Legal Research Paper Series

Home , Bachelor of Laws, Juris Doctor, Law Degree, Master of Laws

Graduate Law Degrees

Compiled by

Katharine O’Banion & Laura O’Hara

Research Paper No. 13 July 2006

Robert Crown Law Library Crown Quadrangle Stanford, California 94305-8612 Graduate Law Degrees at Stanford Compiled by Katharine O’Banion & Laura O’Hara 7/2006

Sources

Stanford University Annual Register Stanford University Bulletin Marion Rice Kirkwood and William B. Owens, A Brief History of the Stanford Law School, 1893-1946 Memo from Bruce Hasenkamp to Bayless Manning, 6/27/1969, regarding the J.D./J.S.M. Reconferral Program (Law Archives accession 1999-1017)

Abbreviations

A.B.=Bachelor of Arts in Law A.M.=Master of Arts in Law LL.B.=Bachelor of Laws J.D.=Juris Doctor (1906-32), Doctor of Jurisprudence (1969-present) LL.M., L.L.M.=Master of Laws J.S.D.=Doctor of the Science of Law J.S.M.=Master of the Science of Law J.M.=Master of Jurisprudence M.L.S.=Master of Legal Studies

Degrees conferred (or available for conferral) by date range

1895 A.B. 1896 A.B., A.M. 1897-1900 A.B. 1901-5 LL.B. 1906-11 J.D. 1912-32 LL.B., J.D. 1933-68 LL.B., LL.M., J.S.D. 1969 LL.B./J.D., LL.M./J.S.M., J.S.D.* 1970-7 J.M., J.D., J.S.M., J.S.D. 1978-89 J.M., M.L.S., J.D., J.S.M., J.S.D. 1990-2002 M.L.S., J.D., J.S.M., J.S.D. 2003-present M.L.S., J.D., L.L.M., J.S.M., J.S.D.

Or see chart in Appendix A

* As of June 15, 1969 J.D. reconferral option available to recipients of A.B., 1895-1907 LL.B., 1901-8, 1912-68 J.S.M. reconferral option available to recipients of A.M., 1896 J.D., 1927-32 LL.M., 1933-68 Developments in degree requirements and nomenclature

1895 The undergraduate Law Department awards its first Bachelor of Arts in Law degrees.

1895/6 The Law Department recommends that undergraduates elect Economics or History as their minor and that they begin their legal studies in their second year; majors must present a thesis of about 3,000 words. In addition to awarding A.B. degrees, the department awards for the first and only time Master of Arts in Law degrees to four students (including George Crothers) who, after having received A.B. degrees in history, studied law for one year and completed a thesis.

1899/1900 Law majors may not take courses in the department during their first year as undergraduates; they are to elect Elementary Law in their second year, two additional first-year courses in their third year, and three more first-year courses in their fourth year. After earning their A.B., they may complete two years of graduate coursework (five second-year and five third-year courses and a 5,000-word thesis) to earn a Bachelor of Laws degree.

1901 The Law Department awards its first LL.B.

1905/6 The degree of Juris Doctor replaces the LL.B.

1907/8 Undergraduates can earn a “Bachelor of Arts in the Pre-Legal Course.”

1911/2 The Law School reinstates the LL.B., awarding it to students who have completed two years of undergraduate coursework and all three years of the professional law curriculum (J.D. candidates must have completed three years of undergraduate coursework and earned an A.B.).

1917/8 The Law School now requires LL.B. candidates to have completed three years of undergraduate coursework and earned an A.B., while J.D. candidates must now have completed four years of undergraduate coursework. However, for the remainder of WWI, Pre-Legal majors may count two years of the Law School’s professional curriculum toward their A.B. degrees.

6/27/1924 Stanford’s Board of Trustees adopts a resolution, to take effect on Nov. 1, whereby a student must have an A.B. to be admitted to the Law School’s professional curriculum.

1927/8 The Law School will now award the LL.B. upon fulfillment of the preexisting requirements for the J.D., while the J.D. will be awarded upon completion of a fourth year of study and a thesis on some modern legal problem.

1932/3 The Master of Laws replaces the J.D., and the Doctor of the Science of Law—to be awarded to students who, after earning an LL.M., complete a year of independent legal research and present a thesis that the faculty deems “a contribution to knowledge”—is introduced.

1942 For the remainder of WWII, Pre-Legal majors may spread their third year of academic study and first year of professional study over their junior and senior years and thus earn their A.B. and LL.B. degrees in six years.

1969/70 The Law School first offers the Master of Jurisprudence, a nonprofessional degree to be awarded to students who complete two years of legal study. The J.D. replaces the LL.B., and the Master of the Science of Law replaces the LL.M.

1977/8 The Law School first offers the Master of Legal Studies, a nonprofessional degree to be awarded to students who have a non-law doctoral degree and who complete two years of legal study.

1989/90 The Law School no longer offers the J.M. degree.

1995/6 The Stanford Program in International Legal Studies [SPILS] welcomes its first fellows. SPILS is open to specially qualified academics, lawyers, judges, public officials, and other professionals trained in law outside the U.S. Each fellow completes an intensive, interdisciplinary research project on a topic of concern to a particular region of the world or to the international community as a whole, leading to a J.S.M. degree.

2002/3 The Law School introduces a new Master of Laws program, limited to students who have earned a primary law degree outside the U.S. and who have at least two years of professional legal experience. The one-year program allows specialization in Corporate Governance and Practice or Law, Science and Technology.

Appendix A: Graduate Law Degrees at Stanford

1895 1986 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926

AB XXXXXX AM X LLB XXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD (Juris Doctor) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

LLM

JSD

JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence)

JSM

MLS Appendix A: Graduate Law Degrees at Stanford

1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958

LLB XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD (Juris Doctor) XXXXXX LLM XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX JSD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence)

JSM

MLS Appendix A: Graduate Law Degrees at Stanford

1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990

LLB XXXXXXXXXXX

JD (Juris Doctor)

LLM XXXXXXXXXXX JSD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX JSM XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX JM XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX MLS XXXXXXXXXXXXX Appendix A: Graduate Law Degrees at Stanford

1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006

LLB

JD (Juris Doctor)

LLM XXXX JSD XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

JD (Doctor of Jurisprudence) XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX JSM XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

MLS XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX