LAW-JD - Law (JD)

Courses offered by the School of Law are listed on the Stanford Bulletin's ExploreCourses web site under the subject codes LAW and LAWGEN.

The School of Law, established in 1893, provides a legal education for students who are fitted by their maturity and academic training to pursue professional study under University methods of instruction. The curriculum leading to the first professional degree in law, the Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.), constitutes an adequate preparation for the practice of law in any English-speaking jurisdiction. Graduate work leading to the degrees of Master of Laws (L.L.M.), Master of the Science of Law (J.S.M.), and Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.), and a non-professional degree, Master of Legal Studies (M.L.S.), is also offered. For the full curriculum, see the Course Schedule & Description on the Law School web site. Stanford Law School offers joint or dual degree options in combination with other Stanford graduate departments and universities across the country; see the "Joint and Dual Degrees in Law" below.

The school is on a three-term academic calendar. For a complete list of academic dates see the Academic Calendar on the Law School web site.

For further information about admission, programs, curriculum, and faculty, see the Law School web site.

Joint and Dual Degrees in Law

Formal admission to both the Law School and to the other cooperating school or department in accordance with the established admission standards of each school or department is required. In addition to the established joint degree programs offered, the school considers requests for a dual program on an individually designed basis. For additional information on Law School joint or dual degree programs, see the Law School web site. See relevant web sites or department sections of this bulletin for degree requirements.

Graduate School of Business

• See the GSB's M.B.A. web site

• J.D./M.B.A. Master of Business Administration

• J.D./Ph.D. Business Administration

School of Earth Sciences

• J.D./M.S. Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)

• J.D./Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER)

School of Education

J.D./M.A. Education

School of Engineering

• J.D./M.S. Bioengineering

• J.D./Ph.D. Bioengineering

• J.D./M.S. Computer Science

• J.D./M.S. Electrical Engineering

• J.D./M.S. Management Science and Engineering (MS&E)

• J.D./Ph.D. Management Science and Engineering (MS&E)

School of Humanities and Sciences

• J.D./Ph.D. Communication

• J.D./M.A. Economics

• J.D./Ph.D. Economics

• J.D./M.A. History

• J.D./Ph.D. History

• J.D./M.A. in degree granting programs in Stanford Global Studies (SGS):

  • African Studies

  • East Asian Studies

  • Latin American Studies

  • Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

• J.D./M.A.  International Policy

• J.D./Ph.D. Modern Thought and Literature

• J.D./Ph.D. Philosophy

• J.D./Ph.D. Political Science

• J.D./Ph.D. Psychology

• J.D./M.P.P. Public Policy

• J.D./Ph.D. Sociology

• J.D./M.S. Symbolic Systems

School of Medicine

• J.D./M.S. Health Research and Policy (HRP)

• J.D./M.D. Medicine

• J.D./Ph.D. Neurosciences

Cooperative Programs with Other Universities

Stanford J.D. students have also pursued degrees at other universities such as the Harvard Kennedy School, Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and Princeton Woodrow Wilson School. The approval process for such a cooperative program begins after the student has been admitted, independently, to both programs. Students may enroll in either a joint degree among schools at Stanford or in a degree from an external university, but a student may not enroll in both a Stanford JDP and a cooperative program with another university.

Courses in Law

Some Law courses have special enrollment instructions and restrictions, but many Law courses are open to qualified graduate students in other departments of Stanford University with instructor consent. Non-Law students may not enroll in courses that are part of the required first-year J.D. curriculum. Stanford non-Law students intending to enroll in any course with a LAW subject code must consult the Office of the Law School Registrar in the Stanford Law School Administration Building, room 100, or see the Stanford Law School, Office of the Registrar web site.

The Stanford Law School is committed to providing academic advising in support of graduate student scholarly and professional development. When most effective, this advising relationship entails collaborative and sustained engagement by both the adviser and the advisee. As a best practice, advising expectations should be periodically discussed and reviewed to ensure mutual understanding. Both the adviser and the advisee are expected to maintain professionalism and integrity.

Faculty advisers guide students in key areas such as selecting courses, designing and conducting research, developing of teaching pedagogy, navigating policies and degree requirements, and exploring academic opportunities and professional pathways.

Graduate students are active contributors to the advising relationship, proactively seeking academic and professional guidance and taking responsibility for informing themselves of policies and degree requirements for their graduate program.

For a statement of University policy on graduate advising, see the "Graduate Advising" section of this bulletin.

Mastering legal doctrine is just the beginning of a proper legal education. Lawyers play countless roles in our society—as advocates, as advisors, as leaders in their own right. They practice law, work in business and government, put their degrees to use in science, education, and policymaking, and serve their communities in many other ways. Knowledge of the law, both its content and how to argue about it, remains critical in all these roles. But it is not enough, and a lawyer must also understand the needs of the people he or she serves and the consequences for them of different legal positions. And because those needs cross disciplinary boundaries, Stanford Law—true to Stanford University’s heritage of learning without limits— offers the opportunity for a truly interdisciplinary, multidimensional legal education.

Stanford Law has adopted a variety of innovative approaches to prepare students to think not just like lawyers but also like clients and scholars. To begin, we make it easy to experience the diverse learning opportunities that are possible only at a university like Stanford—with its breadth of highly ranked schools and departments, all located close together on a well connected physical campus. Stanford Law students have broad access to courses outside the law school that will fill out their legal education. In this way, students benefit from academic thought leaders across disciplines, not to mention the intellectual life of the campus found in the myriad of conferences and events held each year and in countless other multidisciplinary research programs.

Nor do the opportunities to broaden your legal education at Stanford Law end here. In addition, you can explore law’s intersection with a growing range of fields by pursuing a joint degree and adding a master’s or doctorate to your law degree or by taking teamwork oriented simulation courses with students and faculty from other parts of the university.