up. Law schools are competitive graduate-level programs, which means you need to perform well in undergrad for law school admissions boards to feel confident in your ability to succeed.

For a step-by-step breakdown of the law school application process, read our article “ How Do I Apply to Law School? .”

What can I do with a law degree?

A student in business attire stands at a podium, speaking into a microphone, while onlookers listen.

The most common end goal for law students is becoming a licensed attorney . Attorneys work all over the country, at companies large and small and in many different fields. As an attorney, you might work at a large firm or a small practice, for the government, for a legal aid organization or as an in-house lawyer for a corporation.

Attorneys also have a wide range of options when it comes to what type of law to practice. Although your first image might be a criminal defense attorney, you can also consider careers in environmental law, tax law, intellectual property law and immigration law. The options are endless!

Beyond the world of lawyers, people with law degrees may also go into politics, journalism, academia or financial planning. There’s something for any interest you might have.

Now that you’ve learned the basics about law school, hopefully you have a better idea of whether it’s something you want to pursue. Before setting off to apply: 

  • Talk to your family, friends and academic advisors about law school 
  • Learn more about different types of law you’d like to pursue
  • Research law schools that specialize in the areas that interest you

There’s a wide world of law out there — jump in and explore!

Check out our law school

How to apply to law school

R.J. Praker (she/her) is a third year pursuing a bachelor’s degree in political science with minors in professional writing and Russian . She currently works as a writing intern for UC Davis' Office of Strategic Communications and an academic peer advisor for the Department of Political Science . She also serves as chief copy editor at the Davis Political Review . R.J. is from Placerville, California and loves to hike in the Sierra Nevada with her family’s dogs.

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The M.L.S. Program: Professional Advancement through the Study of Law

Designed for professionals who need to understand the law but not become practicing lawyers. Options to work and learn online, hybrid and on-campus.

Program Structure

  • Specializations
  • Student Profile
  • Career Advancement
  • Tuition and Scholarships
  • Application Information
  • M.L.S. Events

What is a Master of Legal Studies? This online, hybrid and on-campus program provides graduate‐level legal education for non‐lawyers whose professional success will be aided by obtaining a working knowledge of the law. Earn a master's degree that is ideal for non-lawyers in any field – from the private, nonprofit or government sectors – who need to understand complex legal matters and navigate laws, regulations, disputes, or attorneys. 

Why earn a Master of Legal Studies? With online, hybrid and on-campus, this program is suitably designed for both working professionals and full-time students who are looking to learn the language of the law, challenge themselves, and create new career opportunities. 

Read why these students chose to attend our program at the #1 Public University in America and the  #1 law school in Southern California :

MLS Student Victoria Hong

Law is a part of every single profession. Knowing the law and knowing how to think like a lawyer puts you well ahead in any position.

Victoria Hong (MLS '24) Director of Corporate Communications Delaware North Companies

MLS Student Aaliyah Williams

This program can help you expand your comfort of the law. It challenges you to use your brain in different ways and it's helping me expand my work and my own business.

Aaliyah Williams (MLS '23) Founder/Producer Just a Rebel, Inc.

MLS Student Daniel Lafeir

The skills I have learned even after just one semester have directly made an impact on how I approach my work.

Daniel LaFeir (MLS '23) Lead Consultant Developer ThoughtWorks

MLS Student Patrick Ip

In any business, you want to pick up the skillset of thinking like a lawyer; how lawyers argue and the techniques they use. You already start to pick that up when you go through the classes and can apply that to your current role and to a wide range of topics.

Patrick Ip (MLS '23) Chief Executive Officer Solar Plus Investments

Program Highlights

  • Flexibility for the working professional with online and hybrid options
  • Complete in nine months full-time or 2-4 years part-time
  • 8 specializations to tailor the program to your career interests
  • Acquire the legal knowledge and skills to enhance and accelerate your career
  • Earn a legal degree from the nation's most applied to university that is ranked both as the #1 public university & Southern California's #1 ranked law school
  • Engage in our vibrant community and join UCLA's extensive alumni network
  • Network with like-minded individuals within and across industries in Southern California and beyond with the vast UCLA network
  • Learn from world-renowned faculty who are leading experts in their fields of law
  • Scholarships and financial aid available

A flexible curriculum with online, hybrid and on-campus options to meet the needs of the working professional.

