Application Deadline April 1

Duration full-time 5

Languages English

Location 1 Brookings Dr, St. Louis, MO 63130, United States

Website http://law.wustl.edu/jsd/index.aspx

Description To file an application for admission to the J.S.D. program, an applicant must hold a foreign law degree or a J.D. and ordinarily also have completed one full semester of one of the Washington University School of Law LL.M. programs. During the first semester of the LL.M. program, the J.S.D. applicant must have had an academic record of distinction with a minimum of 10 hours of academic credit. Mere “passing” grades are not sufficient. An applicant with an LL.M. degree from an Association of American Law Schools (AALS) approved school may be provisionally admitted but must successfully complete the course of study for the first semester of a Washington University School of Law LL.M. program to remain a J.S.D. candidate.

Completion Requirement The J.S.D. program emphasizes original research and writing culminating in the preparation of a significant and extensive (book-length) dissertation of publishable quality. The J.S.D. dissertation should demonstrate not just awareness of a body of material but also synthesis of that material into a rigorous high quality analysis. It should be a work that, when published, will contribute to the field.
The dissertation must be completed and accepted by the candidate’s Dissertation Committee within (a) five years of receipt of the LL.M. degree, for students who obtain their LL.M. from WUSL; or (b) five years after admission to the J.S.D. program. All J.S.D. candidates will be expected to defend their dissertation vive voce.