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10.01 S.J.D. Degree. The degree of Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) provides an opportunity and environment for scholarly research mainly for persons who are either in or preparing for academic or comparable scholarly legal careers.
(1) Admission. The conditions of admission to the S.J.D. program are:
(a) A J.D. or equivalent American or foreign first law degree, as well as work satisfying 1(c), below;
(b) outstanding academic performance as evidenced by the quality of program, written work, recommendations from teachers, and grades;
(c) submission of a substantial written research project demonstrating a high capacity for the legal research and writing in English necessary for a successful S.J.D. dissertation. The preferred evidence of such capacity is a good quality University of Wisconsin LL.M. thesis. S.J.D. applicants may, however, present equivalent work (such as substantial LL.M. thesis done at another University, a monograph or law review article);
(d) in the case of holders of law degrees from universities where the greater part of their instruction was not in English, proof of high proficiency in English for advanced study of law; high proficiency will ordinarily be demonstrated by a score of at least 625/263 (computer-based) on the TOEFL examination;
(e) a detailed research proposal of at least six (6) double-spaced typed pages specifying the objectives, methodology, required materials and timetable;
(f) consent of a faculty member of the Law School to act as the candidate's principal academic advisor (OBTAINING CONSENT OF A FACULTY MEMBER IS THE APPLICANT'S RESPONSIBILITY);
(g) acceptance by the Graduate Programs Committee.
(2) Program. The S.J.D. program shall adhere to the following guidelines:
(a) Research toward a doctoral dissertation is the core of the program. The dissertation should be equivalent in quality and substance to a substantial monograph.
(b) Ordinarily, students seeking the S.J.D. may not take courses for credit. Exceptions may be made on the advice of the advisor and with the consent of the chair of the Graduate Programs Committee when the course is a seminar involving substantial writing obligations consistent with the thesis topic.
(c) Full-time S.J.D. candidates shall register for 12 credits for each of the first two semesters of residency, unless they have already established residency from immediately preceding LL.M. work being continued in the S.J.D. dissertation without a break of more than one semester's time. Except where a seminar is authorized, those credits shall be in directed research. A minimum of 24 credit hours is required for completion of the S.J.D. degree. To qualify for the S.J.D. degree, the candidate must also prepare an acceptable thesis (see 5 below).
(3) Residence.
Registration and physical presence as a full-time student for one academic year with satisfactory completion of at least 24 credits is required. S.J.D. candidates who have completed their residence requirement, including those who have completed their residence requirement from an immediately preceding LL.M. program (see 2(c), above), may maintain full-time law school status during the second year registering for 3 credits each semester.
(4) Term for completion of program.
The program is to be completed no later than three calendar years after the residence period. A residence period that was established during immediately preceding LL.M. work being continued in the S.J.D. program is considered the residence period of the S.J.D. program for the purposes of this section.
(5) Award of degree.
(a) The granting of a degree shall be recommended to the Law School faculty on the completion of the following: approval of the thesis by the principal academic advisor and the Reading Committee and approval of the completed program by the Graduate Programs Committee.
(b) Prior to the recommendation of a degree to the faculty, the candidate shall deposit two suitable copies of the thesis with the Law Library and pay the library's filing expense charge.
10.02 LL.M. Degree. A Master's Degree in Laws (LL.M.) provides an opportunity and environment for scholarly research mainly for persons who are either in or preparing for academic or comparable scholarly legal careers.
(1) Admission. The conditions of admission to the LL.M. program are:
(a) A J.D. or equivalent American or foreign first law degree;
(b) outstanding academic performance as evidenced by the quality of program, written work, recommendations from teachers, and grades;
(c) in the case of holders of law degrees from universities where the greater part of their instruction was not in English, proof of high proficiency in English for advanced study of law; high proficiency will ordinarily be demonstrated by a score of at least 625/263 (computer-based) on the TOEFL examination;
(d) a plan of work of at least four (4) double-spaced typed pages to include a statement of objectives, detailed outline of the proposed research, and explanation of course/seminar needs;
(e) consent of a faculty member of the Law School to act as the candidate's principal academic advisor (OBTAINING CONSENT OF A FACULTY MEMBER IS THE APPLICANT'S RESPONSIBILITY);
(f) acceptance by the Graduate Programs Committee.
(2) Program. The LL.M. program shall adhere to the following guidelines:
(a) Research toward a master's thesis is the core of the program. The thesis should be equivalent in quality and substance to a substantial law review article.
