What can you do with a PhD in law?
Asked by: Dr. Reva Huels | Last update: January 16, 2026Score: 4.2/5 (66 votes)
- Journalist.
- Mediator.
- Law professor.
- Law clerk.
- Compliance manager.
- Immigration lawyer.
- Judge.
- Personal injury lawyer.
What is a PhD in law good for?
Academic careers: Many law PhD holders choose to work as law professors or legal scholars at universities or research institutions. They may teach law courses, do research, write academic papers and books, and contribute to the progress of legal knowledge in their area of specialization.
What jobs can you get with a PhD in law?
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- General Counsel.
Can you become a lawyer with a PhD in law?
What degree do you need to be a lawyer? You need a bachelor's degree in law and a Juris Doctorate (J.D.) degree to become a qualified lawyer. These are the two formal degrees you need to earn, alongside taking the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) and sitting for the bar exam.
Do law PhD students get paid?
Do PhD students get paid? Most of the time the answer is yes. PhD programs that don't offer some form of compensation, like stipends, tuition remission or assistantships, are rare but they do exist.
PhD in Law
How long is a JD PhD program?
The normative time for completion of the program is four years for J.D./Master's combinations and seven years for J.D./Ph. D. combinations.
What is the PhD salary?
Phd salaries in India
The estimated total pay for a Phd is ₹37,000 per month, with an average salary of ₹31,000 per month. These numbers represent the median, which is the midpoint of the ranges from our proprietary Total Pay Estimate model and based on salaries collected from our users.
What is a lawyer with a PhD called?
A Juris Doctor degree is technically a professional doctorate. But unlike other Ph. D. holders, lawyers don't hold the title of "Doctor." Instead, they can choose to use the title "esquire," which is shortened to "Esq." and is fashioned after the lawyer's name.
What is the highest degree in law?
Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD)
A Doctor of Juridical Science degree is considered the highest level of a law degree and is designed for professionals who are looking to gain an advanced legal education after earning their JD and LLM.
How many years is a PhD in law?
and J.D. degrees." It typically requires three to five years to complete and requires an advanced study in law as a scientific discipline and a dissertation, which serves as an original contribution to the scholarly field of law.
Which PhD in law is best?
- PhD in Jurisprudence.
- PhD in Administrative Law Studies.
- PhD in International Law Studies.
- PhD in Technology Law Studies.
- PhD in Business Law Studies.
- PhD in Criminal Justice.
- PhD in Criminal Law Studies.
- PhD in Dispute Resolution Studies.
Do law firms hire PhDs?
Law firms, companies and research institutions employ scientists to write and submit patent applications, as well as to investigate the originality of ideas. Similarly the U.S. Patent Office employs PhD scientists to research patent applications.
How long is a PhD?
On average, a Ph. D. may take up to eight years to complete. A doctorate degree typically takes four to six years to complete—however, this timing depends on the program design, the subject area you're studying, and the institution offering the program.
Do you need a masters to get a PhD in law?
This depends on the country. In the United States, you can generally go directly to a PhD with only a bachelor's degree, as a master's program is included as part of the doctoral program. Elsewhere, you generally need to graduate from a research-intensive master's degree before continuing to the PhD.
Is it harder to get a PhD or law school?
Yes, grad school requires learning new approaches, new theories, new ways of thinking. Some of this even makes your head spin. But it simply doesn't require the same radical realignment that law school does. What you learned as an undergraduate applies to grad school — but not so much to law school.
What are the different types of PhD in law?
Some of the most popular subfields of Law include International Law, European Law, Criminal Law, Civil Law, Public Law, Business Law, etc.
What is the hardest law degree to get?
The hardest law school to get into is Yale Law School, with an acceptance rate of 5.5%. Followed by: Stanford Law School: 7% acceptance rate. The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School: 3.8% acceptance rate.
Is a JD equivalent to a PhD?
Is a JD Equivalent to a PhD? No, a JD is not equivalent to a PhD. PhDs require research, independent study, and thesis components that JDs do not. While PhD holders are considered doctors, JD holders are not.
Which field in law makes the most money?
Trial Lawyer
There is the most competition arising profession in the legal career and also the most paying one. The salary and other benefits may vary according to the job location and relevance of the case. Delhi and Mumbai are the two high paying job locations.
How hard is the bar exam?
The bar exam is hard. In fact, it may be one of the most difficult challenges you ever embark on. You must memorize numerous laws and consume a lot of knowledge to answer questions correctly. For many, it feels like trying to hold sand in your hands, knowing that you'll inevitably lose much of it.
Can you call yourself Dr. with a JD?
JD is the standard and lowest law degree (the other being the uncommon LLM, which requires more education than a JD but is not used in most fields of law), and does not allow you to call yourself “doctor.” JD is considered to be the "terminal" degree for law.
What is the difference between a doctorate and a PhD?
While a PhD focuses on academic research, a professional doctorate makes a significant and original contribution to furthering professional practice. A professional doctorate consists of coursework and a thesis of between 70,000 and 100,000 words.
Which PhD is paid the most?
- Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Administration. ...
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research, Clinical Nursing. ...
- Dentistry. ...
- Physics. ...
- Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical Engineering. ...
- Bioethics and Medical Ethics.
Is PhD hard to get?
Successfully completing a PhD can be a long and difficult process that requires years of intensive research, writing and rigorous assessment. It's no surprise that only around 1% of people aged 25–64 who have been to university have completed a doctorate.