Specializations: A Tailored Curriculum

*Students can also self-design an individualized specialization with approval.

UCLA Rankings and Alumni Network

M.L.S. by the Numbers

MLS Numbers: Average Age 36; Age Range 19-72; 70% Part-Time, 30% Full-Time; 67% Female; 65% Students of Color

Next: M.L.S. Program Structure ⇥

Class of 2023 LL.M. Students

Stellar LLM, SJD, MLS Students Start at UCLA Law

Talented and diverse new class joins ucla law, ucla law welcomes first students in its master of legal studies program.

A conversation with Louis Gutierrez, Chief Human Resources Officer at Los Angeles World Airports & Laura Kirrin, Head of Human Resources at Clare V.

A conversation with Megan Perrin, Vice President, Human Resources at STX Entertainment and Jill Goerdt, Vice President of Human Resources at Paramount Global

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Admissionado

Admissions consultants – law school, med school, master’s, phd.

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ATTENTION: Law school, Med school, or master’s and PhD Admissions Experts!

Admissionado is hiring! And… we’re kind of a big deal.

According to our moms. And also our clients who climb aboard the USS Admissionado , and set sail on our guided journey of hardcore introspection. Executing on the application itself, once we’ve come out of that process, is a breeze. And deeply satisfying.

A bit about us: by day, Admissionado is an admissions consulting company founded in 2007 by two Brown University grads (one ended up going to Harvard Business School, the other to USC Film School). By night, we save cats from trees and foil rebel plots. Fifty percent of these statements is 100% true.

We started by doing business school consulting, then expanded our expertise with college admissions. Today we’re eager to deploy our unique, holistic approach to law school, med school, master’s and PhD admissions.

If you have expertise in ANY of the following areas, we must meet:

  • Law School Admissions
  • Med School Admissions (BS/MD, MD, MD-adjacent, all of it)
  • General Allied Health Specialties (MPP, PT, OT, etc.)
  • Psychology, Social Work, etc.
  • Data Science
  • Computer Science

We’re not just looking for admissions coaches. We’re looking for diamonds in the rough: The Michael Phelps of inspiring applicants to write with fire. The Serena Williams of delivering incisive-but-not-too-blunt feedback. The Muhummad Ali of… all-things-awesome. This role goes way beyond knowing what test scores might make a student competitive. The Admissionado way is all about deeper profile development: not just reacting to questions, but proactively guiding clients to introspect, discover, and author their most authentic case for admission.

As an Admissionado consultant, you work remotely and have the freedom to manage your own schedule and workload. The ideal fit for us right now is a consultant with the capacity to take on a sizable client load, with plans to do this work consistently for many years to come.

Pay Range: Depending on client load, consultants with ample capacity can collect upwards of $25,000–75,000 in a single admissions cycle.

What the Role Requires:

  • Video chat and email communication with clients
  • Prompt email response times
  • Proactive guidance, real stewardship
  • Stellar communication skills
  • Like, super stellar communication skills

Qualifications:

  • Degree from a top college/university.
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Specific Instructions For HOW TO APPLY For This Position

Two (2) Initial Requirements:

[1] Send an email or attach a cover letter to Raj Patil at [email protected] . Please address all of the following :

  • Prior years of experience with admissions coaching, highs and lows!
  • Your interest in Admissionado specifically (there are thousands of similar companies… why us?)
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  • Option 2: 10-20 clients
  • Option 3: 20+ clients … (“fill me up, I’m hungry”)
  • And finally, in a few sentences, please help us end this important debate: A hotdog is… (a) Absolutely a sandwich? Or (b) Definitely not a sandwich. Bring it.

[2] In that email, please also attach your resume (you can also provide your LinkedIn profile if you’d like, but please do not send us messages on LinkedIn – they’ll go unanswered!).

