law phd questions

Law and Philosophy

The philosophical underpinnings and implications of law have been a central concern for as long as there has been law. Ultimately, law is a system of rules to regulate society, and the goodness or badness of any rule must be judged by its success in promoting a more just society.

Not surprisingly, then, what justice requires in a given sphere of activity and what set of rules will best achieve it are foundational questions in virtually every area of law—questions answered by scholars exploring the intersection of law and philosophy. In the past century, legal philosophers have made major contributions in areas as diverse as the justification for criminal punishment; the meaning of consent in private contracts; the moral basis of private property rights; distributive justice in tax regimes, the welfare state, eminent domain and allocation of citizenship rights; a rights-based versus welfarist account of the tort system; the state’s right to regulate family relationships; the justness of preventive war; the moral basis of legislation; intergenerational justice in environmental law; biomedical ethics; and the values of free speech and democracy in campaign finance reform.

The opportunities to open up new legal questions to philosophical inquiry, as well as shed new light on old questions, are virtually limitless. In many cases, this work requires thorough grounding in both legal institutions and philosophy—and Stanford’s JD/PhD program in law and philosophy is designed to provide that foundation. Although the program may be most relevant to aspiring academics, anyone hoping to work in policy positions in fields such as biomedical ethics and environmental ethics or even tax may find this joint degree useful.

Course Requirements

As many as 54 quarter units of approved courses may be counted toward both degrees. No more than 31 quarter units of courses that originate outside the law school may count toward the law degree.

The maximum number of law school credits that may be counted toward the PhD in philosophy is the greater of: (i) 12 quarter units; or (ii) the maximum number of units from courses outside the department that PhD candidates in philosophy are permitted to count toward their degree under general departmental guidelines or in the case of a particular student’s individual program.

Stanford Philosophy Department

Note to applicants: The Knight-Hennessy Scholars program awards full funding to Stanford graduate students from all disciplines, with additional opportunities for leadership training and collaboration across fields. Joint Degree applicants are encouraged to apply to the Knight – Hennessy Scholars Program. Please be aware that the Knight-Hennessy Scholars applications are due in early Autumn one year prior to enrollment. View dates and deadlines: knight-hennessy.stanford.edu/dates-and-deadlines .

Ralph Richard Banks

Jackson Eli Reynolds Professor of Law
Faculty Director, Stanford Center for Racial Justice

Joshua Cohen

Marta Sutton Weeks Professor of Ethics in Society
Professor of Political Science, Philosophy and Law, Emeritus

Richard Thompson Ford

George E. Osborne Professor of Law

Barbara Fried

William W. and Gertrude H. Saunders Professor of Law, Emerita

Henry T. Greely

Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law
Director, Center for Law and the Biosciences
Professor, by courtesy, Genetics
Chair, Steering Committee of the Center for Biomedical Ethics
Director, Stanford Program in Neuroscience and Society

Mark G. Kelman

James C. Gaither Professor of Law

Deborah L. Rhode

Ernest W. McFarland Professor of Law
Director, Center on the Legal Profession

Norman W. Spaulding

Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor of Law

Barton Thompson

Robert E. Paradise Professor of Natural Resources Law
Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment
Professor, Doerr School of Sustainability

Allen S. Weiner

Senior Lecturer in Law
Director, Stanford Program in International and Comparative Law
Director, Stanford Humanitarian Program
Director, Stanford Center on International Conflict and Negotiation

Robert Weisberg

Edwin E. Huddleson, Jr. Professor of Law
Faculty Co-Director, Stanford Criminal Justice Center

Everything You Need To Know Before Doing A PhD In Law

So, you’ve mastered the art of legalese, conquered the casebooks, and now the allure of a PhD in Law beckons.

Moreover, Before you dive headfirst into the world of legal academia, let’s unravel the mysteries and demystify the process of pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy in Law. Buckle up, future legal scholars – here’s the lowdown.

What Is A PhD In Law?

Alright, curious minds, buckle up because we’re about to demystify the enigma that is a PhD in Law. No, it’s not just a degree; it’s a journey into the legal unknown, a quest for knowledge that goes beyond the courtroom drama you see on TV.

The PhD Rundown: Beyond Your Average Degree

Let’s start at the beginning. A PhD in Law is not your run-of-the-mill degree where you memorize statutes and call it a day.

It’s the pinnacle of legal academia, the Jedi Master level of legal education .

Moreover, Picture it as your golden ticket to dive deep into uncharted legal waters and emerge as the authority on a topic of your choosing.

A Love Story with Time: The Commitment Factor

Considering a PhD in Law? Prepare to embrace commitment like never before. This isn’t a sprint; it’s a marathon. Think three to five years of scholarly devotion.

You and your research are about to embark on a long, passionate journey.

Moreover, like a legal romance novel without the cheesy dialogue.

Passion, Not Just Law: What’s Your Legal Crush?

Before you start this epic adventure, you need to identify your legal passion. Environmental law, human rights, or maybe the arcane world of space law – pick your legal crush.

Moreover, Your PhD is essentially your love letter to that field of law.

Supervisors: Your Academic Sidekicks

Now, imagine you’re a superhero (because, let’s face it, you practically are). Every superhero needs a sidekick, right? Enter your supervisor, the Gandalf to your Frodo, the Batman to your Robin.

They guide, mentor, and occasionally drop knowledge bombs that reshape your entire academic universe.

Blueprint for Brilliance: The Research Proposal

Every masterpiece starts with a plan, and your PhD is no exception. Enter the research proposal – your roadmap to academic greatness.

Moreover, Nail this, and you’re on the highway to unraveling the mysteries of legal academia.

Show Me the Money: Funding Your Legal Odyssey

Let’s address the elephant in the room: funding. A PhD might be your intellectual calling, but your landlord still expects rent. Explore scholarships, grants, and funding options. Your brainpower needs some financial muscle.

Balancing Act: Life Beyond the Law Library

Contrary to popular belief, a PhD isn’t a one-way ticket to a dusty library dungeon. Attend conferences, network with fellow legal minds, and, yes, indulge in the occasional Netflix binge. It’s all about maintaining sanity in the midst of legal chaos.

D-Day Drama: The Thesis Defense

Fast forward a few years – it’s D-Day, the thesis defense. Imagine it as the legal Olympics, where you defend your intellectual gold medal. Nail this, and you’re officially a Doctor of Philosophy in Law.

How To Get A Ph.D. In Law?

So, you’ve got the legal bug, the burning desire to delve into the intricacies of the law beyond what your LLB or JD provided . A Ph.D. in Law is calling your name, and you’re ready for the challenge. Let’s break down the roadmap to turning those legal dreams into reality.

Finding Your Passion

Before you plunge into the Ph.D. abyss, ask yourself, “What legal puzzle keeps me up at night?” Identify your legal passion; it’s the compass that’ll guide you through the academic labyrinth. Whether it’s environmental law, criminal justice, or the wild world of international law, find your legal muse.

Crafting Your Research Proposal

Picture your Ph.D. journey as a grand adventure, and the research proposal is your treasure map. It’s not just a formality; it’s your chance to articulate your research vision. Be clear, concise, and convincing – your academic destiny hangs in the balance.

Choosing Your Supervisor Wisely

Meet your academic Yoda – your supervisor. This isn’t just a partnership; it’s a mentorship. Choose someone who not only knows the legal ropes but also aligns with your research interests. They’ll be your guiding star through the academic galaxy.

Funding Your Legal Crusade

Let’s be real; pursuing a Ph.D. isn’t a cheap date. Explore scholarship options, grants, and funding opportunities.

Moreover, your brilliance deserves financial backing, so don’t shy away from funding Fandango.

Crafting Your Magnum Opus

Your thesis is the pièce de résistance of your Ph.D. Think of it as a legal manuscript that’ll make waves in academia. Dive deep, conduct rigorous research.

Moreover, present your findings with flair. It’s your chance to contribute something significant to the legal conversation.

Balancing Act of PhD in law

As you immerse yourself in the legal wilderness of writing, remember to balance work and life. Yes, the library is your second home, but don’t forget to attend conferences, network, and occasionally indulge in some self-care.

Moreover, A burnt-out Ph.D. candidate is nobody’s idea of success.

Defending Your Intellectual Fortitude

The day has arrived – your thesis defense. It’s your chance to showcase the intellectual muscle you’ve been flexing for years. Be confident, articulate, and ready to tackle questions.

Moreover, This is the final showdown before you emerge as a legal Jedi.

How Long Does It Take To Get A PhD In Law?

Alright, future legal scholars, you’ve decided to take the plunge into the world of a Ph.D. in Law. But let’s address the elephant in the courtroom – just how long is this academic escapade going to take?

Buckle up; we’re about to navigate the twists and turns of the Ph.D. timeline .

The Legal Marathon: Setting Realistic Expectations

First things first – a Ph.D. in Law is no sprint. It’s a marathon, a scholarly expedition into the depths of legal academia.

While the specific timeline can vary, the average duration is typically three to five years.

Moreover, It’s not just a degree ; it’s a commitment to becoming the Jedi Master of your legal niche.

The Proposal Prelude: Year One

Year one kicks off with the grand proposal dance. This is where you pitch your tent in the academic campground. You’ll be refining your research question, crafting that all-important proposal, and finding your academic bearings.

Moreover, It’s the year of laying the groundwork for the epic journey ahead.

Supervisory Bonding: Years One and Two

Enter the academic Yoda – your supervisor. The early years are all about forging that mentorship, refining your research design, and diving into the sea of legal literature.

Moreover, This phase is where you build the foundation for your thesis and develop the crucial academic muscle required for the journey.

Funding Fandango: Concurrent with Years One and Two

Ah, the funding quest – it’s like searching for the golden key to the academic kingdom. While not everyone embarks on this quest simultaneously, securing funding often happens alongside the initial years of research.

Moreover, Scholarships, grants, and financial backing become your academic sidekicks.

The Write-Up Wilderness: Years Two to Four of PhD in law

Welcome to the write-up wilderness, where the real magic (and sometimes madness) happens. Years two to four are all about immersing yourself in the legal labyrinth, conducting research, and crafting that magnum opus of a thesis.

Moreover, It’s where you refine your legal arguments and contribute your unique perspective to the academic conversation.

Thesis Tango: Years Four and Five of PhD in law

As you waltz into years four and five, it’s showtime – the thesis defense is looming on the horizon. This is the crescendo of your academic symphony.

