JDP_LAW-JD_SOCIO-PHD - Law (JD) & Sociology (PhD) Joint Program

If a course satisfies two requirements (such as “R” and “Ethics,”) students may use that course to satisfy both requirements. However, with one exception, this rule permitting double-counting does not apply to the Experiential Learning requirement. Typically, students wishing to use a course to satisfy the Experiential Learning requirement cannot double-count, and must use that course solely to satisfy the Experiential Learning requirement. However, students may use a course designated as both an EL course and a PW course to satisfy both EL and PW requirements.

The ABA requires each law school to “establish and publish learning outcomes” designed to “prepare its students, upon graduation, for admission to the bar and for effective, ethical, and responsible participation as members of the profession.” ABA Standards 301 (a) & (b). The syllabus for each course may either set forth the course’s particular Learning Outcomes or direct students to the online course description, where Learning Outcomes are provided. By completing your degree, Stanford Law School certifies that you have satisfied the ABA’s Learning Outcome requirements listed below.

• LO1: Exhibit knowledge and understanding of key concepts in substantive law, procedural law, and legal thought.

• LO2: Demonstrate facility with legal analysis and reasoning. This may include, but will not necessarily include, a combination of skills such as synthesizing cases, identifying and applying relevant principles, and mastering modes of inquiry (whether scientific, social scientific, or humanistic) that inform and contextualize legal analysis and reasoning.

• LO3: Demonstrate the ability to conduct legal research.

• LO4: Demonstrate the ability to communicate effectively in writing.

• LO5: Demonstrate the ability to communicate orally (such as in group or individual presentations, while delivering advice to a client, or in the course of oral advocacy).

• LO6: Display familiarity with the law governing lawyers and exhibit an understanding of a lawyer’s distinctive ethical responsibilities to clients, the legal system, and the broader public.

• LO7: Display other professional skills needed for effective and responsible participation in the legal profession (such as, interviewing; counseling; negotiation; fact development and analysis; trial practice; contract review and drafting; conflict resolution; leadership behaviors, attitudes, and styles; collaboration and teamwork; execution; and cultural competency).

To graduate, a JD student must be “in residence” as a law student for at least nine (9) quarters and no more than twelve (12) quarters, at a time when the law school is in session. For purposes of the JD degree, the term “in residence” means that a student:

• Takes at least 9 quarter units of credit that can be counted toward the degree each quarter.

• By the date all grades for the quarter are due, passes at least 8 such units each quarter.

• Pays full tuition to the law school.

• Does not work more than 20 hours per week during the term. (See section entitled ‘Limitations on Working’ for more information.)

• A student must be in residence during the quarter in which the final degree is conferred or during the quarter immediately preceding degree conferral.

Students should consult the University’s online Academic Calendar for the Graduation Application deadline dates for each term. The Academic Calendar is available through the Office of the University Registrar.

In a transfer student’s offer of admission to Stanford Law School, the Associate Dean for Admissions and Financial Aid will specify the amount of transfer credit that the student will receive and the course requirements that the student will need to fulfill at the Law School to ensure that the student’s professional training in law will be substantially equivalent to that required of a student who does all of their JD coursework at the Law School. Thus, it is possible that transfer students may be required to enroll in one or more first-year required courses.

Transfer students will not be given credit for law course work taken elsewhere unless at the time they took such course work it would have been allowed credit toward a first degree in law if taken at the Law School.

Students must complete 8 units of coursework designated as fulfilling the Experiential Learning (EL) requirement pursuant to ABA Standard 303.

Pathway A – Full-time Clinic: Students who complete any of Stanford Law School’s full-time clinics are deemed “Pathway A” students. These students will automatically satisfy the ABA Experiential Learning Requirement and the SLS Professional Writing graduation requirement.

Pathway B – Self-Design: Students who do not enroll in one of Stanford Law School’s full-time clinics are deemed “Pathway B” students. Pathway B students must submit to the Registrar’s office a Self-Design Plan specifying which courses the student has taken and/or intends to take to satisfy the ABA Experiential Learning requirement.

Courses that count towards the EL requirement are identified on the Registrar’s website and in course listings. Students choosing Pathway B to fulfill this requirement should note that not all courses are offered every year and that enrollment for some courses may be limited.