Final Word of Caution! Our process for hiring will be long (may take six to eight weeks). This is the first stage of the process; should you be selected for an initial interview, we will explain the remaining stages of the process to you at that time.

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University of florida to open new graduate campus in jacksonville, uf’s ‘florida semiconductor institute’ is coming to duval county.

Brianna Andrews , Reporter, weekend anchor

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida is opening a new graduate campus in Jacksonville dubbed the “ Florida Semiconductor Institute .”

The Florida Board of Governors approved the decision on Wednesday. UF will offer classes at a temporary site — the JEA headquarters — starting next fall until a permanent site is selected.

The graduate campus will offer courses in artificial intelligence and technology. Semiconductors, more commonly known as microchips, are an essential component in the fabrication of electronic devices, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.

The total cost to build the brand-new campus is around $300 million. UF already has $250 million and needs $50 million more.

So far, the state legislature already earmarked $45 million for the facility and another $35 million for operations. Governor DeSantis committed to funding $80 million for the Florida Semiconductor Institute which would create more semiconductor jobs in the state.

Jacksonville native Alex Hamler doesn’t think it’s worth the investment.

“I mean it could bring in money but bringing in money is one thing but if you’re not using it for the right things then what good is that money,” Hamler said.

The new campus will be located on the top floor of the JEA building on Pearl Street. The location is temporary until a permanent campus is found in downtown Jacksonville.

The stadium and convention center are two possible locations on the table, but a final decision won’t be made until summer 2024.

UF will offer nine graduate degrees and enroll up to 1,000 students.

City Council President Ron Salem said this development will be a game changer for the city.

“I think it’s tremendous to have all those graduate students here,” Salem said. “I think what’s happening at UF Health and its graduate campus will be great for Jacksonville, you’ve got the law school as well downtown, I think it’s all great news for Jacksonville.”

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Brianna andrews.

This native of the Big Apple joined the News4Jax team in July 2021.

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In New Jersey, an insurgent upends a Democratic machine

Rep. andy kim’s senate campaign is upsetting what most thought would be the coronation of tammy murphy, the spouse of the democratic governor, phil murphy.

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Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) sat quietly off to the side of a big hall on a Saturday in early February, when an aide delivered the unexpected news that the party faithful of Monmouth County chose him over their powerful local candidate.

“You won,” an aide whispered into Kim’s ear. “It wasn’t even close.”

Kim, a third-term congressman from the state’s Philadelphia suburbs, had just thumped Tammy Murphy, the wife of the popular governor, Phil Murphy (D), by nearly 20 percentage points in her home county to collect the endorsement for the Senate nomination.

Kim both secured the Monmouth Democrat’s “line” — a top placement on the June 4 primary ballot — and jolted the state’s Democrats into realizing they had their first real battle for a statewide nomination in nearly 25 years.

“I think that was an inflection point for a lot of the state to recognize, oh, wait, this is a real competition,” Kim recalled in an interview on Friday on Capitol Hill.

From that moment on, Kim has taken on the mantle of the unlikely insurgent candidate trying to take down the vaunted machine of the New Jersey Democratic Party, where for decades political bosses in the 21 counties have wielded outsize power to determine who gets elected.

Kim, 41, has turned the Senate race into something bigger than just a fight over who should replace the state’s senior senator, Bob Menendez (D), who faces a felony corruption trial later this year and is mulling running as an independent .

Now Kim is trying to fight against the system of these county party chiefs, both through running to defeat their handpicked candidate, Murphy, and by battling in court to try to outlaw the “line” system.

“It’s more of a movement to try to restore power back to the citizen, to the voters, to the people. And that appeals to a wide swath,” Kim said.

This is not one of the standard ideological battles of far-left progressives against mainstream liberals that have dominated the last decade of Democratic politics. Kim, a Rhodes scholar, served in the State Department and on the National Security Council under the Bush and Obama administrations. He jumped into politics in 2018, even though he was a long shot in a GOP district.

He eventually received large establishment backing and eked out a win by 1 percentage point. He has positioned himself more along the lines of other national security experts from that massive Democratic class of 2018, smart technocrats who don’t embrace the rage-against-the-machine ethos of the self-proclaimed “Squad” of far-left liberals.