Moreover, Nail the defense, and you emerge as a Doctor of Philosophy in Law, ready to wield your legal prowess in the wider world.

Life Beyond Law School: The Aftermath of PhD in law

Congratulations, Doctor! The journey might be over, but the adventure is just beginning. Whether you choose academia, policymaking, or even intergalactic legal consultancy (who knows?).

Moreover, the world of law is now your oyster.

What Can You Do With A PhD In Law?

So, you’ve conquered the academic summit, and now you’re armed with a shiny new PhD in Law. But wait, what’s next? Fear not, intrepid legal scholar, because the world is your jurisdiction.

Let’s explore the myriad paths that open up when you wield the mighty title of Doctor of Philosophy in Law.

Academic Odyssey: Shaping the Legal Minds of Tomorrow

One of the classic moves post-PhD is diving into academia. Picture yourself as the wise sage of the law school , molding eager minds and imparting your wisdom.

Moreover, You become the beacon of legal enlightenment, guiding the next generation of lawyers and thinkers.

Policy Architect: Building Legal Bridges Beyond Academia

Ever dreamed of influencing policy and shaping the legal landscape beyond the ivory tower? With a PhD in Law, you’re equipped to dive into the world of policy-making.

Moreover, Become the architect of legal frameworks, advising governments and organizations on navigating the complex waters of law and justice.

Legal Luminary in Practice: Consulting and Expert Testimony

Step into the limelight as a legal expert sought after by law firms , corporations, or even governments. Your expertise becomes a valuable commodity.

Moreover, From consulting on intricate legal matters to providing expert testimony in courtrooms.

Moreover, your PhD is your ticket to becoming a legal luminary in the practical realm.

International Law Trailblazer: Navigating Global Legal Waters From Your PhD in law

With a PhD in Law, you’re not confined by borders. Dive into the dynamic world of international law. Whether it’s shaping global policies, working with international organizations, or advocating for human rights on a global scale.

Moreover, your expertise can have a far-reaching impact.

Research Maestro: Contributing to Legal Scholarship

Fuel your passion for research by continuing to make waves in legal scholarship. Your PhD isn’t just a culmination; it’s a launchpad for further exploration.

Moreover, Contribute articles, publish books, and be the driving force behind advancements in legal knowledge.

Corporate Counsel with a Twist: Navigating Legal Complexities From Your PhD in law

Corporations are always in need of legal wizards to navigate the ever-evolving legal landscape. Your PhD sets you apart.

Moreover, bringing a depth of understanding and critical thinking that can be invaluable in corporate legal departments.

Legal Entrepreneur: Carving Your Own Niche From Your PhD in law

Feel the entrepreneurial spirit bubbling within? Your PhD can be the foundation for launching your own legal consultancy or business.

Whether it’s providing specialized legal services or developing innovative legal solutions, the entrepreneurial path is yours to carve.

Interdisciplinary Explorer: Bridging Law with Other Fields From Your PhD in law

The beauty of a PhD is its interdisciplinary potential. Blend law with other fields like technology, business, or even environmental science.

Moreover, Become a trailblazer at the intersection of law and diverse domains, solving complex problems that span multiple disciplines.

Beyond Earth: Legal Consultancy for Space Ventures

Okay, this one might be a bit out there, but in the era of space exploration, who’s to say your legal expertise can’t extend beyond Earth?

Moreover, Imagine being the go-to legal consultant for interstellar ventures – because why not dream big?

Final Thoughts

Congratulations, Doctor of Philosophy in Law !

Moreover, wait, is it the end or merely the prologue? The legal world is your oyster now. Whether you choose academia, policymaking, or intergalactic diplomacy – the journey has molded you into a legal maestro.

So, future legal scholars, armed with this roadmap, venture forth into the world of legal academia. Your PhD adventure awaits, filled with twists, turns, and the occasional ‘Eureka!’ moment. May your legal curiosity know no bounds!

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Nilanjana is a lawyer with a flair for writing. She has a certification in American Laws from Penn Law (Pennsylvania University). Along with this, she has been known to write legal articles that allow the audience to know about American laws and regulations at ease.

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Ph.D. Admissions

Student Profiles

Frequently Asked Questions

The Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics is unique. While one can separately earn a J.D. and a Ph.D. in Economics at many other universities, our program is unique in that training in economics is fully integrated with training in law. Students learn economic theory and econometrics in the context of the law and legal issues. Our principal fields of concentration are risk and environmental regulation, labor and human resources, and behavioral law and economics.

At the completion of the program, you will receive a Ph.D. in Law and Economics and a J.D. While we anticipate that most of our graduates will pursue academic careers, other career paths are possible.

The dual-degree program is designed to be completed in 6 years. Those who enter the program with a J.D. are expected to complete the Ph.D. in 4 years.

In the first year of study, all students take core Ph.D. courses. In the second year, dual-degree students take the standard 1L curriculum. In subsequent years, students concurrently take law courses and Ph.D. courses. For more detail, see the Law and Economics Curriculum page.

No. The Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics is designed for the full-time student.

The Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics follows Vanderbilt University's public health guidelines, but generally, students must live within driving or walking distance of Vanderbilt University during the academic year. There are no opportunities to take courses online or to study remotely in the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics.

All students admitted to the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics receive 100% tuition support and a stipend for living expenses for study within the program.

Continuation of the award beyond the first year is contingent on satisfactory performance in the program.

Fellowship recipients will have research assistant responsibilities after completion of the first year of Ph.D. study and the first year of law study.

Graduate study in economics requires substantial mathematics preparation. Highly recommended undergraduate courses are: (1) two or three terms of calculus, (2) linear algebra, (3) real analysis, and (4) mathematical statistics.

The American Economic Association provides valuable information on recommended math preparation for graduate study in economics.

No. The Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics does not require a specific major as a condition of admission, and students from a variety of backgrounds have been admitted to our program. However, admitted students will usually have prior coursework in economics or related fields, as this background knowledge helps the admissions committee assess whether our program is a good fit for an applicant's interests.

The American Economic Association provides valuable information on preparation for graduate study in economics.

Applicants who have not taken the LSAT in the last five years and will not take the LSAT in the current admission cycle may apply through the GRE-Only Pathway and need not take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). Please refer to the "Standardized Test" section on Application Process page.

Applicants to the dual-degree program must be admitted to both the Law School and the Graduate School. To see the median and quartile LSAT scores and GPAs of students recently admitted to and enrolled at Vanderbilt Law School, please visit the J.D. Class Profiles page.

Yes. GRE scores are required for admission to the Graduate School. The GRE Subject Test in Economics is not required. Other exam scores (GMAT, for example) may not be used in lieu of the GRE scores. Students admitted to the Ph.D. program have GRE scores commensurate with leading Ph.D. programs in economics.

International students: Please note that applicants to the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics holding foreign law degrees must take the LSAT and must satisfy J.D. program requirements during their course of study at Vanderbilt, receiving Ph.D. and J.D. degrees upon completion of the program. In some cases, applicants admitted to the Ph.D. program with foreign law degrees may qualify for up to one year advanced standing in J.D. program requirements. Decisions on advanced standing are made after admission to the Ph.D. program, and these applicants are not exempt from the LSAT application requirement.

Applicants whose native language is not English must present the results of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) with the application unless they have completed an undergraduate or graduate degree at an English-speaking institution.

Yes. Transcripts must be submitted with each application to the Law School (directly) and to the Graduate School (via the Center for Data Management). See the Law and Economics Admissions page for details.

Yes. Students who have completed graduate work in economics at other schools may request transfer credit for certain graduate courses completed elsewhere. In order for a course to qualify for transfer credit, it must meet certain conditions: (1) the course was taken at an accredited graduate school for graduate credit; (2) the student received at least a B in the course; and (3) the DGS must be satisfied that the course is of sufficient intellectual quality to count towards program requirements. Transfer hours do not count towards the student’s GPA unless they are to be considered as transferred didactic hours. Few courses are transferred as didactic hours. Credits earned for internships or research cannot be transferred. Pass/Fail courses may not be considered for transfer credit unless there is some basis for the grade, e.g., Pass represents a B grade or better.

Transfer credit will not be considered for the following courses: Law and Economics Theory I and II, Behavioral Law and Economics I and II, Econometrics for Legal Research.

Students transferring into the program from another law school are generally treated as though they had started law school at Vanderbilt. Credits for equivalent courses from another law school accredited by the American Bar Association may be considered towards upper-level electives, as applicable, though not in place of core courses.

If you are applying through the Standard J.D. Application Pathway , then yes. However, the same recommenders may write for each program. It is helpful if your recommenders highlight your law and economics interests and research potential. The Graduate School requires three letters of recommendation to complete your application, but up to five will be accepted. The Law School requires two letters of recommendation, but up to three will be accepted.

If you are applying through the GRE-Only Application Pathway , you need not submit letters of recommendation with your law school application. The Graduate School requires three letters of recommendation to complete your application.

The Graduate School application fee is $95.00. For fee waiver information for the Ph.D. application, please refer to Graduate School admissions. In addition to fee waivers granted by the Graduate School, a small number of waivers may be granted at the discretion of the Ph.D. program admissions committee. We are happy to consider your request, but can only do so after you have submitted your Graduate School application and confirmed that a fee is due. At that time, please contact [email protected].

For your Law School application, you must register with the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC) and pay the requisite fees. After registering with LSAC and obtaining your “L number” from CAS, complete the online application for Vanderbilt Law School . Applicants to the dual-degree program may contact the Law School Admissions Office for an application fee waiver by emailing [email protected]. You will need to provide your “L number.”

Yes. Students who are admitted, enrolled, or graduates of Vanderbilt Law School are welcome to apply to the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics.

Prospective students can email their questions to [email protected]. Many answers to possible inquiries can be found detailed on our website, so please read carefully. Additionally, please be sure to speak with your own faculty and advisors to best assist you before you apply to the program.

Admitted students will have the opportunity to speak directly with faculty in the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics before making their final enrollment decisions.

Only students with a J.D. at the time of matriculation may pursue the Ph.D.-only track. Please see Application Process for more details.

Have Questions?

For any other questions regarding the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics portion of your application, please contact the Ph.D. program manager at 615-322-3080 or email at the link below.

For technical questions regarding the Graduate School electronic application process, please contact Graduate School Admissions at 615-343-2727 or email [email protected].

