48 Best Juris Doctor (JD) Programs for 2024

A national leader in legal education, Chicago-Kent offers J.D. students a wide variety of challenging courses and seminars, both theoretical and practical, geared to enhance their education and academic experience.

The Advanced JD degree is a two-year JD program that allows graduates of foreign law schools to complete their U.S. law studies and earn a JD degree on an accelerated schedule.

Your goal is to become a licensed attorney: to represent clients in court, provide legal counsel, prepare and deliver trial statements, take depositions, negotiate settlements, and perform other traditional attorney functions. Concord Law School is accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California. The Juris Doctor (JD) degree program focuses on the knowledge and skills necessary for you to become an effective member of the legal profession.

With an EJD degree from Concord Law School, you’ll be qualified to identify and address key legal issues, which can be particularly helpful if you own a business, work in a highly regulated industry, or work in (or often deal with) a corporate legal department. You can also use your advanced legal training in one of the many law-related areas that don’t actually require a bar license, including mediation, nongovernmental organizations, higher education, or human resources, to name a few.§ Although you won’t be a practicing lawyer litigating in court, opportunities exist to serve as an advocate in a variety of administrative dispute resolution forums. These may include immigration courts; hearings on veterans benefits, social security disability income, and Medicare claim appeals; workers compensation boards (in select states); and federal labor dispute proceedings.

At SJCL, the study of law is an intense endeavor, but the skills and doctrines learned will benefit you professionally on a daily basis. Our small class sizes allow students to receive individual attention from faculty. At SJCL, the competition is against one’s self and high professional standards – not other students. The staff at SJCL understands that many students have responsibilities that extend beyond law school. Every effort is made to facilitate each student’s personal academic success through our Academic Support Program. Dedicated faculty members regularly hold study and review sessions. Students are encouraged to organize study groups – building camaraderie that translates into professional contacts after graduation. San Joaquin College of Law is accredited by the Committee of Bar Examiners of the State Bar of California, as well as by the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, an institutional accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education.

First-year full-time students are automatically registered for only the required courses offered in the first-year full-time curriculum. After the first year, full-time students are expected to enroll in no fewer than 12 units and no more than 17 units. Full-time students usually enroll in day courses but, space permitting, may elect evening offerings. To be eligible for federal financial aid, students must be enrolled in a minimum of 6 units. For purposes of student loans and loan repayment, students taking 12 or more units per semester are considered full-time students.

The J.D./LL.M. joint degree program is designed to primarily be a 3.5-year full-time program available only to SCU School of Law students who have been accepted for participation in both programs. Under a typical schedule, full-time students complete the program and receive both degrees in 3.5 years. Students must declare their intent to participate in the program no later than 12 months before graduation and complete the requirements for both degrees prior to graduation.

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The School of Law's required and core courses provide the substantive and procedural knowledge that all attorneys must-have. A comprehensive writing program, beginning the first year with the Introduction to Lawyering Skills courses and continuing throughout the The largely elective upper-class curriculum provides one of the most comprehensive sequences of lawyering-skills courses of any law school in the country. Simulation courses help students develop the full range of skills, including trial and appellate advocacy; pretrial litigation; interviewing, negotiating, and counseling; mediation and alternative dispute resolution; and planning and drafting. You will then have opportunities to test your abilities in the "real world" by participating in the School of Law's award-winning clinics or externships. Interested in focusing on certain areas of law? Our curriculum is designed to provide for nine upper-class concentrations that encourage students to explore an area of the law in depth before choosing a career path. This in-depth study, while not intended to produce a "specialist" in a particular area of the law, provides students with a sophisticated understanding of the area and with the complex lawyering skills that cannot be gained through a more general legal education.

The Business Law area of concentration provides students with the background necessary to succeed as business lawyers in the global financial world. UC Davis law graduates with a Business Law concentration work in law firms, corporations, consulting and accounting companies, and nonprofit organizations throughout the world.

In the technology-driven, global economy, many of the most significant business transactions and legal disputes involve not physical assets but intellectual property: copyrights, patents, trademarks, and trade secrets. The creation, maintenance, protection, and transfer of intellectual property are increasingly important not only to businesses and the national economy but also with regard to issues of social and economic justice. The UC Davis School of Law's Intellectual Property Law curriculum prepares students for this new world through a specialized curriculum devoted to the law of ideas, inventions, and other intangible forms of property.

The Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree is a graduate, professional doctorate degree that is conferred upon those who complete the school's J.D. program.

The Health Law & Policy Program at the Southern Illinois University School of Law was developed in the early 1980s to advance education and research regarding critical issues in health law and public policy, and medical ethics.

As the legal profession has changed and society has become increasingly globally-connected, Southern Illinois University (SIU) Law has stayed ahead of the curve. Our students learn from faculty with global ties that empower them to learn beyond borders and to another level.

Because the law is changing rapidly, and because the evidence is that most lawyers will change jobs and career emphases over time, today's law student needs both the skills and the knowledge necessary for lifelong learning and professional development.

UWLA School of Law awards the Juris Doctor Degree to students who satisfactorily complete a minimum of 85-semester units of law study, including all required courses, with a cumulative grade point average of 2.00 on the 4.00 scale and who have met all other residency and scholastic requirements.

The JD - Juris Doctor is a professional law degree. It is the degree that most law students must attain to entitle them to take a bar examination and, upon passing, become a licensed attorney.

The J.D. program at the University of Minnesota Law School offers you an exceptional experience and value. Here you will find an inventive curriculum and extensive learning opportunities that equip you for the demands of modern legal practice.

Established in 1924, the school prepares students for success through a challenging curriculum taught by nationally recognized faculty. The program has alumni in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, two territories, and 20 countries with successful careers in the legal profession and other fields.