He gained some national attention when an Associated Press picture, in the overnight hours after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol , went viral showing Kim on his knees cleaning up the trash left behind by rioters. He spent hours that night personally cleaning historic rooms of the Capitol.

One scorecard, ranking votes from 2021 when Democrats moved an aggressive agenda, gave Kim an 80 percent liberal rating, tying for seventh most liberal out of the state’s 10 Democrats in the House.

Murphy, 51, and her allies look at all this and see a standard politician who is now embracing an outsider activist posture for electoral gain.

Her spokesman dismissed Kim’s lawsuit trying to dismantle the county-line system as a “sad, hypocritical stunt ” and noted that his problem was “with the idea of losing county lines” because of Murphy’s stronger standing in the voter-heavy counties of North Jersey.

Last weekend, the state’s Democratic attorney general surprised legal observers by announcing his office believed the system was unconstitutional and would no longer defend the practice in court.

But Kim looks at the way the state’s power brokers tried to muscle him aside and sees a broader culture that allowed Menendez to retain his seat without any real political challenge after two previous corruption investigations, including one that ended in a hung jury. Only after this latest scandal, including gold bars allegedly given to him by Egyptian business interests, did the state’s Democratic elder statesmen decide to move on.

“This primary is not just like some random open primary. Its origin story comes out from one of the most, high-profile political scandals of my lifetime that I’ve seen, in terms of New Jersey. So voters are already predisposed to a concern about corruption and cronyism,” he said Friday.

Kim jumped into the race immediately after the initial indictment counts were unsealed and Menendez first declared he would not resign. That was followed by calls for his resignation from state and national leaders, including the governor, a former Goldman Sachs executive who served as ambassador to Germany for President Barack Obama.

The governor quickly sent word that his wife, who grew up as a Republican and made large donations to George W. Bush’s presidential campaigns, would be entering politics herself. And up and down the state, members of the congressional delegation and chairmen of the county Democratic machines endorsed Tammy Murphy for Senate.

In almost any other era, Kim would have simply dropped out, because the power of the line is so great in New Jersey. When the county party endorses a candidate, the ballot gets printed in a manner that puts the full slate of endorsees in a prime spot and challengers might end up in hard-to-find locations, what Kim called “ballot Siberia” in his lawsuit.

In Friday’s interview, he recalled the doubts from local leaders seven years ago about running for the House.

“The first question that they ask is,” Kim recalled, “can you get the line?” All his other House colleagues, from other states, got a different first question: “How much money can you raise?”

So rather than deferring to Murphy, Kim marched on and turned the campaign into something of a referendum on the way New Jersey runs its politics.

“The same party leaders that protected Menendez for so many years by giving him the county line, not allowing for a legitimate challenger to go up against him, those same exact people are now the ones that are trying to coronate Tammy Murphy,” he said.

In local races, anti-establishment figures have had some success against the party leaders, but statewide contests — particularly for Democrats — seemingly always tip toward the candidate with the most important county endorsements.

In 2013, Sen. Cory Booker won the Democratic primary in a special election with overwhelming support from county power brokers, defeating his closest rival, Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., dean of the state’s Democratic House delegation, by a 3-to-1 margin.

The last truly competitive statewide Democratic primary came in the 2000 Senate race, when another former Goldman Sachs executive, Jon Corzine, spent more than $35 million of his own money to win over the endorsements of the North Jersey county chairmen. Jim Florio, the still popular former governor, had support from his native South Jersey and decades of experience in state and local politics.

In the end, Corzine’s fortune and county-line support helped him pull away late to a 15-point win over Florio.

In 10 counties that held a secret vote of party activists to determine the endorsement, Kim won nine times, all by large double-digit margins.

Murphy’s allies believe that those county conventions are populated by activists who are a small sample size of the more than 1 million voters who will likely make up the Democratic electorate in June. They are frustrated by so much process talk in this campaign and want to focus on her work as the state’s first lady promoting abortion rights, educating about climate change and fighting gun violence.