For questions regarding the Law School portion of your application, please contact Law School Admissions at [email protected].

Doctoral Programs

group of students converse outside class

Inside the Black Box

Our Favorite Interview Questions

Gearing up for an interview with Harvard Law School? We hope you are excited! And we definitely suggest reviewing our high-level advice in the Acing Your Interview post.

As you’ll see in that post, each interview is bespoke to the candidate – your interviewer will have read your entire application and will have prepared questions specific to you. That said, we each have a go-to question or two. To get a sense of the topics we might cover with you, read on to learn each of our favorite questions.

Courtney McMann (Admissions Officer)

“ Why did you pursue “x” experience?”

A resume will tell us about your work experiences and the skills you gained along the way, but we don’t always know what led you to a particular role. When I ask this in an interview, I get to hear what excited you about the position and what you were hoping to get out of it. Maybe the job or internship was an opportunity to explore a dormant passion or a chance to try out a new type of professional experience.

Whatever the reason, I hope to discover that you were thoughtful about the choice, just as I hope you have been thoughtful about your decision to pursue law school.

Nefyn Meissner (Senior Assistant Director)

“It goes without saying that legal issues are nuanced and often contentious – solving them requires the ability to navigate difficult conversations. Can you give an example of a time you navigated a difficult conversation in an academic or professional setting?”

We are not looking to see if you’ve navigated a hostage release or a multi-million dollar deal (if you have, though, that’s fine!). What we are looking for is an indication that you can engage in conversations with folks who hold opinions and beliefs that differ from your own. Whether working on a case team in law school or clashing with opposing counsel in the courtroom, you’ll be called upon to exercise this skill again and again during your legal career. We realize that difficult conversations are, well, difficult, so you don’t have to have an example of perfectly handling a tough situation. We just hope to see that you’ve begun to exercise this skill a bit in preparation for law school.

Kristi Jobson ’12 (Assistant Dean)

“Tell me about your senior thesis.”

Did you write a senior thesis? Brush up on your conclusions and analyses, because I will almost certainly ask you about it. I find that asking candidates about a major piece of writing allows them to showcase their intellectual interests, approaches, and aptitude. As an added bonus, your thesis topics are incredibly interesting.

Didn’t write a senior thesis? Don’t worry, plenty of people don’t! I might ask you to tell me about a research project or paper that makes you proud.

Alex Feinson (Assistant Director)

“Looking forward to starting law school this fall, you will be making a transition to a new setting. What are some things you value in a community as you think about making a home for yourself over the next three years?”

When you apply to graduate school, there is a lot of talk about “fit.” You’ve probably done a fair amount of thinking about what you hope to get out of a law school, and what type of program is going to feel right for you. On our end, we are also trying to build a community of people who will thrive in this environment. I like to ask this question because it inspires me to think about your values and what aspects of our program appeal to you. That can help me see you here at HLS.

Odeviz Soto (Associate Director)

“This is a two-part question: What are you afraid of? What are you motivated by?”

I like asking this question to learn about what really drives you, whether in the context of pursuing a legal career or a broader sense as you construct your personal narrative. Sometimes the fear and motivation stem from the same source and sometimes they do not, so I appreciate listening as you tease out the answers to both questions. I am also intrigued to learn about the external and/or internal factors that drive your decision-making and how you think they might be tested or strengthened during law school and beyond.

Tina Lagerstedt (Admissions Officer)

“Do you have any questions for me?”

We always leave time at the end of an interview to ask you this, so we recommend that you spend some time prepping a couple of questions regarding things you want to learn about HLS. We know you’ve spent time on our website, learning through our blog about student experiences and the resources available here, so use this time to ask your burning questions. Are there clinics you really want to work with? Are you curious about the transition from the workforce back to law school? Do you wonder about what life outside of the classroom is like? We encourage you to be thoughtful about what you ask.

Filed in: Inside the Black Box

Contact the J.D. Admissions Office

Website: hls.harvard.edu/jdadmissions

Email: [email protected]

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18 Questions to Ask Before Heading to Law School

Experts say it's critical to figure out whether you'd be happy working as an attorney.

Female student taking notes from a book at library. Young asian woman sitting at table doing assignments in college library.

(Getty Images) |

Investigate the legal profession before applying to law school.

Law schools challenge students inside and outside the classroom. Before enrolling in a J.D. program , aspiring lawyers should be aware of what the law school environment will be like, how much it costs to get a law degree and what distinguishes one school from the next. It's also important to consider whether the difficulty of obtaining a J.D. degree and passing a state bar exam is a challenge you are ready to confront. In addition, you should conduct some research on the legal job market and reflect on whether a legal career is a good fit and whether you'd really enjoy the practice of law. Here are 18 questions to ask prior to submitting a law school application.

How long is law school and do I have sufficient time for it?

Students can complete law school in two years, three years or longer. It depends on whether they attend an accelerated, traditional, dual-degree or part-time program . Many law students are also in an MBA program, for example. The J.D. curriculum is highly rigorous and the first year of law school is especially demanding, so anyone contemplating law school should understand that it will be time-consuming and stressful.

Student sitting on the floor with a laptop and doing homework, view from above

Am I well prepared for the law school entrance exam?

The Law School Admission Test, also known as the LSAT , tests prospective law students on their critical thinking, logical reasoning and writing skills. College students can take a variety of undergraduate courses to improve in these areas, but experts highly recommend taking an LSAT preparation course or using LSAT study materials. J.D. admissions officers often view LSAT scores as an indicator of whether someone is ready for law school, so performing well on this test is a way to improve the odds of acceptance at highly ranked J.D. programs .

Back view business woman raising hand for asking speaker for question and answer concept in meeting room for seminar

Could I survive and thrive in law school?

Law school professors often use the Socratic method , a style of teaching that requires students to respond orally to questions. First-year law students often are intimidated by this teaching style, so it is important for prospective law students to ready themselves for this aspect of legal education. J.D. programs typically include courses on civil procedure, criminal law , contracts, constitutional law , property, torts and administrative or regulatory law .

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Do I feel confident that I could pass a state bar exam?

After J.D. candidates complete law school, they usually must take a bar examination to become a licensed law professional. Law school applicants should scrutinize a school's bar passage rates for its graduates, though they should be aware that if their academic credentials are significantly above or below the norm for incoming students at that school, their odds of passing the bar may deviate from the school average. Passing the bar is usually necessary to practice law.

(University of Michigan Law School) |

Which types of law schools are likely to accept me?

Highly ranked law schools primarily admit students with stellar academic credentials, including impressive LSAT scores and exceptional college GPAs . When applying to reach law schools , where your grades and scores are below the norm, be sure to write a compelling personal statement and recruit references who can write strong recommendation letters .

young woman sitting on the floor of her living room and working

Can I afford the cost of a legal education?

The price of a law education depends on several factors, including a school's location, the amount of time a student is in school and whether a school is public or private . The average annual tuition and fees among private institutions in the U.S. News Best Law Schools rankings that submitted these statistics for the 2020-21 academic year were $51,268. At public schools, they were $29,074 for in-state students and $42,143 for out-of-state students.

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Would the reward of law school be greater than the cost?

Legal education experts say it is critical for J.D. hopefuls to compare the value of a legal education to its price. The kind of salary someone can expect to earn with a law degree varies widely depending on the prestige of the law school attended and the type of legal employer. The six-figure entry-level salaries at big law firms are well above the salaries that other new lawyers get, and jobs at large law firms are typically reserved for the highest-achieving law school grads .

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How well do law schools prepare students for the real world?

Many schools offer practicums or clinics , which allow second- or third-year students to work with real clients on cases. Clinics can focus on specific legal issues, such as criminal or immigration cases. Law school applicants should find out what type of experiential learning opportunities schools offer and the quality of those options when deciding where to go, admissions experts say.

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Is a law degree necessary for me?

Practicing attorneys say it's foolish to attend law school simply because you can get in or because of a desire to delay entering the workforce after graduating from college. Uncertainty about what career to pursue is also a bad reason to invest in an expensive legal education, experts warn. Legal education experts urge those who do not intend to practice law to be wary of pursuing a J.D. degree and to reflect on whether legal training is valuable for their career. It's important to have a clear vision of how you might use a law degree and whether you intend to use it as an attorney or in a field related to law such as public policy or politics .

Would I be happy as a lawyer?

It's vital to do some introspection before applying to law school so that you can determine whether a legal career would be personally fulfilling, experts say. There are many areas of law that aspiring lawyers might want to practice, so it's helpful to do some research about the various types of legal jobs . Law schools often excel within a particular branch of law, such as tax law , so it's worthwhile to find out which schools align with your interests.

Why am I interested in becoming a lawyer?

A desire for fame and fortune is not a compelling reason to become a lawyer and practice law, since there are many ways to achieve celebrity and become wealthy that don't require a law degree, experts say. On the other hand, an interest in helping others and improving society isn't sufficient alone to demonstrate that law is the right profession, since there are many civic-minded and service-oriented jobs outside the legal field, according to experts. A history of successfully advocating for others and winning debates against intelligent opponents is a sign that a legal occupation could be appropriate. Zeal for pursuing justice and righting wrongs is common among lawyers, who often have a strong sense of righteous indignation when they witness unfairness.

Do I have the grit necessary for legal jobs?

Legal work is extremely challenging and stressful , since it usually involves fighting against some type of opposition, explains Bob Sullivan, senior partner at Sullivan Papain Block McGrath Coffinas & Cannavo, a personal injury law firm based in New York. "Wherever I go, there's someone very talented, highly paid and highly motivated to undo what I'm trying to do," Sullivan says. "And you don't get that in other fields. For example, when a doctor is operating, there's nobody there trying to make him fail ... When I go to trial, there's somebody 100% of the time there who is very talented and very motivated to make me fail."

Does a job as a lawyer align with my identity and life story?

Some attorneys say that their personal circumstances led them to law school. "I decided to go to law school after growing up as an undocumented farm worker in the United States and living through disgusting levels of discrimination," Luis Ruiz, an immigration attorney in Texas, wrote in an email. "I decided that I wanted to have a bit of power, a seat at the table. Being able to say that you are a lawyer commands immediate respect. I wanted that respect and the power to be able to help other undocumented people like myself out of the shadows." He suggests that people who are drawn to the legal field investigate whether a legal education can help them accomplish their goals.

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What worthwhile projects could I pursue as an attorney?

