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Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)
The SJD is designed to give you an opportunity to complete the highest research degree in law within a specialized field of study of your choice.
The program will prepare you to return to your home country to work in academia or law reform for your government at the highest level. Our program typically lasts three years and requires full-time residency on campus for at least two of those years.
Degree Requirements
During the two years of residency, your thesis advisor may require you to take courses applicable to your thesis topic. By the end of the first year, you must submit a final thesis proposal, including the introduction, background, literature survey and preliminary annotated outline. You then must complete at least one additional year in residency. You may take up to two additional years to complete the thesis, for a total of four years.
If you are not in residence after the first two years, you must be available to meet with your thesis advisor in the year(s) prior to submission of the completed thesis, as determined by the thesis advisor. Following approval of the thesis by a committee, you must appear before the committee to defend your thesis. The completed thesis must be of publishable quality.