Academics

Joint Degrees

Joint degree students are required to complete 72 credits in the Law School.

Requirements include:

  1. Taking all required 1L courses (view 1st Year Curriculum)
  2. Two credits of ethics courses (view JD Ethic Requirements)
  3. A substantial written product
  4. Requirements specific to degree program and department

Joint Academic Degree Programs

Degree Departments General Requirements
JD/MA Art History
Cultural Anthropology
East Asian Studies
Economics
Engineering Management
English
Environmental Science & Policy
History
Humanities
Philosophy
Political Science
Psychology
Public Policy Studies
Religion
Romance Studies		 The MA or MS degree that is pursued jointly with the JD degree in the Law School requires 30 units of paid registration in the Graduate School. Depending upon the department involved, from 18 to 30 of those units must be in graded coursework. If the required coursework is less than 30 units, students must register for enough ungraded research units to reach the required total of 30.

Like all other master's students, Joint JD/MA or JD/MS students must maintain continuous registration within the Graduate School, and take a master's exam (a written exam, submission/discussion of research papers, or a formal thesis, again depending upon the department involved).
JD/MS Mechanical Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering
JD/PhD Philosophy
Political Science		 Pursuing a PhD jointly with a JD is an extremely rigorous undertaking reserved for students with high levels of focus, commitment, and dedication to their academic goals. PhD requirements vary from department to department, but most require at least two years of coursework plus a doctoral dissertation. Unlike JD/MA programs, all JD/PhD programs require applications to both the Law School and the appropriate Graduate School department. Most JD/PhD students earn their joint degrees in five or six years of study.

Joint Professional Degree Programs

All programs except the JD/MD program are four years long. Students spend their first year in one school and their second year in the alternate school, in whichever order the student chooses. The student’s second year consists of the full first-year program of the other school. In the third and fourth years of the program, the student takes courses in both schools. Approximately two-thirds of these courses are taken in the Law School.

The student in the JD/MD program begins the course of study in the School of Medicine. As in the regular MD program, the first year is devoted to the basic medical sciences, and the second year is devoted to the basic clinical disciplines. After those two years, the student enrolls in the Law School, taking the prescribed first-year courses. After completing seventy-two credits in the Law School, the student returns to the Medical School for elective clinical work tailored to the student’s specialized interests. The student will complete eighteen additional semester hours (two summer sessions) of basic science work.


General Requirements

For all joint degrees, the Law School and the joint department or school each reduce the number of required credits in recognition of the students' coursework completed in the joint discipline. JD/MBA, JD/MD, JD/MEM, JD/MPP, and JD/MTS candidates must complete 72 law credits, rather than the 84 law credits required for JD-only candidates. The Fuqua School of Business, the Medical School, the Nicholas School of the Environment, the Sanford Institute for Public Policy Studies, and the Divinity School reduce their degree requirements in similar fashion. (For details regarding the non-law credit requirements for a specific joint degree program, please visit the web site of the particular University department or school involved.) Joint degree candidates generally save a full year of study that would otherwise be required if they earned their two degrees consecutively.