A law degree can provide a foundation for a meaningful career , experts say. "Conversations about the role law plays in maintaining justice, fairness and order in our society have been front and center lately," Katherine Demby, a Yale Law School alumna, wrote in an email. "Lawyers play a unique role in shaping our institutions and our country's values," adds Demby, head of higher education at the Wanderlust Careers employment services firm. "Lawyering is a long and storied tradition dating back to antiquity. By becoming a lawyer, you become a part of that history."

Concentrated female student writing in university campus using laptop computer.

Is a career as a lawyer the best way to fulfill my potential?

Someone who can demonstrate grace under pressure and thrives in competitive environments could benefit others by advocating for people in stressful situations, such as custody battles or divorces, legal experts suggest. Detail-oriented individuals can use their meticulousness to their advantage in the workplace if they become lawyers, since law is an area where technicalities matter. Eloquence is also helpful, since changing the minds of judges, juries or other legal decision-makers necessitates the artful use of words. Personal injury lawyer and law firm founder Stewart J. Guss put it this way in an email: "Being an advocate for someone in their darkest hour and seeing them come out the other side gives a new purpose to going to work every day."

Lawyers meet with clients in conference room

Is there a place for me within the large legal industry?

Because there are many kinds of legal jobs and many areas of law, there is room for a variety of people within the legal field, according to bankruptcy attorney Allison Day, a shareholder with the Genovese Joblove & Battista law firm in Florida. Shyness can be overcome if an aspiring attorney cultivates his or her public speaking abilities, and someone with the "gift of gab" can excel as a lawyer even if he or she isn't extraordinarily bright. A person who dreams of becoming an attorney can build up self-confidence even if he or she doesn't start out with it. The key is to figure out whether there is an aspect of law that fascinates you, Day suggests.

The mid adult loan officer patiently and cheerfully help sthe senior man find the best investment option for retirement savings.

Whom do you intend to assist if you become a lawyer?

"As an attorney, you can support important causes and fight for underprivileged groups such as animals, victims of abuse, and children," Chicago family lawyer Jonathan Merel wrote in an email. "You’re in a unique position to have a positive impact on society. Your work helps enforce laws that keep people safe and prevent corruption." However, something important to keep in mind is that the most philanthropic legal jobs are often hard to get, not well compensated or take a long time to become competitive for, says Jeff Thomas, executive director of legal programs at Kaplan.

Court of Justice and Law Trial: Female Public Defender Presenting Case, Asking Male Witness in Front of Judge and Jury. Multiethnic Attorney Lawyer Protecting Client Against Crime, Injustice.

How could I do good for the world as a lawyer?

One of the perks of a job as a lawyer is seeing the fruits of your labor when you win a case and an appropriate remedy for your clients, according to attorneys. Representing underdogs in David vs. Goliath disputes and achieving a victory against the odds can be especially fulfilling. "Unlike many other careers, you can see the direct impact that your hard work has on the lives of the people you serve," Eric Pines, founder of the Houston-based employment law firm Pines Federal, wrote in an email. "Working in the area of federal employment law, I’ve been able to leverage my knowledge and experience to help people who are afraid of losing their jobs and livelihood for reporting wrongdoing at their workplaces."

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Learn more about legal education.

Learn more about applying to law school and get our complete rankings of the Best Law Schools . For more advice and information on how to select a school, connect with U.S. News Education on Twitter and Facebook .

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School of Law
Postgraduate

Writing a PhD research proposal

The following guidance has been compiled to help you submit a high quality application that is targeted to the research strengths of The School of Law.

Choosing a research topic

PhDs are supposed to contain an element of originality and innovation. Originality need not mean that you explore a wholly new concept. For instance, it might also include applying new methods or new theories to existing scholarship on the topic. They also need to be backed up by logically reasoned evidence and argument – whether that is provided by theoretical or empirical sources.

The types of thesis that could be constructed:

An analysis of a specific area of law or criminology on which there is no significant existing literature. The lack of existing literature may be explained by the relative newness of the body of law and/or creation of institutions; or the previous lack of attention given to the practical impact of the chosen area of study. A thesis in this area might attempt to describe, explain and rationalise the development of this particular area of law and/ or critically analyse the content of the legal system being researched.

An analysis applying, analysing, or evaluating existing studies in a new context. For instance, one might extend a study of one jurisdiction to another, providing comparative evidence that tests the applicability of existing research and enables the existing theory to be challenged, reconsidered, or expanded upon.

An empirical study of an area of law or criminology where there is existing doctrinal, conceptual, or theoretical literature, but limited empirical evidence to test those doctrines, concepts, or theories. Such an empirical study would still require a degree of originality but would be academically interesting if it offers a view of the area of study not previously attempted and/or allowed for an appraisal of the effectiveness of the law as it currently stands and is organised.

An in-depth critical study of a specific aspect of law or criminology. Such an examination may consist solely or mainly of library based or theoretical work, or include an element of socio-legal research. As well as recognising existing literature, such an approach needs to make clear how this project would build on and add to that work. The answer may be that the area of law or criminology has evolved or the work itself takes a very different approach to analysing the problem.

Before drafting a research proposal it is a good idea to consult with any academic contacts you already have for their feedback.

The Research Proposal

Applications must include an outline research proposal. If a proposal is submitted without a proposal it will be automatically rejected.

The application asks you to give a description of your research project, including the research questions to be addressed, the methodology to be used, the sources to be consulted and a brief timetable. Your proposal should be included in the application as a separate attachment, and distinguished from your supporting statement (if you include one).

There is no set format or page length for proposals, although to keep the proposal concise and clear while still providing enough information, we recommend limiting yourself to 1,500-2,500 words. Within your application it is useful to identify and bear in mind some or all of the following points:

It is important that you demonstrate clearly the area that you intend to research and provide some indication that you are already knowledgeable in the area that you intend to research. This can be achieved through suitable references and/or by supplying a bibliography to support your application.

Research is about more than collating knowledge already in the public domain. Within your application you should indicate how you intend to add to the knowledge that you will be uncovering. Examples of potential aims include: adding to existing theory; disproving previous understandings; a critique of the current legal position; a defended positive/negative prognosis of the impact of a new legal provision; new empirically obtained findings. You may find it helpful to express your research aims as questions to be answered, or as aims to fulfil by doing the research. Try to limit the number of aims of your study as much as possible.

A research application is more likely to be accepted if you can demonstrate that it has relevance and academic merit. Ultimately PhDs are awarded where a piece of work can demonstrate some originality and innovation. This should be explained within your application.

It is rare for an entirely original piece of research to be written. Therefore, the links with existing research should be made clear, as should the possibilities your work might open up for future research. You should provide some background to the research, exploring the wider literature and making as clear as possible what makes your proposed research original in the context of that literature.

In other words, how do you intend to undertake the research? Methods may include reviewing library-based resources or empirical research. If the latter, then what form – e.g. quantitative or qualitative analysis, and what evidence can you provide that you have the skills to undertake such research. These methods should be carefully considered in relation to the research aims and questions you are seeking to address in the proposed research.

You must consider the partnerships, knowledge exchange and impacts associated with your proposed research. If you already have collaborative arrangements in place with relevant external stakeholders then you should describe these and potentially also provide letters of support, in principle, if you have them. You should consider the likely impacts of your proposed research and how these will be achieved, as well as your plans for disseminating your research findings beyond academia.

If you are applying for WRDTP or WRoCAH scholarships, it is essential that you consider how your proposed research fits in with the research pathways or clusters of these two funders. The quality of your scholarship application will be judged partly by the fit of your research within these pathways or clusters.

Your application should not be too unrealistic as to what can be delivered. It is also wise to predict the likely challenges that you will face in undertaking the research and suggest ways in which those challenges can be overcome.

What to avoid

Research proposals should not be viewed as binding contracts. Most first-year PhD students adapt their research proposal once they start studying the topic in more depth and working with their supervisor. Nevertheless, a PhD proposal should amount to a coherent, intelligent, realistic and relatively well thought-out idea of an area of potential research.

The following errors should be avoided if possible:

Simplistic descriptions of an area of study should be avoided – eg ‘I want to research EU law’. The specific focus of the research must be clear.

Offer to review or analyse an area of law on which there is already a significant existing literature. PhDs should be attempting something more than bringing together knowledge that already exists.

Develop a research proposal primarily because the topic is or has been fashionable. Topics such as the legality of the war in Iraq, the operation of the International Criminal Court or the Human Rights Act 1998 remain extremely important areas of academic study, but as a PhD student it is going to be very difficult to say anything interesting, new or original about these topics.

Avoid trying to resolve grand problems in one thesis. The best research proposals tend to focus on discrete and well-confined subject areas.

Relying upon a comparison to provide the intellectual component of the proposal, whether that is a comparison between different institutions, different bodies of law or different countries. Comparative research proposals are worthy if properly thought out. If the comparison is between different legal systems for instance, in the submission it needs to be made clear why that comparison could be a useful one and what can be learnt from the comparison. For instance, you may be undertaking research in the UK and from Botswana, but that does not mean that there are any valid reasons why comparing the UK to Botswana is actually worthwhile in your subject area.

Relatedly, you should consider the research expertise of supervisors at the University of Sheffield, and the value that studying at Sheffield adds to your research. Generally a PhD submitted in a UK university should contribute to knowledge about the UK, or about global/international issues. If you want to research another country of jurisdiction, you need to provide a credible reason for why Sheffield is a good place to undertake that study, as opposed to an institution in that country.

Make sure that your methodology is as clear and specific as you can make it at this early stage. Proposals that say, “I will use qualitative methods” are unlikely to succeed because they suggest an ignorance of the diversity of qualitative methods. Ideally, you should be able to say something about:

the methods you will use (e.g. surveys, documentary analysis, interviews, observation, ethnography, audio-visual methods...);

the target populations of your research (eg, a study of criminal courts might seek to recruit judges, lawyers, ushers, defendants, police officers, or other actors. Which groups do you want to participate in your research, and why? The answer to this question should bear some relation to your research aims); and,

If possible, the approximate number of participants you want to recruit for each method (for instance, you might want to conduct 10-15 interviews with each of two groups of participants, or to survey 500 people) and how they will be accessed/recruited. Try to be realistic about how long empirical research takes, and how many research participants it is possible to study.

