• Home > PHD > North America > USA > District of Columbia > Washington > Georgetown University Law Center

    Georgetown University Law Center

    The Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) is the highest degree offered by Georgetown.  It is primarily designed for foreign-trained lawyers who are interested in becoming law professors, scholars, jurists or public intellectuals, or in deepening their scholarship to continue in these fields.

    Georgetown’s S.J.D. Program is exceptional.  It offers students a unique opportunity to benefit from the world’s largest law curriculum and the extraordinary faculty who teach it, while doing so in a personalized environment designed to respond to the specific needs of S.J.D. students.  S.J.D. students have unparalleled access to resources by virtue of studying in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States and home to major international organizations.  S.J.D. students are an integral part of the law school community and are invited to participate in its rich academic and social life. The S.J.D. Program is intentionally small to enable students to receive individualized attention and to cultivate a close community of scholars for enrichment and ongoing support.  There is no limit to the topics that students may consider as long as they are original, able to contribute to the production of new legal knowledge and pursued with academic rigor.

    Credits 12
    Duration full-time 5
    Languages English
    Location 600 New Jersey Ave NW, Washington, DC 20001, United States
    Website http://www.law.georgetown.edu/academics/academic-programs/graduate-programs/sjd/index.cfm
    Description Be in residence for two years. During this time they follow a course of study, research, and writing under the supervision of a full-time member of the faculty. After two years, students are not required to be full-time students unless they are residing in the U.S. on a student visa, and may complete the dissertation away from the Washington, DC area. While in residence, S.J.D. students are expected to be full-time students and to limit employment (on or off campus) to a maximum of 20 hours per week. This employment restriction applies regardless of whether a student's visa would permit more hours of employment.
    Completion Requirement The core curriculum has two components: 1) the S.J.D. Colloquium, 3 credits per semester, which is structured around specific themes each semester such as law and society, comparative law, western jurisprudence and research methodology; and 2) the S.J.D. Seminar, 3 credits per semester, where students meet weekly in small sections to present and discuss their work.

    Make appropriate and adequate progress towards the completion of a dissertation. At the end of each academic year, students report to their supervisors and the Director of the S.J.D. Program on their progress. If, in the opinion of the supervisor and the Director of the S.J.D. Program, a student is not making appropriate progress, that student may be terminated from the program.

    Submit a dissertation that is accepted by the student's dissertation committee and complete an oral defense of the dissertation. The dissertation must make an original and substantial contribution to legal scholarship by raising, expanding upon or answering an important question and exercising independent critical ability in making the argument.
    Language Requirement The applicant must have excellent English language writing and speaking ability, demonstrated by a score exceeding 250 (with minimum scores of 25 in each of the three sections) on the computer-based TOEFL exam or 600 on the paper-based TOEFL exam (with minimum scores of 25 in each of the three sections).

    Review

    Make An Enquiry

    To know more about this institution and various course programmes, you can make an enquiry and someone will get in touch with your shortly.