Yale Law School to Offer Ph.D. in Law Forum

[SchopenhauerFTW]

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2012/07/11/yal ... -d-in-law/

With times as hard as they are for law school graduates, and many schools decreasing enrollments, you might think that encouraging students to pursue even more years of school would be the last thing on anyone’s mind. Yale has some different ideas about that.

Yale Law School has announced a program for a Ph.D. in Law, which it claims is the first in the nation, and is designed to prepare students who have earned a J.D. to enter careers in legal scholarship, according to the school’s website.

Students in the program will spend three years learning how to produce scholarly research and writing, as well as taking classes in teaching and, eventually, teaching classes themselves, the National Law Journal reported.

[fatduck]

just another way to skew their employment statistics. what a TTT.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

Is there any evidence that such a program is necessary, aside from the mere existence of Justice Scalia?

[dingbat]

What's the difference between an SJD and a PhD in law?

[piccolittle]

Isn't that basically an SJD under another name? haha dingbat beat me to it

Plenty of people do the equivalent of Ph.D.s in law in the UK if they are on the academia track (including a few friends of mine).

[Aberzombie1892]

Then what's the point of an SJD?

[dingbat]

Isn't that basically an SJD under another name? haha dingbat beat me to it

[TatteredDignity]

Yale's website says their SJD is the natural continuation of their LLM for foreign students.

[dingbat]

Yale's website says their SJD is the natural continuation of their LLM for foreign students.

JD LLM SJD PhD $$$$$$$$$

[SchopenhauerFTW]

http://www.law.yale.edu/news/15782.htm

“In the past few decades, legal scholarship has matured as an academic discipline,” said Dean Robert Post ’77. “Because the level of the scholarship expected of entry-level law professors has risen quite dramatically, increasing numbers of law professors now pursue Ph.D.’s in allied disciplines like economics, history, philosophy, or political science. Because such disciplines train students in standards and questions that are different from those of the law, the natural next step for the legal academy is to create our own Ph.D. program that can focus on the questions and practices of the law itself. Students obtaining a Ph.D. in law may, of course, engage in interdisciplinary studies, but their work will be anchored in the framework of legal scholarship.”

But is it truly the natural next step to take???

[TatteredDignity]

The best schools require their faculty to have a PhD. Typically, it's in another field and probably largely irrelevant. Now, 10 years from now we'll have profs with a PhD that at least seems to matter.

[CanadianWolf]

Sounds like a teaching degree for JD holders.

[SchopenhauerFTW]

But what about having professors that... you know... actually practiced law at one point in their lives?

[Dr. Review]

But what about having professors that... you know... actually practiced law at one point in their lives?

Is a class being taught by a K-JD-PhD not imparting the wealth of practical skills you'd hoped it would?

[Broseidon]

But what about having professors that... you know... actually practiced law at one point in their lives?

Your whore mouth.

[Aberzombie1892]

But what about having professors that... you know... actually practiced law at one point in their lives?

Blame the ABA for that one.

[minnbills]

Is there any evidence that such a program is necessary, aside from the mere existence of Justice Scalia?

I had a prof in undergrad who taught courses on the supreme court who got a Phd in poly sci instead of a J.D. So I can see the need.

[CanadianWolf]

A JD degree is required for Yale's PhD in Law program according to the posts above.

[Broseidon]

A JD degree is required for Yale's PhD in Law program according to the posts above.

Some people just never want to leave school.

[CanadianWolf]

Exactly.

[3|ink]

A JD degree is required for Yale's PhD in Law program according to the posts above.

Some people just never want to leave school.

Those sick fucks.

[Ohiobumpkin]

I'm an 0L, so please, have mercy. I have heard that law professors are sometimes terrible at teaching. These professors might publish brilliant papers, but they are unable to effectively teach a class. Perhaps requiring law professors to possess a Ph.D in Law would lead to greater numbers of law professors with better teaching skills.

[I.P. Daly]

http://www.law.yale.edu/graduate/PHD_program.htm

Three year program. Ph.D. students will receive a full tuition waiver, health insurance coverage and a stipend to cover their living expenses.

[Doorkeeper]

I think this is a brilliant move by Yale.

Oxford has had great success over the years with it's DPhil in Jurisprudence and there's nothing in the US that matches the program. This will only reinforce Yale as the preeminent place to study law for legal academia, and it will better prepare people for legal academia. Nothing prepares an aspiring academic for the life of a professor at a research university more than a dissertation.

Yale is also one of the few schools that can leverage its Top 10 PhD programs in Political Science, Philosophy, History, and Law that can make the PhD worthwhile. For students interested in teaching at a T1 school, the 5-6 combined years this program would take is definitely better than the 7-8 years a typical JD/PhD would take.

Edit- In addition, YLS has really made strides in recent history to hire faculty outside of black letter law. I assume this will only heighten this hiring trend at Yale, which would definitely be for the betterment of the PhD students.

[ToTransferOrNot]

I'm an 0L, so please, have mercy. I have heard that law professors are sometimes terrible at teaching. These professors might publish brilliant papers, but they are unable to effectively teach a class. Perhaps requiring law professors to possess a Ph.D in Law would lead to greater numbers of law professors with better teaching skills.

No. Ph.Ds are not about teaching skills, because academia is not about one's ability as a teacher.