She has said she’s willing to support a change in voting procedures, but noted she has to play by the current rules of the road for now.

Kim has focused on her long support of the Republican Party, well into her 40s, to question her now liberal credentials. “When she was my age, she was donating to George Bush. You know, this was not something where she was young in her life,” he said.

But the overall thrust of the campaign continues to be taking down the power brokers who run things, and he sees no better time to strike that message.

“Look, we live in the time of the greatest amount of distrust in government in modern American history. That’s in all 50 states,” he said.

That became all too clear three years ago when he walked into the Rotunda and saw the place ransacked. Now, every day he’s in the Capitol, Kim takes about 10 to 15 minutes to sit there by himself and reflect, just as he did before this interview Friday.

“It’s a place that — it just kind of grounds me,” he said.

If he can beat the machine in New Jersey, Kim will get to complete his walk across the Capitol, to the Senate.

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Supreme Court allows Texas to enforce immigration law

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Tuesday allowed Texas to enforce for now a contentious new law  that gives local police the power to arrest migrants.

The conservative-majority court, with three liberal justices dissenting, rejected an emergency request by the Biden administration, which said states have no authority to legislate on immigration , an issue the federal government has sole authority over.

That means the law can go into effect while litigation continues in lower courts. It could be blocked at a later date.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, hailed the court order , calling it "clearly a positive development," though he acknowledged that the legal battle is not over.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement that the law "will not only make communities in Texas less safe, it will also burden law enforcement and sow chaos and confusion at our southern border."

An aerial view of migrants crossing the Rio Grande.

“The court gives a green light to a law that will upend the longstanding federal-state balance of power and sow chaos,” liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote in a dissenting opinion. Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson also objected to the decision.

The majority did not explain its reasoning, but one of the conservative justices, Amy Coney Barrett, wrote separately to note that an appeals court has yet to weigh in on the issue.

"If a decision does not issue soon, the applicants may return to this court," she wrote. Her opinion was joined by fellow conservative Justice Brett Kavanaugh. The court has a 6-3 conservative majority.

In response to the Supreme Court order, the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals fast-tracked oral arguments on the Biden administration’s effort to block the law. Arguments are set to take place Wednesday morning, meaning a decision could come quickly.

The law in question, known as SB4, allows police to arrest migrants who illegally cross the border from Mexico and imposes criminal penalties. It would also empower state judges to order people to be deported to Mexico.

A top Mexico official said Tuesday in a statement on X that the country will not accept deportations from Texas.

According to a spokesperson for the Texas Department for Public Safety, there is no start date yet for enforcement of the law. Lt. Chris Olivarez said that state officials have been planning for its implementation for months, but they’re still discussing some practical details.

In Val Verde County on the U.S.-Mexico border, Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez said his small force, with three deputies on duty around the clock for a 3,145 square mile county of 47,586 people, will not start arresting migrants until he receives guidance from the state.

“I think that we all are in uncharted waters,” he said Tuesday.

He said not only is he not sure how and when to initiate enforcement of the state law, but that he will likely need more deputies and jail space if tasked with the new enforcement initiative. The county jail has a daily capacity of 94, Martinez said.“Right now we’re not equipped to handle that,” he said.

The dispute is the latest clash between the Biden administration and Texas over immigration enforcement on the U.S.-Mexico border.

In a separate opinion, Kagan wrote that the Texas law appears to conflict with federal law, noting that "the subject of immigration generally, and the entry and removal of noncitizens particularly, are matters long thought the special province of the federal government."

A federal judge blocked the law after the Biden administration sued, but the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in a brief order that it could go into effect March 10 if the Supreme Court declined to intervene. The appeals court has not yet decided whether to grant the federal government's request to block the law.

On March 4, Justice Samuel Alito issued a temporary freeze on the law to give the Supreme Court time to consider the federal government’s request.

Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar said in court papers that the law is “flatly inconsistent” with Supreme Court precedent dating back 100 years.

“Those decisions recognize that the authority to admit and remove noncitizens is a core responsibility of the national government, and that where Congress has enacted a law addressing those issues, state law is preempted,” she wrote.

