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Lawyers have a doctorate - it's what the D in JD stands for.

by repiret 11y ago

geebee 11y ago
True, but if I have a bouquet of carnations and call it a dozen roses, that doesn't make it so. A law degree is an almost entirely coursework based degree with no dissertation. Attrition rates at elite law schools are vanishingly low (like, less than a half of a percent, whereas PhDs are as high as 50%, 100 times higher). Undergraduate majors prior to law school tend to be the easier ones. They're smart and hard working students, but no, I wouldn't consider a law degree to be a "doctoral" level accomplishment by any external standard. Personally, I think that simply majoring in CS or other rigorous undergraduate majors represents a greater academic accomplishment than Poly Sci or Lit + Law School. Think of it this way - to me, a law degree is like running for 70 minutes at an 8 minute mile pace. Not bad, you're certainly fit. Majoring in CS at a tough program is like running a 6 minute mile for 40 minutes. You aren't running as long, or even as far, but the athletic challenge is greater.
dragonwriter 11y ago
Lawyers in the US (though not much of the rest of the English-speaking world) have a "doctorate" because American lawyers got tired of physicians having a professional doctorate while lawyers only had a bachelor's degree, which is how the LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws) got transformed into the JD (Juris Doctor) -- a legacy of that is that the LL.M. (Master of Laws) is a post-JD degree, reversing the usual order of Masters vs. Doctorate degrees (and beyond that is the DJS/SJD -- Doctor of Juridical Science.)
- go1979 11y ago
  Top echelon PhDs don't get paid as much as lawyers or doctors of similar caliber btw.
- sandworm101 11y ago
  Tired, but the switch to the JD also has to do with the US draft. They wanted attorneys who were drafted to be paid on par with other pros like dentists. And the upgrade away from the 'undergrad' label had advantages for those students taking deferments. The standard 2-year deferment for gradschool didn't cover the 3 years needed for law school. Lawschool is a strange thing somewhere between a gradschool and a doctorate. It's a professional school that, like med school, isn't directly comparable to other degree programs.

Lawyers have a doctorate - it's what the D in JD stands for.

by repiret 11y ago

Lawyers have a doctorate - it's what the D in JD stands for.

True, but if I have a bouquet of carnations and call it a dozen roses, that doesn't make it so. A law degree is an almost entirely coursework based degree with no dissertation. Attrition rates at elite law schools are vanishingly low (like, less than a half of a percent, whereas PhDs are as high as 50%, 100 times higher). Undergraduate majors prior to law school tend to be the easier ones. They're smart and hard working students, but no, I wouldn't consider a law degree to be a "doctoral" level accomplishment by any external standard. Personally, I think that simply majoring in CS or other rigorous undergraduate majors represents a greater academic accomplishment than Poly Sci or Lit + Law School. Think of it this way - to me, a law degree is like running for 70 minutes at an 8 minute mile pace. Not bad, you're certainly fit. Majoring in CS at a tough program is like running a 6 minute mile for 40 minutes. You aren't running as long, or even as far, but the athletic challenge is greater.

dragonwriter 11y ago

Lawyers in the US (though not much of the rest of the English-speaking world) have a "doctorate" because American lawyers got tired of physicians having a professional doctorate while lawyers only had a bachelor's degree, which is how the LL.B. (Bachelor of Laws) got transformed into the JD (Juris Doctor) -- a legacy of that is that the LL.M. (Master of Laws) is a post-JD degree, reversing the usual order of Masters vs. Doctorate degrees (and beyond that is the DJS/SJD -- Doctor of Juridical Science.)

go1979 11y ago
Top echelon PhDs don't get paid as much as lawyers or doctors of similar caliber btw.
sandworm101 11y ago
Tired, but the switch to the JD also has to do with the US draft. They wanted attorneys who were drafted to be paid on par with other pros like dentists. And the upgrade away from the 'undergrad' label had advantages for those students taking deferments. The standard 2-year deferment for gradschool didn't cover the 3 years needed for law school. Lawschool is a strange thing somewhere between a gradschool and a doctorate. It's a professional school that, like med school, isn't directly comparable to other degree programs.