SJD and PhD in Law, which one is better in terms of prestige, prospect and recognition if both of them are coming from the same university?
As an alumnus of Torquemada University, an SJD sounds like a doctorate in Jesuitology to me. But seriously, my guess is that the PhD is a more recognizable degree to more people, FWIW. Personally, I react favorably to "rare" degree nomenclature, but I do not know that that is a widely shared response. Is there a substantial difference in the curriculum for the SJD and PhD Law?
AHNIC, Where are you writing from? In the United States, the SJD is rarely awarded and actually necessary for no professional or academic function that I know of. Most American SJD degrees are awarded to foreign law professors. There is no PhD in law per se. Well, maybe one...the University of Washington's program in asian law. You have to speak fluent Japanese, Chinese or Korean just to get in. There ARE a few, a very few, "law and..." PhD programs out there. I imagine these would be treated like Crim Justice, Social Work, Sociology, or similar degrees. Berkeley has one called PhD in JSP. Social Policy, I think it is. In terms of time, I think the JSD/SJD might take a little longer over all because the applicant must have his BA and JD and (usually) LLM completed first. On the other hand, maybe the school would credit the JD coursework? Nosborne, JD
I've heard of some British and Aussie schools offering law Ph.D. and/or SJD programs by distance learning, but can't remember which offhand. Cheers,
Hi Nosborne, SJD is rarely awarded? Do you mean SDJ by DL? Nearly all leading law schools in US offer SJD program, eg http://www.law.umich.edu/prospectivestudents/graduate/graduate.htm. and Harvard is top of the range. Yes, currently very few US law schools offer PhD in law, do you know why? But I think PhD in law still exists in US (http://www.law.washington.edu/LawSchool/admit/graduate.html). On the other hand PhD in law is very common in UK/commonwealth system. That's why I am asking which one is better. BTW where did you get your JD?
I believe that only a little over 20 (out of the circa 185) ABA approved law schools offer an SJD program and, from what I've been able to glean, =most= only admit a handful of candidates per year. Basically, the programs are designed to train law professors and aren't really very useful for much beyond that.
My JD came from the University of New Mexico School of Law in 1986. Very few law professors in the US have the JSD degree; most have only the JD even if they teach in specialized areas. The PhD is almost unknown in law faculties. I looked this up once; 80% of the few dozen JSD degrees conferred annually in the US go to foreign students. Some programs are designed for foreign students ONLY. I really can't tell you the difference in the degrees beyond suggesting that 1) the JSD requires a first professional degree in law and 2) the JSD is ALWAYS conferred by a law school. In the U.S., the JD is a terminal degree for all practical purposes. Nosborne, JD