The appeals court, Prelogar added, did not explain its reasoning for allowing the law to go into effect.

She dismissed Texas’ argument that its law can be defended on the basis that the state is effectively battling an invasion at the border under the State War Clause of the Constitution. The provision says states cannot “engage in war, unless actually invaded” or in imminent danger.

“A surge of unauthorized immigration plainly is not an invasion within the meaning of the State War Clause,” Prelogar wrote.

Defending the law, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in court papers that the measure complements federal law and the state should be allowed to enforce it.

The Constitution “recognizes that Texas has the sovereign right to defend itself from violent transnational cartels that flood the state with fentanyl, weapons, and all manner of brutality,” he added.

Texas is “the nation’s first-line defense against transnational violence and has been forced to deal with the deadly consequences of the federal government’s inability or unwillingness to protect the border,” Paxton said.

The city of El Paso and two immigrant rights groups, Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center and American Gateways, have also challenged the law and filed their own emergency request at the Supreme Court.

In 2012, the Supreme Court invalidated provisions of a tough immigration law enacted in Arizona. Only two of the justices who were in the majority in that case are still on the court: Chief Justice John Roberts and Sotomayor.

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Lawrence Hurley covers the Supreme Court for NBC News.

Find the Best Law Schools

A law degree is often synonymous with high pay and prestige, but not all lawyers practice the way they’re portrayed in Hollywood. Attorneys can be public defenders, private attorneys, specialized lawyers, judge advocates in the military and serve in many more roles. The skills you learn in a J.D. program are versatile and could be helpful to careers outside of the law, too.

  • 2023-2024 Best Law Schools
  • # 1 Stanford University  (tie) Stanford, CA
  • # 1 Yale University  (tie) New Haven, CT
  • # 3 University of Chicago Chicago, IL

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Law Programs, Specialties and Additional Rankings

Specializing in an area of law can marry a few of your interests. Learn about the types of law through electives and general courses, and then further focus on areas like tax law, family law, environmental law or immigration law.

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Lists: Law School Costs, Aid and Debt

Find out which schools offer the most financial aid and which are the priciest.

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How long is law school, how to get into law school, what do you learn in law school and why enroll, is law school worth it, how much does law school cost, when should i apply to law school, considering law school.

Sign up for a free U.S. News account to receive expert advice on topics like should you go to law school, LSAT prep, and personal statements.

Law School Advice

Applying to Law School

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More About Law Schools

Handling a law school rejection letter.

Here's how to keep an unwelcomed decision in proper perspective.

Gabriel Kuris March 25, 2024

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2024 Best Grad Schools Rankings Coming

The next edition of the U.S. News graduate schools rankings will once again focus on outcomes.

Robert Morse and Eric Brooks March 19, 2024

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Tips for Aspiring Lawyers in High School

Set yourself up early for success as a law school applicant without stretching yourself too thin.

Gabriel Kuris March 18, 2024

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Applying to Law School as a Minority

Identify as a minority, focus on the LSAT, show leadership and follow this additional advice from experts.

Sammy Allen March 14, 2024

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Law School Websites: What to Look for

Applicants should carefully research a law school’s website to learn what sets the school apart from others, in its own words.

Gabriel Kuris March 12, 2024

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How to Reapply to Law School

Law school reapplicants should strengthen their applications with a new LSAT score or job change.

Gabriel Kuris March 4, 2024

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Biggest Factors in Law School Admissions

Admissions officers look for more than high grades and stellar LSAT scores.

Gabriel Kuris Feb. 26, 2024

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Deciding Where to Apply for Law School

Use both your head and your heart to build a list of schools to target.

Gabriel Kuris Feb. 20, 2024

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Law School and a STEM Background

You have a leg up, since law schools value experience with science and technology in an increasingly high-tech world.

Gabriel Kuris Feb. 12, 2024

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Law School Applicant Personal Qualities

Aspiring law school students should be open-minded, detail-oriented, team-friendly and persistent, experts say.

Sammy Allen Feb. 9, 2024

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  1. Ph.D. Program

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