How these chosen methods are likely to illuminate the research questions of the proposed research

Ethical considerations of the research in relation to things like informed consent, anonymity, the safeguarding of researchers and participants

It may not be possible to say much at this stage, but the more details you can provide, the clearer it will be that you have thought seriously about your research project, and the easier it will be for the School of Law to evaluate its feasibility.

Positive steps to take

When we make an offer we will do so on the basis of various considerations. Making an effort to foreshadow those considerations in your application is a good idea. It is advisable to submit a supporting statement alongside the research proposal. Issues to consider include:

Why did you choose to apply to the University of Sheffield?

Can you provide any evidence to suggest that you are capable of completing an extensive piece of research and have the character to undertake three years of study, on a relatively low income and with only supervisory support?

Does the research proposal fit into one of the areas in which the Law School has a speciality ? Often a proposal only needs minor adaptation to fall within an area the School can supervise, but to improve your chances of success it is worthwhile reviewing the academic profile of the various staff in the Law School before you submit an application.

If you are able, it would be helpful to have a look at some past PhD theses in your own area of interest which have been successfully submitted at a UK university. Most UK universities have copies in the library of all past successful PhDs, either as physical copies or in an online repository.

The online application form requires you to provide some standard information about yourself and your past academic performance. Please ensure that this information is correct and that you provide evidence to support your qualifications.

The references that your referees provide are important sources of information for us. Wherever possible, it is helpful to provide (where possible) a reference from at least one academic who is aware of your research potential and has read some of your work.

Search for PhD opportunities at Sheffield and be part of our world-leading research.

leiden lawmethods portal

Formulating a research question.

Last update: April 21, 2022

The start of any research project lies with whatever it is you are interested in. It could be a specific topic, an event, a piece of legislation or any collection of facts and phenomena that puzzles you and triggers questions. The key is then to determine the research question that will guide your research. As with many parts of the research process, the research question can change and develop as you engage with the relevant literature and data. You don’t have to form a fixed research question at the very beginning of the research process. Nonetheless, it is essential to never lose sight of your research question. Your research question has implications for which methods will be used during the analysis and which central goals the study is set up to accomplish.

There are three main reasons why the formulation of the research question is essential for the research process and has to be done with great care:

Condensing the topic, you are interested in into a single question forces you to really get to what exactly it is you want to know and which key variables are involved.
Every research question requires a justification as to why it is being posed. Has this question not yet been answered definitively? Why is this question significant for the field?
The research question has to fit what you are actually doing in your work. A question that is too broad will make it impossible for you to sufficiently answer it. If your question is too specific, the answer might be uninteresting.

Research questions are often sorted into different categories. As with most categorizations, these types of questions differ depending on the field of study. The biggest fault lines when it comes to the different types of research questions lie (1) between normative and descriptive research, (2) within the latter between theoretical and empirical research, and (3) within empirical research between descriptive and explanatory questions. Toshkov (2016) differentiates descriptive, predictive, and explanatory research while Chui (2017) categorizes them as descriptive, exploratory, and explanatory. No matter which exact typology of research question you are working with, it is always helpful to reflect on these key fault lines. Is the goal of your research to determine what ought to be or study the world as it is ? Will you be doing theoretical or empirical work? If you are working with empirics, are you focusing on the collection of facts surrounding a phenomenon (What is happening? What has happened?) or are you trying to determine causal mechanisms and structures (Why is this happening? How has this happened?)?

If your research topic constitutes a lack of information on a phenomenon, a type of legal proceeding or a specific event for example, a descriptive research question underlines the objective of your research of collecting facts that would be necessary to set-up further analyses or theory building. Descriptive research can utilize a number of methodologies ranging from archival work, ethnographic participant observation to conducting large-N surveys examining one or multiple cases.

If you want to determine the how or why of a phenomenon or event, then you are aiming to uncover causal mechanisms or structures and hence require an explanatory research question. For a more detailed outline of the set-up of explanatory legal research, please refer to Jaroslaw Kantorowicz’s entry on “ Causality in Research Design ”.

Finally, a few guiding questions to keep in mind when (re)formulating your research question:

Is the question concise and grammatically as well as structurally formulated in a way that is easily understood?
Is the question open-ended?
Does the question reflect your research goal?
Is the question making use of normative language (and should it)?
Is the question researchable and can be feasibly answered within the scope of the study?
Does your research address everything mentioned in your research question?

Chui, W. H., & McConville, Michael. (2017). Research methods for law (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. P.

Dunleavy, P. (2015). Authoring a PhD: how to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan education.

Halperin, S., & Heath, O. (2020). Political research: methods and practical skills (Third edition.).

Toshkov, D. (2016). Research design in political science.

Wellington, J., Bathmaker, A.-M., Hunt, C., McCulloch, G., & Sikes, P. (2005). Succeeding with Your Doctorate. In Succeeding with Your Doctorate. London: SAGE Publications.

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5-Year B.A., LL.B. (Hons.)
3-Year LL.B. (Hons.)
Master’s Programme in Public Policy
Sample Questions

The Ph.D (Law) programme offers candidates an opportunity to contribute to the academic field in their chosen areas of study. As a part of the programme, candidates are also provided an opportunity to teach or participate in ongoing research at NLSIU, in areas related to their dissertation, allowing for deeper integration with the NLSIU community and providing diverse feedback opportunities.

Eligibility for Ph.D. (Law)

The following candidates shall be eligible to apply for the Ph.D. (Law) programme:

a) Candidates having a 5-year/ 10-semester/ 15-trimester bachelor’s degree programme in Law through regular mode from a recognized University having secured a minimum of 75% marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade on a point scale wherever the grading system is followed (70% of marks or its equivalent grade in case of SC/ST/OBC- NCL/Persons with Disability.)

b) Candidates having a 3-year/ 6-semester/ 9-trimester bachelor’s degree programme in Law (LL.B.) through regular mode from a recognized University having secured a minimum of 75% marks in aggregate or its equivalent grade on a point scale wherever the grading system is followed (70% of marks or its equivalent grade in case of SC/ST/OBC-NCL Persons with Disability); and

c) Candidates having a Masters in Law degree (LL.M.) through regular mode from a recognized University having secured an aggregate of at least 55% marks or its equivalent grade (50% of marks or its equivalent grade in case of SC/ST/OBC-NCL)/ Persons with Disability);

d) Candidates having passed the Solicitors Examination conducted by the Bombay Incorporated Law Society and having a completed a bachelor’s in Law (LL.B./LL.B. (Hons.)) degree from a recognized University through regular mode; or

(e) Candidates having a Master of Business Laws (MBL) degree from the National Law School of India University with minimum CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average) of 4.00 and having completed a bachelor’s degree from a recognized University through regular mode.

Provided that candidates in their final year of study in the respective degrees in (a), (b) and (c) shall be eligible to apply, subject to the candidate securing the minimum marks or equivalent grade prior to July 2024.

International Students

Candidates can apply for the NLSAT – International Examination for “international student” category, if they fulfil the following conditions:

They should be a citizen of a country other than India; AND
They should have completed a minimum of ten years of their education in a school/college/university outside India.

For more details, click here.

Admission Process

Admission to the programme will be through an all-India written admissions test, the National Law School Admissions Test (NLSAT-PhD). Candidates shall submit the application form duly filled up along with a research proposal of about 6-8 pages. The application form is available here.

The research proposal should contain: i. Tentative Title ii. Statement of the problem and the background information on the subject. iii. A brief outline of the research design including a set of research questions, a brief review of the relevant literature on the issue identified for research, a research hypothesis (where applicable) and the proposed methodology. Students who demonstrate a firm grasp of these foundational issues will be awarded higher marks.

The NLSAT-PhD shall have the following scheme: a) Research Aptitude: 50 marks b) Essays/Answers on relevant topics pertaining to law/ other disciplines: 50 marks

Candidates securing not less than 50% marks on the aggregate in the written test will qualify for evaluation of their Research Proposal and making an oral presentation before a Panel of Experts on the date specified by the University.

Selection Process

Candidates will be selected based on the marks obtained by the candidate in the NLSAT- PhD, the research proposal, and the oral presentation. The weightage of each score component shall be as follows:

a) NLSAT-PhD: 50% b) Research Proposal: 35% c) Oral Presentation: 15%

Important Dates

The National Law School Admissions Test-PhD (NLSAT-PhD) will be held on March 17, 2024 (Sunday), from 10.00 am to 12.30 pm in specified centres across the country. The duration of the test shall be 150 minutes.
Application deadline has been extended to 11:59 pm IST, on February 28, 2024. View official notification. An application fee of Rs. 3000/- (Rupees Three Thousand Only) shall be payable at the time of submission of the application.
The dates for the oral presentation shall be announced after the completion of the NLSAT-PhD. They are likely to be held in April – May 2024.
Classes for coursework component of the Ph.D. programme shall commence in the University in July 2024.

The maximum number of Ph. D seats for the Academic Year 2024-25 are 8 (Eight). This includes 4 in Ph.D (Law) and 4 in Ph.D (Interdisciplinary). The University reserves the right not to fill all the seats where sufficient candidates do not satisfy the admission requirements.

PhD Regulations

Regulations governing the PhD programme are available here. Candidates should familiarize themselves with the requirements of the programme, before applying.

The admission notification for AY 2024-25 is available here.

For Indian Nationals

For international students.

The total amount payable at the time of admission by foreign students for AY 2024-25 is Rs. 2,55,000/- as provided below:

Registration Fee – one time 90,000/- Course Work Fee – one time 90,000/- Annual Fee 75,000/- Total fee – per annum 2,55,000/-

* Fees mentioned above are provisional and subject to ratification by the University Governing Bodies.

Sample questions for NLSAT 2024 will be released to candidates who have registered through the admissions portal prior to the admissions test.

The University’s PhD programme in the previous year was offered in terms of the Ph.D. Degree Programme Regulations, 2021. The Regulations have been revised since the Academic Year 2023-24.

The FAQs below reflect the Ph.D. Degree Programme Regulations 2023.

NLSIU currently offers two Ph.D programmes:

– The Ph.D. (Law) programme allows a candidate to contribute academically in the field of law; – The Ph.D. (Interdisciplinary) involves research across disciplines to arrive at a more comprehensive perspective and solution for a particular problem.

Yes, they may apply for the Ph.D (Law) programme.

No, there is no age limit to apply for the programmes.

