Admissions

Graduate Admissions

Prospective students may review the process for Applying to Advanced Degree Programs opens in a new tab on the SLS website.

Admission of Current Stanford Students

The JSD (Doctor of the Science of Law), the most advanced law degree, is designed primarily for those interested in becoming scholars and teachers of law. Study toward this degree is open only to exceptionally well-qualified students who hold a JD or its equivalent and who have successfully completed a U.S.-based LLM program or Stanford’s SPILS program. It is awarded to students who, under the personal supervision of a faculty member, successfully pursue a course of advanced research in a field in which they are already well grounded, and who produce an advanced dissertation that, in the opinion of the adviser, makes a substantial contribution to knowledge. A candidate must successfully complete either an LLM program or the SPILS program prior to commencing work on a JSD. Students enrolled in (or who graduated from) a Stanford LLM program or the SPILS program are in no way guaranteed admission to the JSD program, admission to which is highly selective. Such Stanford-based students must (like all non-Stanford LLMs) apply separately to the JSD program during the spring quarter of the year prior to which admission is sought.

Admissions

Graduate Admissions

Prospective students may review the process for Applying to Advanced Degree Programs opens in a new tab on the SLS website.

Admission of Current Stanford Students

The JSD (Doctor of the Science of Law), the most advanced law degree, is designed primarily for those interested in becoming scholars and teachers of law. Study toward this degree is open only to exceptionally well-qualified students who hold a JD or its equivalent and who have successfully completed a U.S.-based LLM program or Stanford’s SPILS program. It is awarded to students who, under the personal supervision of a faculty member, successfully pursue a course of advanced research in a field in which they are already well grounded, and who produce an advanced dissertation that, in the opinion of the adviser, makes a substantial contribution to knowledge. A candidate must successfully complete either an LLM program or the SPILS program prior to commencing work on a JSD. Students enrolled in (or who graduated from) a Stanford LLM program or the SPILS program are in no way guaranteed admission to the JSD program, admission to which is highly selective. Such Stanford-based students must (like all non-Stanford LLMs) apply separately to the JSD program during the spring quarter of the year prior to which admission is sought.