(b) Ordinarily, students seeking the LLM may not take courses for credit. Exceptions may be made on the advice of the advisor and with the consent of the chair of the Graduate Programs Committee when the course is a seminar involving substantial writing obligations consistent with the thesis topic.
(c) Full-time LLM candidates shall register for 12 credits for each of the first two semesters of residency. Except where a seminar is authorized, those credits shall be in directed research. A minimum of 24 credit hours is required for completion of the LL.M. degree. To qualify for the LLM degree, the candidate must also prepare an acceptable thesis (see 5 below).
(3) Residence.
Registration and physical presence as a full-time student for one academic year with satisfactory completion of at least 24 credits is required. LL.M. candidates who have completed their residence requirement may maintain full-time law school status during the second year registering for 3 credits each semester.
(4) Term for completion of program.
The program is to be completed no later than one calendar year after the residence period.
(5) Award of degree.
(a) The granting of a degree shall be recommended to the Law School faculty on the completion of the following: approval of the thesis by the principal academic advisor and the Reading Committee and approval of the completed program by the Graduate Programs Committee.
(b) Prior to the recommendation of a degree to the faculty, the candidate shall deposit two suitable copies of the thesis with the Law Library and pay the library's filing expense charge.
(1) The credit requirement is 10 credits for Ph.D. candidates with minors in law. In grading the work of such candidates in law courses they will not be differentiated from professional law students.
(2) The grade requirement for Ph.D. candidates with minors in law shall be a weighted average of 77 (on the 65-95 scale) or 2.0 (on the 4.3 scale).
(3) A student taking a law minor is privileged to rewrite any one or more courses once subject to the same maximum grade limitation applied to other law students, or to replace any course previously taken with another equally advanced course.
10.04 M.L.I. Degree. A Master's Degree in Legal Institutions (M.L.I.) provides an opportunity and an environment for the study of law from interdisciplinary perspectives, mainly for individuals trained in the law of a foreign country. This degree is not available to persons who already hold an Anglo-American professional degree in law.
(1) Admission. The conditions of admission are:
(a) A degree or diploma representing, at least, an equivalent of a B.A. or a B.S. degree in the United States and that constitutes a first degree in law;
(b) in the case of holders of law degrees from foreign countries, proof of completion of all academic work necessary for entering upon the practice or apprenticeship for the practice of law, judicial office, or the teaching of law at university level;
(c) superior academic performance as evidenced by the quality of program, recommendations from teachers, and grades (or their equivalent);
(d) in the case of applicants from universities where the greater part of instruction is not in English, proof of high proficiency in English. High proficiency will ordinarily be demonstrated by a score of at least 600/250 on the TOEFL examination. In cases where an applicant receives a score between 550-600/213-250, admission to the M.L.I. program may be made contingent on successful completion of an intensive English language acquisition summer program;
(e) a plan of work that includes a statement of objectives and a description of the available courses and seminars to be taken and the research to be conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and
(f) acceptance by the Committee on Graduate Programs and the Graduate School.
(2) Program. The MLI program shall adhere to the following guidelines:
(a) A candidate's program may be flexibly designed in consultation with the designated M.L.I. advisor, but shall provide for at least 24 credits, including
(i) satisfactory completion of at least three credits of directed research (Law 990);
(ii) satisfactory completion of at least 12 credits in numerically or letter graded courses or seminars in law, in addition to the credits earned in directed research; and.
(iii) satisfactory completion of 9 credits in course work in law or other departments.
(b) If a course, a seminar or directed research is graded by letter or number, a grade of BC or higher (see Rule 4.08) will be deemed "satisfactory completion" and will satisfy program standards. When numerical grades are given, these shall be converted using the current Non-Law Students conversion table. An overall B average is needed for satisfactory completion of the MLI program. A course grade of C or below will be averaged into the GPA, but the course will not count towards the 21 credit course requirement. No directed research (Law 990) grades may be used in calculating the average grade.
(c) The candidate's program is subject to the approval of the M.L.I. advisor, the Committee on Graduate Programs and the Graduate School.
(3) Residence.
Registration and physical presence as a full-time student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for one academic year with satisfactory completion of at least 24 credits is required.
(4) Term for completion of program.
The program is to be completed within the residence period. An extension of one semester can be granted.
(5) Award of degree.
The granting of the degree shall be recommended to the Graduate School on the approval of the satisfactorily completed program by the M.L.I. advisor and the Committee on Graduate Programs.