Candidates will have to appear for the admission test NLSAT – Ph.D, conducted by the University. To apply, visit admissions.nls.ac.in

Note: While submitting the application for the admission test, candidates should also submit a research proposal of about 6-8 pages. The research proposal should contain: i. Tentative Title ii. Statement of the problem and the background information on the subject. iii. A brief outline of the research design including a set of research questions, a brief review of the relevant literature on the issue identified for research, a research hypothesis (where applicable) and the proposed methodology. Students who demonstrate a firm grasp of these foundational issues will be awarded higher marks.

No. Candidates may apply for either Ph.D (Law) or the Ph.D (Interdisciplinary) programme.

To apply for the Ph.D programmes, visit admissions.nls.ac.in

The University shall conduct a written test (NLSAT-Ph.D) along the following scheme:

a) Research Aptitude – 50 marks b) Essays on relevant topics pertaining to law/ other disciplines – 50 marks

The list of selected candidates as above shall be displayed on the NLSIU website.

Candidates are required to be present at the NLSIU campus for the duration of their coursework spread over three trimesters. Course work is compulsory for all the Ph.D. candidates.

The first component of the course work must be completed during the first trimester upon their admission. The remaining two trimesters of the course work needs to be completed within the first two academic years.

a) The candidate will have to complete a minimum of three (3) years’ research in their chosen subject, including the mandatory course work as provided in these Regulations.

b) Maximum period: The maximum duration of the Ph.D. programme shall be six (6) years* from the date of admission in the Ph.D. programme, subject to the fulfilment of the requirements per the Regulations.

*- Provided that candidates who are Persons with Disabilities (having more than 40% disability) may be allowed a relaxation of upto two (2) years; however, the total period for completion of a Ph.D. programme in such cases should not exceed eight (8) years from the date of admission in the Ph.D. programme; – Provided further that female Ph.D. candidates may be provided Maternity Leave/ Child Care Leave for up to 240 days in the entire duration of the Ph.D. programme; however, the total period for completion of a Ph.D. programme in such cases should not exceed six (6) years and eight (8) months from the date of admission in the Ph.D. programme.

c) Failure to complete the course within the maximum period set out in point (b) above will automatically result in cancellation of registration.

There are a total of six courses that a doctoral candidate has to complete. Three of these are compulsory taught courses. Each taught course will extend for around 10 weeks and will be held on campus.

The first compulsory taught course is to be completed in the initial trimester on admission to the programme. The second compulsory taught course can be completed in the initial or any subsequent trimester (depending on when the course is offered). These two taught courses have to be completed prior to the first presentation before the Research Advisory Committee. In addition, there are also two course requirements relating to review of literature and fine-tuning of the proposal which need to be completed under the guidance of the Supervisor prior to the first presentation before the Research Advisory Committee.

The third compulsory taught course has to be completed prior to the second presentation before the Research Advisory Committee. In addition, candidates also will also need to complete the course requirement relating to teaching/research assistantships as will be decided by the Supervisor/relevant University body of the University.

There is a Research Advisory Committee for each Ph.D. scholar consisting of a Supervisor and two members (one from within NLSIU and one external member).

Please refer to the fee tab on the respective programme pages for fee details.

Yes, the University will release sample questions at a later date.

We do not offer rolling admissions to the PhD programme. New students are admitted once a year, to begin studying at the start of the Academic Year in July.

Yes, but only in the next academic year. Candidates will have to appear for the NLSAT after applying for the programme in any given year.

Yes. The University will notify a ‘Campus Open Day’ for you to visit us and familiarize yourself with the campus before applying for any programme through the NLSAT. Follow our website for further updates.

Ph.D. Admission

Applications will be accepted in the fall of 2023 for study to commence in the fall of 2024. The application deadline is December 15, 2023, but the Admissions Committee will begin to review each application when it is complete. Applications must be submitted via Yale University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences application website.

Personal Statement (500-1000 words) The personal statement should describe the applicant’s motivations for pursuing the Ph.D. in Law degree and should describe the applicant’s qualifications to undertake the proposed course of study, especially qualifications that are not evident from the applicant’s CV.
Research Proposal (1000 words) The research proposal should describe the project that the applicant plans to undertake as a dissertation. The proposal should describe the project’s scope, its scholarly significance and research methodology, including any source materials on which the project will rely or any empirical research that the applicant intends to undertake. The research proposal need not be as fully developed as a dissertation prospectus, and projects are expected to evolve over the course of students’ time in the program. Nonetheless, applicants are expected to have a clear sense of the general research project that they will undertake.
Writing Sample The writing sample should be a piece of legal scholarship authored solely by the applicant. Ideally, the writing sample should be on a subject related to the applicant’s proposed research project. Submitted writing samples should be no more than the equivalent of 30-published pages in length (15,000 words)—an excerpt from a longer work may be used.
Letters of Recommendation Applicants will be asked to identify three individuals willing to write letters of recommendation on their behalf. Recommenders will then receive an email with instructions about how to submit letters directly to the Graduate School. Applicants should choose recommenders who are best situated to evaluate an applicant’s past academic work and potential to produce first-rate legal scholarship. The Ph.D. Admissions Committee strongly recommends that at least two recommenders hold academic appointments at a law school.
Test Scores The applicant will be asked to self-report his or her LSAT score; scores from any administration of the exam will be accepted. Prior to matriculation, those admitted to the Ph.D. in Law program will be required to provide formal confirmation of the self-reported score.
Transcripts The applicant will need to upload records of academic performance to the online application prior to submission. No transcripts should be mailed. This upload may be in the form of a scanned copy of the applicant's transcript or academic record. If the transcript is in a language other than English, the applicant will also need to provide an English translation of the transcript. The translation must be certified to be an accurate translation of the original and be notarized or otherwise authenticated. The translation and the original transcript can then be uploaded to the application.
Curriculum Vitae The applicant should submit a curriculum vitae listing all academic honors and awards, publications and presentations, and other professional accomplishments.
Application Fee Each applicant must pay the application fee in the amount and manner required by the Graduate School.

Previous applicants who were not admitted to the Ph.D. in Law program and who wish to reapply must submit a completely new application and pay the application fee. Applicants who have been denied admission three times may not submit further applications.

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UNM School of Law 3L students pave the way for graduate scholarships while serving on the Graduate and Professional Student Association

March 27, 2024

Three class of 2024 School of Law students play a significant role in the Graduate and Professional Student Association (GPSA) at UNM. Justin Lauriano serves as GPSA President, Paul Havern serves as GPSA Chief of Staff, and Aaron Sharratt serves as GPSA Grants Director. Established in 1969, the GPSA is the student government for graduate and professional students at UNM. The GPSA seeks to identify, promote, and support the interests and concerns that are important to the welfare and academic development of graduate and professional students at UNM. The GPSA promotes the rights, interests, and profespausional development of graduate and professional students within the university community through advocacy, education, and financial support.

Lauriano, Havern, and Sharratt share their experiences serving on the association. Lauriano explained he ran to advocate for graduate students across UNM. “GPSA is one of three entities allowed to lobby the state legislature on behalf of UNM. This year, I led my administration to lobby for the Graduate Scholarship Act, Senate Bill 233. This bill would create a scholarship fund comparable to the Opportunity Scholarship Act which is limited to undergraduate students. Overall, being GPSA President has been a unique and fulfilling experience. I have gained valuable knowledge about the political process and the lawmaking and lobbying process. I have also gained valuable mentorship from President Stokes, Brian S. Colon, and Provost Holloway.”

Havern shared that one of his proudest moments with GPSA was working to pass the Graduate Scholarship Act, Senate Bill 233. “We worked with Senator Pope in redrafting his Graduate Scholarship Act. The bill aimed at creating a law similar to the undergraduate Opportunity Scholarship Act. In other words, New Mexico residents would receive free graduate tuition. Unfortunately, the bill was ruled “not germaine” but the experience of redrafting the bill with the Senator, the Governor’s office, and a bill drafter was particularly memorable. We were able to draft a copy that everyone was happy with but unfortunately, a 30 day session is just too short. I have great optimism for the bill in the next session. As a result of this experience, I was able to see how a bill is made, and I was introduced to many UNM SoL graduates in the process!”

Sharratt spoke on the ways their leadership brought additional funding to students. “I became interested in working with GPSA to make others aware of the graduate student support offered and to continue improving the grants program to best serve all graduate students. Getting to hear about the incredible need and the tremendous ways in which graduate students are using these funds has been so motivating and inspirational. I am incredibly proud that we were able to advocate for and see significant changes to the Grants Code section of the GPSA Bylaws this year that will benefit graduate students to an even greater degree in the coming years. The new changes increase the number of awards and maximum award amount to multiple grant programs while also eliminating some long-standing barriers that prevented many students from being able to access much needed funding. I encourage all law students to familiarize themselves with the resources available through GPSA!”

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Middle East

Questions surround international humanitarian law as gaza's hospitals are attacked.

Linah Mohammad

Patrick Jarenwattananon

Mary Louise Kelly

Since October 7, there have been at least 410 attacks on health care in Gaza, according to the World Health Organization. What does international humanitarian law say about targeting hospitals?

MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:

Today marks Day 10 of the second Israeli military raid on Al-Shifa Hospital. That is the largest medical complex in Gaza. It only recently began operating again in a limited capacity following a November raid. Israel says that Hamas uses tunnels under the complex as a base and says 180 militants have been killed. Gaza's health ministry says at least 13 people have died as a result of disruption to medical care and says some 30,000 displaced people are sheltering there. Well, NPR is not able to verify either account. Foreign journalists are not allowed into Gaza. But we'll note this is not the only instance of Israel attacking health care facilities recently. Today, Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli airstrikes against a relief facility killed seven medics in fighting against the militant group Hezbollah. Well, I want to bring in Tom Dannenbaum to talk about this. He's an associate professor of international law at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Professor Dannenbaum, welcome.

TOM DANNENBAUM: Thank you for having me, Mary Louise.

KELLY: So just to elaborate on that context, since the beginning of the war, on October 7, the World Health Organization has documented at least 410 attacks on health care facilities in Gaza. That includes attacks on hospitals and clinics and ambulances. Can you give us just a brief primer? What does international law say about targeting hospitals during a war? Start with what laws would be applicable here.

DANNENBAUM: Well, one of the oldest laws in codified international humanitarian law is the protection of hospitals from attack. In fact, it's in Article 1 of the very first Geneva Convention from 1864 - that hospitals are not to be subject to attack during armed conflict. There are, of course, specific and narrow exceptions to that. But the baseline rule is that they're protected, and attacks on them are prohibited.

