JD as Dr.
- Grad_Student
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JD as Dr.
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- brokendowncar
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- nonunique
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Re: JD as Dr.
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Re: JD as Dr.
- Grad_Student
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Re: JD as Dr.
- Mosel
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Re: JD as Dr.
Someone can be "Herr Doktor Professor Schmidt"
- brokendowncar
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- Mosel
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Re: JD as Dr.
I always got mad when my classmates would address our profs as Mr. Smith. At least call him Professor Smith.
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Re: JD as Dr.
People should have enough respect to call you Dr./ Professor/whatever your degree warrants, but ultimately you should be humble enough to accept when people don't. It also depends on the context... If your best friend is a doctor, I'm pretty sure first names are probably fine. If the person specifically tells you it's fine, then it probably is also. You should use discretion though...
I have a philsophy professor with a PhD who goes by Bill, and made a point of telling us he's completely fine with that. I personally don't call him that, but a lot of people do.
- edcrane
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Re: JD as Dr.
- kevsocko
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Re: JD as Dr.
So PhD recipients aren't to be called doctor?edcrane wrote:Unless you're an MD, Calling yourself Doctor is pretty TTT--it signals your lack of accomplishments in life and low self confidence.
What about Podiatrists? DOs?
- Mosel
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Re: JD as Dr.
With regards to J.D.'s, they should only make reference to their title if it proves both relevent and polite given the situational context.
- just john
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Re: JD as Dr.
Prior to the development of the JD as a degree, most judges (if they had a degree at all) had a bachelor of laws degree. When the JD started to become more prevalent practicing attorneys would become uncomfortable referring to themselves as doctor in front of a judge with just as much education and obviously more experience. The use of Doctor as a title was general replaced with the suffix esquire. Esquire, by the way, simply means man (as in regular, non-pretentious guy).
- ktlulu1
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- nonunique
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Re: JD as Dr.
Though a professional degree, I think calling it a "doctoral" degree is a stretch. Especially since the field recognizes both masters (LLM) and doctoral (SJD, JSD, or whatever other permutation you like) levels. At best, a JD is a legal bachelors.You can refer to yourself as a doctor; it is a doctoral degree... You will not see this much outside of academia, and rarely even there.
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Re: JD as Dr.
It's mostly about San Diego, but there are a few broader references as well.
For the most part it seems to not be generally acceptable behavior.
- Grad_Student
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Re: JD as Dr.
- nonunique
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- LabRat
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Re: JD as Dr.

I'm told that some JD's insist on being called "Dr.". My laughter is sure to get me in trouble.
- stavand
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Re: JD as Dr.
Maybe some day someone will have the courage to stand up for our rights. Until them, I feel I will suffer from many a sleepless night.
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Re: JD as Dr.
Anyone who thinks that the work that goes into taking the LSATs/getting a JD/passing the bar is in any way, shape or form even remotely comparable to the work that goes into taking the MCATs/earning an MD/interning is either demonstrably insane or unfathomably uninformed and idiotic. It's like comparing the NY Yankees to some minor league team stuck out in Podunk, ND. MD's earned the hell out of that title; JD's don't even deserve the laughs that they should rightfully get if they try and claim it.
PhD's fall somewhere in the middle; many PhD tracks are as difficult as (some are probably even more difficult than) the path to MD; some (cough cough you know who you are) are probably easier than a challenging Masters program. For the most part, however, I'm going to say that the sheer level of commitment and temerity that needs to be displayed to get any PhD (solid grounding in related and relevant coursework at a Bachelors and possibly Masters level, years and years of taking fairly to ridiculously advanced classes, dissertations and all the other ephemera that can be thrown as requirements just to make life hell) once again vastly outweigh anything involved in the JD. How many people graduate with a bachelors and decide to get a PhD in even the easiest and most BS-able subject on a whim? How many people graduate with a bachelors and decide to get a JD on a whim- and end up going to a T3 or T6 school to boot?
It's just not close. The JD is a joke degree compared to either a PhD or an MD, and is therefore is completely undeserving of the title of Doctorate or the "Dr." signifier. Compare the number of dental/medical schools in this country with the number of law schools...do you really want to be calling the kid that almost failed out of Cooley "Dr. So-and-so"?
That's why God invented LLM's and other advanced legal degrees.
Edit:
And as for this little doozy
I actually don't think the two are very comparable at all, and I think the idea that one "must" agree with that statement is ludicrous.Today one must have 84 to 90 post-baccalaureate hours to receive a J.D. degree. A Master of Law degree calls for 110 to 120 post-baccalaureate hours. Comparing this to the 60 hours of academic instruction plus a written dissertation, required for a Doctor of Philosophy degree, one must agree that the legal degrees are at least comparable.
- Diana341
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