Advanced law degrees

Factual Questions
1

I found out the other day about two law degrees other than the J.D.: the masters of law and the S.J.D. I haven’t been able to find anything out as to what these degrees are for. Anyone able to explain?

2

Advanced law degrees are normally pursued by those who wish to be scholars, rather than practicing lawyers (although they can be pursued by those who wish to add depth to their understanding of a particular field of law).

Both the LL.M. and the S.J.D. require additional coursework and/or examination, plus theses and oral defense. I think both take a year or two to complete.

3

Candidates for both the LLM (Master of Laws) and the SJM (Doctor of Juridical Science) are most likely planning for an academic career, such as joining the faculty of a law school.

4

There is also such a thing as an LL.D. (which is what Samuel Johnson had), but it’s usually honorary now; one school that does offer the opportunity to earn LL.D.'s in a variety of fields, entirely by distance learning, is the University of South Africa, alma mater to Nelson Mandela (BA 1942, LLB 1989) and Desmond Tutu (BA 1954).

The LL.M. (also offered by UNISA, I might add) came about back in the U.S. when the LL.B. was considered the standard credential. Now the LL.B. is better known as the J.D. (the requirements didn’t change; just the nomenclature), so you run into one of those funny cases where you can earn a doctorate as your first professional degree and a master’s as your second.
Cheers,

5

With respect to the LLM, I disagree that it’s for academic careers. Based on the LLM’s I have known in the NYC area, there are three basic reasons to get an LLM:

  1. To get special training (and credentials) in a particular area of the law, which is often Tax. The classic example of this is the LLM in Tax from NYU.

  2. For foreign attorneys to get the necessary academic credits to be admitted to the bar in New York;

  3. For graduates of lower-tier law schools to beef up their records by taking classes at higher-ranked law schools.

The JSD, on the other hand, does seem to be an academically-oriented degree. However, most professors I know do not have JSD’s. Instead they have JD’s (or LLB’s) and prestigious clerkships.

Anyway, this is based solely on my experiences in NYC. Perhaps things are different elsewhere.

6

I would agree with the comments of the earlier posters. I would just add that depending on the particular law school, you can get an LL.M. solely through course work and writing, without a thesis requirement.

I would also agree with lucwarm that although an LL.M. may be taken as a step toward an academic career, some people take it as a means of specialisation in a particular field. For example, the office where I work is a specialised one, with eight lawyers, all engaged in the active practice of law, not academics. Three of us hold LL.M. degrees, and three are currently working towards the degree in their spare time.

I also know a couple of lawyers with their SJD who were engaged in the active practice of law without intending an academic career.

Piper, LL.B., LL.B., LL.M.

7

In my school, the majority of LL.M. students were foreign-educated attorneys whose foreign degrees did not qualify them to practice in the U.S. Most states (or at least most around here – Washington D.C. area) allow you to take the Bar (and if you pass, be a practicing lawyer) if you have a foreign law degree and a U.S.-based LL.M.

–Cliffy