The University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa William S. Richardson School of Law has established two new programs in advanced legal studies aimed primarily at foreign-trained attorneys. The doctoral program is also available to U.S. attorneys hoping to spend time in legal research projects.
The AJD, or Advanced or Accelerated Juris Doctor, offers advanced standing to foreign-trained applicants. It allows them to earn the JD degree in as little as two years of study rather than three, with the option of taking a U.S. bar exam after graduating, and being admitted to practice in the United States.
The SJD, or Doctor of Juridical Science, is primarily intended for those who have completed a JD or an LLM program, and who already teach or are preparing to teach law outside the United States. It is also designed for those involved in policy work in research institutes and government organizations.
Professor Tae-Ung Baik, director of the new SJD program and a member of the school committee that developed the new degree, called both advanced degree programs tremendous options for those seeking advanced legal training in order to further their legal careers virtually anywhere in the world.
“We are confident that the SJD program will provide a great opportunity for international legal practitioners who want to deepen their knowledge to pursue a teaching career in their home countries,” said Baik, a Korean law specialist who is also a member of the U.N. Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. “The program will also contribute to the already high quality of legal scholarship at the law school.”
“By offering this degree, we join the most prestigious law schools while we also enhance the experience of all our students from across the globe,” said William S. Richardson School of Law Dean Avi Soifer. “We have a remarkably broad and deep faculty with particular expertise in international law, comparative law, indigenous law, environmental law, business law, and the law of countries in Asia and the Pacific—all of which are of increasing importance throughout the world.”
For more about the new degrees, read the full story on the William S. Richardson School of Law website.
—By Beverly Creamer
