Indiana Law’s SJD is for international law graduates who already hold an LLM degree and have demonstrated exceptional academic legal writing, analysis, and research abilities. SJD students typically aspire to careers in teaching law.
Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)
Meet our current SJD candidates
Our SJD students come from all over the world to study at Indiana Law.
To be eligible to receive the degree of Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD), a student must:
- Complete one academic year in residence in the Law School after matriculating into the program;
- Complete the following required coursework:
- B560 Academic Legal Writing: Dissertation Fundamentals for 2 credits in the first semester,
- B560 Academic Legal Writing: LLM & SJD Students for 1 credit in the second semester, and
- B639 Advanced Legal Research: LLM & SJD Students for 2 credits in the second semester;
- Submit a satisfactory dissertation, which comprises a total of 30 credit hours, including the 5 credit hours of required coursework (above), any courses required by the faculty advisor,* with the remainder made up of B705 Dissertation Research credits; and
- Comply with other provisions as may be prescribed by the Graduate Admissions and Programs Committee.
*Up to 8 credit hours may be taken as coursework, subject to approval by the dissertation advisor and the Director of Graduate Legal Studies.