S.J.D. Degree Requirements
To be awarded the S.J.D. degree, a candidate must complete and successfully defend, before a Dissertation Committee selected by the law school's S.J.D. Graduate Committee, a dissertation of publishable quality that constitutes an original and substantial scholarly contribution to the areas of law in which it is written. While word length is not evidence of quality, ordinarily the dissertation will be at least 50,000 words in length. The dissertation must be successfully defended and accepted (passed) by the Dissertation Committee appointed by the S.J.D. Graduate Committee.
The candidate must be in residence at the law school for the first semester following admission; in the discretion of the Dissertation Advisor, the candidate may be required to be in residence for a longer period of time.
At a minimum, the candidate will be required to submit a written work-in-progress report to the Dissertation Advisor by the end of each semester following admission and must comply with all other requirements established by the Dissertation Advisor.
The candidate will be required to conduct for the law faculty at least one colloquium on the dissertation as a work in progress; in the discretion of the Dissertation Advisor, the candidate may be required to conduct additional colloquia for the law faculty or other groups of legal scholars.
The dissertation must be completed, submitted and successfully defended within five (5) calendar years of admission to the S.J.D. program.