All students who elect Pathway B must include a Professional Writing (“PW”) course of at least two units within their individually tailored plan. A course designated as a “PW” course is defined as one in which the students engage in the sort of professional writing common to practicing lawyers, e.g. writing briefs, drafting contracts, etc. PW courses include only those approved by the Curriculum Committee and explicitly classified as a PW class before the term begins. Externships and courses outside the law school do not satisfy the Professional Writing requirement. Courses that are designated as both EL and PW courses can count for both requirements.

Primary Experiential Learning Curricular Planning Form (Rising 2Ls)

All rising 2L students must submit a Primary Experiential Learning Curricular Planning Form by the deadline. The deadline will be prior to enrollment opening for the fall and the form must be submitted to enroll in fall classes. This form will indicate whether the student intends to satisfy the EL graduation requirement through one of Stanford’s full-time clinics (Pathway A) or through Self-Design (Pathway B). Students who do not meet this deadline will have a hold placed on their course registration until they submit the form. An enrollment hold may affect a student’s eligibility for financial aid, ability to enroll in courses in other schools, and foreign students’ visa status.

Secondary Experiential Learning Curricular Planning Form (Rising 3Ls)

Students who have not completed a clinic by the end of their second year must also submit a Secondary Experiential Learning Curricular Planning Form by the deadline set by the Registrar’s office at the start of the student’s third year prior to enrollment. Students who do not meet this deadline will have a hold placed on their course registration until they submit the form.

JD students must complete at least one advanced course that contains one or more units of ethics instruction. Only a course approved by the Curriculum Committee and explicitly classified as an ethics course before the quarter begins satisfies this requirement.

NOTE: If a course satisfies two requirements (such as "R" and Ethics) students may use that course to satisfy both requirements.

In addition to first-year Legal Writing and Federal Litigation, all students must complete one course of at least two units in which a principal part of the assigned work is a paper or other written product (an “R” paper), and one course of at least two units in which a principal part of the assigned work is typical of the sort of writing done by practicing lawyers, such as writing briefs and drafting contracts (a professional Writing “PW” course). Only courses approved by the Curriculum Committee and explicitly classified as an R or a PW course before the term begins can satisfy these requirements.

• A course designated as an “R” course is defined as one in which the written product is substantial and is based on open-ended research by the student.

• A Directed Research paper may count as the equivalent of an “R” course with the approval of the supervising faculty member.

• Satisfactory completion of a Senior Thesis or Research Track counts as the equivalent of an “R” course.

NOTE: If a course satisfies two requirements (such as “R” and “Ethics,”) students may use that course to satisfy both requirements.

Elective courses are generally limited to those within the Law School.

The following are non-Law School courses that have been approved by the Law School to count as elective courses. Other courses may also count toward this requirement as long as they are numbered 100 or above, are not in the MUSIC subject code, and are not Activity courses.

NOTES:

• First-year JD students may take a physical education or a music course each quarter but it will not count toward residency or graduation.

• Language courses are accepted as elective credit, but only half of the course units will count towards the J.D.

  • Students must enroll in 2 courses if they take a beginning language course.

Students wishing to use a course to satisfy the Experiential Learning requirement cannot double-count the course as an elective, and must use that course solely to satisfy the Experiential Learning requirement.

Students must complete six quarters of  course Sociology Colloquium by the end of their third year of study. The Sociology Colloquium is a semimonthly seminar held throughout the academic year, in which distinguished scholars lecture about their cutting-edge research findings. Students must enroll for credit, and it is required for all first and second-year Sociology students.

Students are required to take two courses in sociological theory.

The first course in macro-sociological theory (course SOCIOLOGICAL THEORY) and the second course in research design (course Theoretical Analysis and Research Design or course Designing Social Research ) are to be taken in the program’s first year. 

Students are required to complete a four-course series in methodology: 380, 381, 382, 383. Students with little background in statistics are encouraged to take an undergraduate statistics course in their first quarter of the program.

Students must complete four broad survey courses to demonstrate command of a range of sociological literature.