KELLY: OK. There are exceptions though, such as?

DANNENBAUM: Well, the key exception is that hospitals lose their protection when they are used for acts harmful to the enemy. However, there are a number of key components of that exception. So for example, it is not an act harmful to the enemy to have combatants in the hospital for medical reasons.

But even if those kinds of issues aren't what's at stake and the hospital is being used for acts harmful to the enemy, such as being used as a command center, there are still additional protections that are designed to ensure the protection of the humanitarian function of the hospital. So in particular, the attacking party has to give a warning to the hospital and the persons within it to allow for the misuse of the hospital to cease so that the protected status of the hospital snaps back into place and any further attack on the hospital would be prohibited. There are a couple of additional rules, particularly around precautions and proportionality, that provide further protection beyond those I've just mentioned.

KELLY: Who enforces any of this?

DANNENBAUM: Well, the primary one in this context, in addition to the enforcement systems within the parties to the conflict themselves, would be the International Criminal Court, which has jurisdiction over activity in Gaza.

And we can look at past precedents. So, for example, in the context of the war in Bosnia in the 1990s, and particularly the siege of Sarajevo from 1992 onwards, including the shelling of a hospital within Sarajevo, the appeals chamber in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia determined that, during certain periods, the hospital was being used by the armed forces of Bosnia-Herzegovina such that it lost its protection. But at other periods during that shelling campaign, it was not being misused in that way. And for those periods, therefore, the attack on that hospital was prohibited and was a component of the conviction of Stanislav Galic for war crimes in the context of the siege of Sarajevo.

KELLY: Well, I'm speaking to you today from Boston. You, like I, are not in a position to verify conflicting accounts of what's happening there at Al-Shifa Hospital. But given the evidence that Israel has publicly provided to date, what questions are on your mind as you try to weigh whether the exception for the targeting of hospitals is being met here?

DANNENBAUM: I think it's important to bear in mind that even when a hospital is being misused for acts harmful to the enemy, and that misuse continues, notwithstanding warnings, it would still be prohibited to engage in an attack on the hospital if the expected harm to civilians, medical personnel and medical units and facilities is expected to be excessive in relation to the military advantage from the attack. And that, of course, requires a judgment call. But in a context of diminished medical capacity due to the elimination of other medical facilities and increased medical need due to the effects of the armed conflict and the siege, the expected harm to civilians and other protected persons from an attack on a hospital that would render that hospital nonfunctional is very high.

KELLY: Tom Dannenbaum of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University - thank you.

DANNENBAUM: Thank you very much.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Federal Agents Raid Homes Tied to Sean Combs in Los Angeles and Miami

In response to questions about Mr. Combs’s residences, Homeland Security Investigations said the searches were part of “an ongoing investigation.”

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By Ben Sisario , Julia Jacobs and William K. Rashbaum

Federal agents raided homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area on Monday that are connected to the hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, a person with knowledge of the case said.

Homeland Security Investigations carried out the raids but did not provide details about the case, including whether Mr. Combs was a target or which criminal charges were being investigated. Mr. Combs, who is also known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has been accused of sexual assault and sex trafficking in multiple civil lawsuits over the last several months.

A spokesperson for Mr. Combs did not respond to a request for comment.

The criminal inquiry was being conducted by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and federal agents with Homeland Security, a law-enforcement official said. Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the Southern District, declined to comment.

In a statement, Homeland Security said that agents from New York had “executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our local law enforcement partners.”

Two Homeland Security investigators walk away from the camera down a street that is blocked off with police tape and two additional police officers stand in the foreground on the right.

Video from Fox 11 (KTTV), a local television station in Los Angeles, showed armed officers entering a home in the Holmby Hills area of the city, which a law-enforcement official said was connected to Mr. Combs. Public records in California also indicate that the home is owned by a company led by Mr. Combs.

The raids were a stunning development in the career of Mr. Combs , 54, a producer, label executive and occasional rapper who has been one of the most influential and widely recognized figures in the music business over the last 30 years.

He played an integral role in the transformation of hip-hop into a global commercial force, crafting hits and larger-than-life personas for rap and R&B performers like the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige. He also made smash hits himself with songs like “I’ll Be Missing You” (1997), a ballad to the Notorious B.I.G. after his killing in a drive-by shooting, which featured Faith Evans, the rapper’s widow, and sampled the Police’s hit “Every Breath You Take.”

But Mr. Combs has also been dogged for decades by accusations of violence. In November, he was sued for sexual assault by Casandra Ventura , his former girlfriend, who was also signed to his label, Bad Boy, as the performing artist Cassie .

In her suit, Ms. Ventura accused Mr. Combs of forcing her to engage in sexual activity with male prostitutes over a period of years. The suit said that as a result of those encounters, which took place in a number of cities across the United States, Ms. Ventura was a victim of sex trafficking.

Ms. Ventura’s civil suit was settled in just one day, with her and Mr. Combs saying their dispute had been resolved “amicably.”

That case, filed in a detailed 35-page complaint, drew headlines around the world and imperiled the business brand he had steadily built up over decades. In the months before Ms. Ventura’s suit, Mr. Combs was given industry awards and released his first studio album in 17 years.

Even after its settlement, Ms. Ventura’s suit was followed by several more cases, each accusing Mr. Combs of sexual assault. In one case filed last month , a music producer, Rodney Jones, said that Mr. Combs had made unwanted sexual contact with him, and forced him to hire prostitutes and participate in sex acts with them. In recent months, many of Mr. Combs’s business partners have distanced themselves from him.

Federal investigators in New York have been leading the investigation, and have been conducting interviews asking potential witnesses about sexual misconduct allegations against Mr. Combs for several months, according to a person familiar with the interviews.

Mr. Combs has denied the accusations against him. In December, after an anonymous woman filed a suit accusing Mr. Combs and two other men of raping her in a New York recording studio in 2003, when she was 17, the music mogul said: “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.”

After Mr. Jones’s suit last month, Shawn Holley, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, said Mr. Jones is “nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,” and called his accusations “pure fiction.” Ms. Holley and two other lawyers for Mr. Combs also did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.

In a statement on Monday, Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer who represents Ms. Ventura and the anonymous woman who sued Mr. Combs alleging the assault at a New York studio, said: “We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”

The home searched in Miami Beach was on Star Island, an exclusive enclave of mansions in Biscayne Bay popular with celebrities and the wealthy. On Monday its usual tranquillity was interrupted by a Homeland Security Investigations van with flashing red-and-blue lights, law enforcement officials in blue windbreakers and at least two agents with dogs, as well as journalists dotting its palm-lined lawns.

A similar scene played out near Mr. Combs’s home in Los Angeles, where by late afternoon a few dozen people, many of them journalists, milled about the tony neighborhood of Holmby Hills, unable to cross the yellow caution tape strung across South Mapleton Drive.

A few Los Angeles Police officers blocked the road leading up to Mr. Combs’s property. Those passing took an interest, with drivers of luxury sport utility vehicles slowing down to take photos of the scrum.

The neighborhood, just a mile east of the University of California, Los Angeles, is accustomed to attention. Boasting a long list of celebrity residents, it is where Hugh Hefner once threw lavish parties at the Playboy Mansion and where Michael Jackson lived in a château just before his death. Most estates are surrounded by gates and greenery or vine-covered stone walls — pillars of privacy for a community known for its exclusivity.

Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting from Washington, D.C., Chelsia Rose Marcius from New York, Corina Knoll from Los Angeles and Verónica Zaragovia from Miami.

Ben Sisario covers the music industry. He has been writing for The Times since 1998. More about Ben Sisario

Julia Jacobs is an arts and culture reporter who often covers legal issues for The Times. More about Julia Jacobs

William K. Rashbaum is a senior writer on the Metro desk, where he covers political and municipal corruption, courts, terrorism and law enforcement. He was a part of the team awarded the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Breaking News. More about William K. Rashbaum

Conduct of All India Law Entrance Test - 2024

All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) for admission to the B.A.LL.B. (Hons)/LL.M. and Ph.D. Programmes at the National Law University, Delhi will be conducted on the Sunday, December 10, 2023 from 11.00 AM to 1:00 PM.

Entrance Test (AILET) Scheme:

Entrance test pattern:.

The entrance test will be Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) based only.
The test paper will consist of 100 MCQs, with each question carrying 1 mark.

Test Composition:

50 MCQs will be from the subject of Research Methodology.
For Ph.D. in Law, the remaining 50 MCQs will be from different branches of Law.
For Ph.D. in Social Sciences, the remaining 50 MCQs will be from different branches of Social Sciences.

Negative Marking:

There will be negative marking in the AILET 2024 entrance test.
The criteria for negative marking will be based on the formula 0.25 * 4 = 1, which means for every wrong answer, 0.25 marks will be deducted. Therefore, four wrong answers will lead to a deduction of one (1) mark.

Exemption for JRF Holders and Foreign Nationals:

Candidates who hold a valid Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Foreign Nationals are exempted from the All India Entrance Test.

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Q: Gifted son1500.00 for closing on a home. It now won’t be used. We asked for refund they said no not until after closing

The reason why money won’t be used is bec they wanted bank statements for 2 months from us. We are not willing to send that to them. They said we could request a refund. So we did. They said we would get it back after closing. Why would they keep it if they said they couldn’t use it without bank statements. Doesn’t that make it null and void and need to be sent back now? We have no issue with them using for closing just not going to give our personal info out.

Staten Island, NY
(718) 273-1699
Email Lawyer
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A: If you had given your son what you characterized as being a “gift” with no strings attached, then the gift is a gift. If, however, there were conditions attached to the gift, you may be able to retrieve it if those conditions weren’t met.

Freeeport, FL
Licensed in Florida
(850) 502-9724

A: The closing agent needs to check at the time of closing, whether everything has been received as specified in the closing instructions. Until that time, they don't know if it "won’t be used".

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news Politics

Federal appeals court questions legality of Texas immigration law

The ruling once again blocked senate bill 4, saying it appears to be an “end-run” around federal law..

A Texas National Guard soldier escorts migrants back south behind a razor wire barrier on...

By Aarón Torres

8:22 AM on Mar 27, 2024 CDT — Updated at 4:08 PM on Mar 27, 2024 CDT

Dealing a blow to Texas officials, a federal appeals court raised significant questions about the legality of a new law that seeks to give the state a role in arresting and deporting migrants.

