The Law School's S.J.D. program is a strictly research and writing one designed for people who have already received a basic law degree from an American law school or an equivalent degree (e.g., LL.B.) from a university outside the U.S. and who have earned the University of Wisconsin Law School's LL.M. degree. The S.J.D. degree. is primarily of value to those planning on a career as a legal scholar or researcher. No course work is required; in fact, degree candidates are actively discouraged from enrolling in courses. Applicants should already have a sufficient education in the field of research to pursue a serious scholarly project.
(If you are interested in the basic American law program (the J.D. degree program), you are at the wrong place; go to Admissions.)
The University of Wisconsin Law School's S.J.D. program is research-based.
- No courses are taken in the S.J.D. program. Students register for a non-classroom course called "Directed Research" (Law 990) each semester.
We have entry in the fall and the spring.
- Applicants to the S.J.D. program may seek either Fall (August) or Spring (January) admission. The deadline for receiving the application for the research-based programs is October 1 for spring entry and March 1 for fall entry.
- Students must satisfy the required physical presence residence requirement. This is done by enrolling as a full-time law student in Law 990 (12 credits each semester) and doing research in Madison for two regular semesters (i.e., fall and spring). Students admitted in the spring must be a resident for the following fall semester as well.
We do not have direct entry into our S.J.D. program.
- Direct entry into our S.J.D. program is generally not granted for
someone who does not have an LL.M. degree from the UW Law School, even
for applicants who have multiple LL.M. degrees. If you are interested in earning the S.J.D. from our law school, you should first look at the information given about our LL.M. program.
- The S.J.D. is designed as a four-year program.
- The actual time of completion of the program may vary, depending on the research problem.
Eligibility to apply to the S.J.D. program
- Those who have a J.D. degree from a U.S. law school are eligible to apply directly to the Law School's LL.M. program. After successful work in the LL.M. program, students may then apply to the S.J.D. program, following the usual deadlines.
- For those who have a basic law degree from a university outside the U.S., especially from a civil code country, and who do not already have a master's degree in law from an American university, our Graduate Admissions Committee recommends that successful completion of our course-based Master of Legal Institutions (M.L.I.) program before applying to our LL.M. program and subsequent application to the S.J.D. program. The M.L.I. program provides the necessary foundation in course work and writing a research paper. The deadline for application for the M.L.I. program is February 1. Entry is in the fall only.
Requirements of the program
Be sure to read carefully the requirements for the S.J.D. program.
Costs of the program
Information about cost of the program is found at Tuition and Living Expenses.
Applying to the S.J.D. Program
We have a two-part application process for our research-based graduate programs: (1) the filing and initial review of the full application and (2) initial approval and seeking a research advisor.
Questions?
If you have questions, please contact the Graduate Programs Office at the University of Wisconsin Law School:
telephone: (608) 262-9120
fax: (608) 265-2253
email: gradprog@law.wisc.edu