Doctor of Law

Doctor of Laws (Latin: Legum Doctor, LL.D) is a doctorate-level academic degree in law. Plural abbreviations in Latin are formed by doubling the letter, hence the double "L".

Brazil

In Brazil, the Doctor of Laws degree, known in portuguese as Doutor em Direito or Doutor em Ciências Jurídicas is the highest academic degree in law available. The degree is awarded upon the completion and the successful defense of a thesis prepared by the doctoral candidate. In most Brazilian Law Schools, the candidates are also required to earn an minimun number of credits.

Commonwealth usage

In the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, and the United States (see below) the degree is a higher doctorate usually awarded on the basis of exceptionally insightful and distinctive publications that contain significant and original contributions to the study of law. Some universities, such as the University of Oxford, award a Doctor of Civil Law degree instead. In Canada, the S.J.D. or LL.D. are awarded as substitutes for Ph.D. in law. In South Africa, the LL.D. is awarded by many university law faculties as the highest degree in law, also based upon research and completion of a Ph.D. equivalent dissertation like in most European countries. The LL.D. may also be awarded as an honorary degree based upon a person's contributions to society.

Germany

In Germany the Doctor is the highest degree in law awarded as Dr.iur (Doctor iuris) based on a dissertation.

Czech Republic and Slovak Republic (former Czechoslovakia)

In Czech Republic and Slovak Republic the Doctor is a postgraduate degree awarded as JUDr. (Juris utrisque doctor) also based upon research and completion of a dissertation. However, this dissertation cannot be compared to a PhD. dissertation for it requires much shorter time and amount of work. JUDr. degree is a small step from a master degree (Mgr.) to the doctorate (PhD.) and it is completely optional - it is not required to have earned JUDr. degree just to be allowed to apply to PhD. study.

Malta

In Malta, the European Union's smallest member state, the LL.D. is a doctorate-level academic degree in law requiring at least three years of full time study at the University of Malta [1], Malta's national university. Students are required to complete coursework in a number of core areas of law, as well as to submit a thesis which is to be "an original work on the approved subject or other contribution to the knowledge showing that he/she has carried out sufficient research therein" [2]. It confers the title of Doctor, which in Malta is rigorously used to address a holder of the degree. The LL.D. is one of the requirements for admission to the profession of advocate in Malta (an advocate, as opposed to a legal procurator, has rights of representation in superior courts), but it is also the highest degree usually obtained by faculty members teaching law, and is the highest degree held by the University of Malta [3] law faculty's current dean, Prof. Dr. Ian Refalo [4].

In Malta, practising lawyers are of three designations - notaries, legal procurators and advocates. A one-year full time taught post-graduate diploma of Notary Public (N.P.) is required for admission to the profession of notary public, while a taught post-graduate diploma of Legal Procurator (L.P.) is required for admission to the profession of legal procurator. A legal procurator is a lawyer in Malta that has rights of audience in the lower courts, a profession that was existent in Malta as early, and even prior to 1553[5]. The Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) degree, also offered by the university, is an undergraduate degree that of itself is not sufficient for admission into any of the legal professions. All three professions also require members to be holders of a warrant issued by the President of Malta, obtainable after a minimum of one year of work experience in that profession, and examination. It is not possible for a Maltese lawyer to hold a warrant in more than one of the professions at a time.

Notable holders of the LL.D. degree include Dr. Guido de Marco (former President of the United Nations General Assembly and former President of Malta), Dr. George Borg Olivier (first post-independence Prime Minister of Malta), and Dr. Lawrence Gonzi (current Prime Minister of Malta).

United States

The Doctor of Juridical Science S.J.D. (or J.S.D) sometimes awarded as Doctor of the Science of Law, is the degree awarded for research in the form of a dissertation.

The J.S.D. are relatively rare, even among professors on law school faculties (less than 5 % hold the degree). In 2005 about 60 such degrees were conferred.^[1] The Juris Doctor/JD degree is the usual degree held by professors of law in the United States, where the LL.D. is now almost always an honorary degree.

External Links:

Doctor of Juridical Science program requirements for the Georgetown Law Center.

Doctor of Juridical Science requirements for Golden Gate University School of Law, San Francisco.

JSD Doctor of Juridical Science Research Degree This program sponsored by Prof. Byrnes is a mix of online work, research and publication.

Italy

In Italy, "Doctor of Law" is the title given to anybody who graduates from university having completed a normal course of undergraduate studies. These can be compared to the British Bachelor of Laws degree.

References

^ LAW SCH. ADMISSION COUNCIL & AM. BAR ASS’N, OFFICIAL GUIDE TO ABA APPROVED LAW SCHOOLS 832 (2007 ed.) The most extensive published treatment of the J.S.D. degree has deprecated it. See Carl N. Edwards, In Search of Legal Scholarship: Strategies for the Integration of Science into the Practice of Law 8 S. CAL. INTERDISC. L. J. 1 (1998-1999).

[1] LAW SCH. ADMISSION COUNCIL & AM. BAR ASS’N, OFFICIAL GUIDE TO ABA APPROVED LAW SCHOOLS 832 (2007 ed.) The most extensive published treatment of the J.S.D. degree has deprecated it. See Carl N. Edwards, In Search of Legal Scholarship: Strategies for the Integration of Science into the Practice of Law 8 S. CAL. INTERDISC. L. J. 1 (1998-1999).

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