Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)

Students with outstanding academic credentials who intend to pursue an academic career are welcome to apply to the SJD program. SJD candidates must have completed the LLM degree at an accredited American law school. In exceptional cases, consideration will be given to applicants who have completed programs of study in common law countries. Each SJD candidate will be assigned a primary faculty supervisor with expertise in the student's research area and two additional faculty members who form the student's doctoral committee. Duke graduates, with the SJD or LLM degrees, hold academic positions in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Israel, Mexico, New Zealand, Japan, and Taiwan. The SJD program normally takes a minimum of three years and a maximum of five years. The program requires one to two semesters of course work as recommended by the faculty supervisor completed in residence at Duke Law School. The student must successfully pass written and oral examinations in the general field of study before formal admission to candidacy. The student will be asked to prepare a research proposal, which must be accepted before research on the dissertation begins. The SJD student's faculty committee will assess the student's progress, make recommendations, and hold an oral examination on the final draft of the dissertation.