As of February 2011, the state of Colorado has two law schools: the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU) School of Law and the University of Denver (DU) Sturm College of Law. Each law school offers a joint or dual degree option, which involves getting a Juris Doctorate (JD) with an advanced degree from another academic department. The joint degree concept encourages students to enhance their legal studies with another discipline while reducing the amount of time that it would have taken to get both degrees separately.
Admissions Process and Requirements
Joint degree applicants to either the University of Colorado Law School or the University of Denver's Strum College of Law need to apply to the programs separately. Each applicant should have at least a bachelor's degree and scores from the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT), among other requirements. The application package can be mailed to the schools or submitted through the Law School Admissions Council (LSAC), which assembles all material to create a report steamlined for submission.
JD with Master's Programs
The majority of the joint degrees at Colorado law schools involve graduate degrees at the master's level. At CU, students can combine their law school study with subject areas such as business administration, public administration, and urban planning. At DU, the master's programs eligible for creating joint JD degrees include subjects such as economics, conflict resolution, international studies and mass communications. Normally a three-year program in full-time student mode, the JD degree can take up to four years to finish with a combined master's degree program. However, it can take up to six years if pursued separately.
JD with Doctoral Degrees
In addition, CU has two joint degrees that combines the JD with a doctoral program. Students can get a JD/Ph.D. in Environmental Studies (JD/ENVS) rather than the master's version. There is also an option, abbreviated as JD/MD, for people who wish to become medical doctors as well as lawyers; this track is partly sponsored by the university's School of Medicine at its campus in Aurora. The JD/ENVS takes five years to complete, while the JD/MD is a six-year program.
JDs with Other Law Degrees
CU also collaborates with Canada's University of Alberta University to provide the JD/Bachelor of Laws (JD/LLB) joint program. It is meant to prepare students to practice law in both the United States and Canada. Students of this program gain global skills in areas such as trade, immigration and border security. The JD/LLB at Colorado is designed as a four-year program.
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