The 2-1 ruling by a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel focused on a narrow issue — can Texas enforce the law known as Senate Bill 4 while the court weighs its constitutionality? The appeals court said no.

To reach that conclusion, the two judges in the majority said federal law and prior U.S. Supreme Court rulings appeared to restrict the state’s ability to enforce immigration-related matters with laws like SB 4.

Writing for the majority, Chief Judge Priscilla Richman said the Texas law appeared to be “an end-run around” federal immigration law and provisions making immigration enforcement a federal, not state, responsibility.

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“Allowing Texas to detain noncitizens without any input from the Federal Government about whether an arrest is warranted … would allow the State to achieve its own immigration policy,” Richman wrote in a ruling joined by Judge Irma Carrillo Ramirez.

The ruling — issued Tuesday minutes before midnight — was the second time in the past week that the 5th Circuit halted enforcement of the law.

Texas can ask all 17 judges on the 5th Circuit to review the panel’s ruling in hopes of a different outcome or appeal it to the Supreme Court. Texas can also wait for the next step in the case: April 3 oral arguments on whether a federal judge was correct when he blocked the law in February as unconstitutional.

Writing in dissent, Judge Andrew Oldman said state officials should be trusted to resolve problems at the border after the federal government abandoned its responsibility “to enforce the immigration laws Congress wrote.”

Enforcing SB 4 would allow Texas to limit “illegal border crossings and associated harms like drug and human trafficking,” Oldham wrote.

“That decrease is obviously in the public interest, especially since the influx of illegal immigrants affects many more States than just Texas,” he added.

The same three judges who blocked the law Tuesday will decide SB 4′s fate. With two of those judges already raising doubts about SB 4′s legality, that could be bad news for Texas. In his dissent, Oldham all but predicted victory for the Biden administration “for substantially the same reasons given in the majority opinion.”

“Many people will be understandably frustrated by today’s ruling. A high-profile state statute — duly enacted by the people’s representatives to address a problem that Texans personally experience — likely will never go into effect,” Oldham wrote.

Spokespeople for Governor Greg Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

In addition to the Justice Department, the city of El Paso and two advocacy groups sued to stop SB 4, arguing that it would lead to racial profiling of Hispanic people by empowering law enforcement to question their immigration status.

Tami Goodlette with the Texas Civil Rights Project said the ruling was a step toward stopping the law “from wreaking havoc on the border and Texas communities.”

“SB 4 threatens the very foundation of long-settled immigration law,” she said. “No state has the right to overtake that authority.”

Abbott signed SB 4 into law in December. It created a series of new state crimes for undocumented migrants in Texas — illegal entry from a foreign country, a Class B misdemeanor with a jail term of up to six months and a $2,000 fine, and illegal reentry into the state from a foreign country, a Class A misdemeanor with up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine for repeat offenders.

The law also authorized state judges and magistrates to deport migrants to the foreign country from which they entered — presumably Mexico.

Last week, Mexican government officials said they would not accept any individuals — including Mexican nationals — deported under SB 4.

Richman, in Tuesday’s ruling, said there is a high risk that enforcing the law would cause “international friction,” noting that Mexican officials have protested the law’s provisions and warned that SB 4 could jeopardize relations with the United States.

“Texas’s enforcement of S.B. 4 also risks taking the United States out of compliance with its treaty obligations,” she wrote.

Richman was appointed to the appeals court by President George W. Bush. Ramirez was named by President Joe Biden, and Oldham was a President Donald Trump appointee.

Aarón Torres , Austin Bureau Correspondent . Aarón is an Austin native who previously covered local government for The Kansas City Star and high school sports for the Knoxville News Sentinel. He is a University of Texas graduate, and Spanish is his first language.

Kansas City Chiefs’ Rashee Rice suspected in connection with major accident in Dallas

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Balancing Act of PhD in law. As you immerse yourself in the legal wilderness of writing, remember to balance work and life. Yes, the library is your second home, but don't forget to attend conferences, network, and occasionally indulge in some self-care. Moreover, A burnt-out Ph.D. candidate is nobody's idea of success.
Ph.D. Program Details
Tuition and Financial Aid. Ph.D. in Law candidates will receive a full-tuition fellowship and a living stipend at an amount set by the Graduate School, Yale Basic Health coverage, and a Health Award covering the cost of hospitalization and specialty coverage. Financial support is conditioned on the student's making satisfactory academic progress.
Admissions FAQs
For any other questions regarding the Ph.D. Program in Law and Economics portion of your application, please contact the Ph.D. program manager at 615-322-3080 or email at the link below. For technical questions regarding the Graduate School electronic application process, please contact Graduate School Admissions at 615-343-2727 or email apply ...
Law PhD Projects, Programmes & Scholarships
Embarking on a PhD in Law is an intellectually rigorous journey that positions students at the forefront of legal theory, practice, and reform. These advanced degrees offer a unique opportunity for candidates to delve deeply into the complexities of law as it intersects with society, economy, and politics. Through PhDs in Law, students engage ...
Coordinated JD/PhD Program
The Coordinated JD/PhD Program is designed for students interested in completing interdisciplinary work at Harvard University and is founded on the belief that students' legal studies and their arts and sciences graduate studies can be mutually enriched through this pursuit. Students completing the coordinated program receive a JD from ...
Doctoral Programs
Ph.D. Berkeley Law's Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program offers a unique interdisciplinary graduate program leading to Ph.D. degrees for students interested in the scholarly study of legal ideas and institutions, policy analysis and applied research, and other areas. Learn more here.
Our Favorite Interview Questions
As you'll see in that post, each interview is bespoke to the candidate - your interviewer will have read your entire application and will have prepared questions specific to you. That said, we each have a go-to question or two. To get a sense of the topics we might cover with you, read on to learn each of our favorite questions.
Top 10 PhD Interview Questions
1. Tell us about yourself. This is a popular opener for just about any type of interview. It's meant to be an easy icebreaker, but that doesn't mean there isn't a wrong answer. Make sure to your response is relevant to the context of a PhD interview. Talk about your academic background, motivation, and interests.
Law Research
Law Research MPhil/PhD. The Dickson Poon School of Law's vision for its research culture is to create a focal point for interdisciplinary, transnational legal research that encourages cross-fertilisation of ideas within existing areas of strength while incorporating a new global perspective. One of a handful of Law Schools around the world ...
18 Questions to Ask Before Heading to Law School
Best Graduate Schools ... the legal job market and reflect on whether a legal career is a good fit and whether you'd really enjoy the practice of law. Here are 18 questions to ask prior to ...
Writing a PhD research proposal
Nevertheless, a PhD proposal should amount to a coherent, intelligent, realistic and relatively well thought-out idea of an area of potential research. Simplistic descriptions of an area of study should be avoided - eg 'I want to research EU law'. The specific focus of the research must be clear.
Formulating a Research Question
Research questions are often sorted into different categories. As with most categorizations, these types of questions differ depending on the field of study. ... Research methods for law (2nd ed.). Edinburgh: Edinburgh Univ. P. Dunleavy, P. (2015). Authoring a PhD: how to plan, draft, write and finish a doctoral thesis or dissertation ...
Questions about a Law PHD : r/LawSchool
There are a couple of different options available for you. There are Australian Universities which offer phds or sjd. The difference between the two is that a phd is purely research based with a dissertion whoosh a sjd combines both research and course work to a Australian qualification framework of 10 (the highest and which is equivalent to a phd).
Ph.D (Law)
a) NLSAT-PhD: 50%. b) Research Proposal: 35%. c) Oral Presentation: 15%. The maximum number of Ph. D seats for the Academic Year 2024-25 are 8 (Eight). This includes 4 in Ph.D (Law) and 4 in Ph.D (Interdisciplinary). The University reserves the. right not to fill all the seats where sufficient candidates do not satisfy the admission requirements.
Ph.D. Admission
Ph.D. Admission. Applications will be accepted in the fall of 2023 for study to commence in the fall of 2024. The application deadline is December 15, 2023, but the Admissions Committee will begin to review each application when it is complete. Applications must be submitted via Yale University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences application ...
PDF Ph.D. ADMISSION TEST
a 'rule of law with liberal characteristics,' a 'rule of law with Chinese characteristics,' and so on through one's preferred list of ideological projects." Such an argument stems from which of core positions of CLS ? a) indeterminacy thesis b) Non neutrality of law c) Law as an institution of subordination d) None of the above
UNM School of Law 3L students pave the way for graduate scholarships
Havern shared that one of his proudest moments with GPSA was working to pass the Graduate Scholarship Act, Senate Bill 233. "We worked with Senator Pope in redrafting his Graduate Scholarship Act. The bill aimed at creating a law similar to the undergraduate Opportunity Scholarship Act.
Questions surround international humanitarian law as Gaza's ...
Questions surround international humanitarian law as Gaza's hospitals under attack Since October 7, there have been at least 410 attacks on health care in Gaza, according to the World Health ...
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COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Lawyers for Alex Murdaugh said an FBI agent conducting a polygraph test that the agency said the convicted killer flunked asked odd questions and confided he had just examined the notorious Dutch killer of an Alabama teen, throwing the results off.. The name-check of Joran van der Sloot in court papers Thursday is just the latest strange twist in the case of Murdaugh ...
Federal Agents Raid Homes Tied to Sean Combs in Los Angeles and Miami
In response to questions about Mr. Combs's residences, Homeland Security Investigations said the searches were part of "an ongoing investigation." By Ben Sisario, Julia Jacobs and William K ...
Ph.D.
All India Law Entrance Test (AILET) for admission to the B.A.LL.B. (Hons)/LL.M. and Ph.D. Programmes at the National Law University, Delhi will be conducted on the Sunday, December 10, 2023 from 11.00 AM to 1:00 PM. Entrance Test (AILET) Scheme: The modified syllabus of AILET 2024 for Ph.D. Programme is as follows:
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It now won't be used. We asked for refund they said no not until after closing - Florida Real Estate Law Questions & Answers - Justia Ask a Lawyer. Read 2 Answers from lawyers to Gifted son1500.00 for closing on a home. ... The use of this website to ask questions or receive answers does not create an attorney-client relationship between ...
Federal appeals court questions legality of Texas immigration law
Dealing a blow to Texas officials, a federal appeals court raised significant questions about the legality of a new law that seeks to give the state a role in arresting and deporting migrants. The ...