Cornell Law School: LLM and JSD

LL.M. & J.S.D. Degree Programs

The Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Doctor of the Science of Law (J.S.D.) degrees are advanced degree programs. The LL.M. degree program is a one-year program for practicing attorneys and recent law school graduates seeking a U.S law degree. Apply. 

The J.S.D. degree program is a highly selective program for students having completed LL.M.-level work. Except in unusual circumstances, however, students are admitted to the J.S.D. program only after initial candidacy for the LL.M. degree at Cornell Law School, in which they must have received all honor grades. A J.S.D. student is accepted only when, in the judgment of the law school faculty, the student is exceptional and the law school faculty is in a position to provide proper supervision of the student's proposed course of study. Apply. 

LL.M. and J.S.D. students at Cornell Law School receive the following benefits:

• Normally requires twenty credits of law study (two semesters) at Cornell.
  
• Only one specific course requirement (the Introduction to the American Legal System course).
  
• Students may choose courses from the law school's extensive curriculum, including most first-year and upper-level courses.
  
• Faculty advisors and the assistant dean for graduate legal studies help students design a course of study tailored to meet their unique educational goals.
  
• In completing the course work students must include one three-credit seminar with a substantial writing component, a three-credit paper supervised by a faculty member, or a five-credit Master's thesis.
• Courses in other divisions of the university are also available to LL.M. students.
  
  

LL.M. Class Profile

Students range from recent law graduates to experienced lawyers, judges and governmental officials.

J.S.D. Class Profile