Each year the department specifies which courses meet this requirement. A list of courses that generally fulfill this requirement is listed above. Note: class offerings rotate; not all approved survey courses are offered yearly. Students should consult with their advisor to ensure that the combination of courses selected to meet this requirement exhibits sufficient breadth. This requirement is usually completed by the end of the second year of residency and must be met by the end of the third year. The most current list of approved survey courses is on the department website. This list is updated and circulated to students at the start of each academic year. 

Beginning in year two and until the degree is conferred, doctoral students are required to enroll in at least one workshop each quarter. Please refer to the program handbook for additional information on this expectation.

The first comprehensive examination is designed to ensure that students enter their second year with a firm reading knowledge of two substantive subfields, which students choose.

Students write two essays in response to questions provided by the examining committee. The essays are due exactly one week after students receive the questions. Students choose one of two questions to write on for each subfield. Examinations are offered in the subject areas below based on comprehensive reading lists available at the beginning of each academic year. Each subject area has one faculty point person or group leader. Group leaders are responsible for assembling essay questions and agree to meet with students as requested.

Exam subject areas are:

• Economic Sociology

• Gender

• Historical and Comparative Sociology

• Organizations

• Political Sociology and Social Movements

• Population, Family, Demography, and Marriage

• Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration

• Social Psychology and Microsociology

• Social Stratification

 Students may work together to read and discuss the materials on the comprehensive reading lists (and they are encouraged to do so). They may consult with faculty members as they study for the exams. However, collaboration and consultation should stop once the examination questions are released, and students should work independently on their essays.

The second qualifying examination provides students with a more focused engagement in a specialized subfield or research area and tests the student’s ability to work and think independently. Exam #2 is due by June 1 of the second year in residence. A two-person committee that includes the primary advisor evaluates the paper. Although the committee usually comprises two regular faculty members in the department, emeritus and other faculty outside the department may serve as committee members with prior approval. Committees and a brief proposal are recorded on the second-year qualifying paper form, which the student should complete and submit to the graduate student services manager by December 1 of the second year.

Second-year students must enroll in course Research Practicum 1 and course Research Practicum II  (both workshops assist in developing the front end of the research paper). Exams are read and graded by both committee members. The grades are essential to the decision to advance a student to candidacy. Students must submit a one-page proposal to the reading committee and receive its approval by December 1 of the second year. The proposal includes a brief statement of the problem; a preliminary research design; a data source and proof of reasonable access to it; and a short reading list. Students submit the proposal and second-year qualifying paper form to the graduate student services manager. Students should produce a paper that makes an original contribution to sociological knowledge and is ultimately publishable. That generally means writing a paper that includes data analysis, a complete and focused analytic discussion of relevant theory and research, and framing the findings as a contribution to the literature. Students may also produce a paper with a primarily theoretical contribution so long as the prospects for eventual publication are clear to the committee. The paper should contain no more than 8,000 words of text. This paper may not also be employed to meet the Third Year Paper requirement, even in revised form.

In preparation for a career of writing scholarly papers, each student must complete a research paper in the third year of residency. This third-year paper may be on any sociological topic and address theoretical, empirical, or methodological issues. The paper is expected to reflect original work and be of publishable quality. Students select a committee of at least two Sociology faculty members to serve as third-year paper readers. To ensure that students are making adequate progress on their papers, students must provide a first draft of the paper to readers by April 1. The final deadline for paper submission is June 1. The committee provides a review that speaks to (1) whether the paper is publishable and whether the student should therefore invest in attempting to publish it, and (2) what types of revisions, insofar as the paper is publishable, that the student should be pursuing to ready the paper for publication. These comments are shared with the Director of Graduate Studies, and copies of the paper and faculty comments will go in the student file.

As partial preparation for becoming an accomplished researcher, each student must complete three quarters of a research assistantship, working under the supervision of one or more faculty members, including regular, emeritus, and affiliated faculty. With the approval of the Director of Graduate Studies, research experience may be acquired by involvement in research projects outside the department. It is recommended that students complete their research requirements early in their graduate program; the requirement must be completed by the end of the fourth year of residency.

Students must present at least two papers at major professional meetings (e.g., ASA), department workshops, or a combination of the two in their first five years of graduate study. The department provides students with a travel and research fund for the duration of their graduate career to assist with the costs associated with travel.