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Philosopher Interested in Studying Law for a Year Seeks Advice

Brian Leiter

A philosopher at a state university writes:

I’m hoping to impose upon your good will and perhaps that of your
blog(s) readers.  I’m a soon-to-be tenured philosopher doing ethical
theory and history of ethics who regularly teaches philosophy of law.
I’m up for sabbatical year after next and I’m contemplating pursuing a
Masters in Legal Studies.  It would certainly deepen my teaching and
hopefully open some scholarly vistas — and it seems like it would just
be intellectually worthwhile in its own right.  I wonder if you or your
readers have any thoughts on or experience with these degrees and if
you’re / they’re aware of any fellowship /funding opportunities to help
with the cost, as I’m sure my cash-strapped state institution won’t be
able to pony up much in addition to sabbatical support.  Everything
I’ve seen so far appears to be support for people pursuing JDs who plan
to become law professors.  The law schools offering the MSL (e.g.,
Yale, Stanford, Pitt, Arizona State, Nebraska, Ohio State, and Toledo)
vary greatly in quality and reputation.  Any input would be greatly
appreciated.

Qua law schools, Yale and Stanford are obviously the best, but for philosophers, Yale is likely to be more congenial; Arizona State would also be a congenial law school for a philosopher.   I do not know how funding works.  Readers with information/experience, please post in the comments.  I will also solicit input from readers of my law school blog.

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6 responses to “Philosopher Interested in Studying Law for a Year Seeks Advice”

  1. Len Rotman

    You may also want to consider the program at the University of Toronto, which boasts both a top law school and department of philosophy. The relevant link is:
    http://www.law.utoronto.ca/students_content.asp?itemPath=2/3/0/0/0&contentId=265.

    I studied for my law doctorate at the U of T and it is a fine program. There is also reasonable scholarship money available.

    Best of luck,

    Len

    Reply
  2. Brian

    Toronto could also be an interesting choice. It's a strong law faculty, not at the Yale/Stanford level, but certainly the Texas/Penn/Virginia level, and there are a lot of law faculty there interested in philosophy, though it's an uneven group, but they have a lot going on. Ernest Weinrib, who looms large there, is an acquired taste intellectually, so you may want to peruse his work to get a feel for an important intellectual influence on the law faculty there.

    Reply
  3. tnadelhoffer

    Wash U also has a similar program. Information can be found here:

    http://law.wustl.edu/mjs/

    Reply
  4. Douglas Sylvester

    You may want to consider Arizona State for your MLS. In addition to our outstanding law and philosophy program (including Jeffrie Murphy, Michael White, Mary Sigler, Patricia White, and Jim Nickel etc.) we also have a strong faculty in law and psychology (Michael Saks, Jay Koehler, Linda Demaine etc.), intellectual property, international law, and many others that may be of interest to you. I am not sure if money is available but Phoenix is an inexpensive place to spend a year and the weather is famously beautiful during the academic year. Finally, with almost no required courses you are free to design any course of study you desire.

    More information is available : http://www.law.asu.edu/?id=6

    Feel free to email me if you want more information: douglas.sylvester@asu.edu.

    Reply
  5. Tony

    You might also want to look into doing a regular LLM at an English law school. They don't usually require you to have a previous law degree (at least Warwick doesn't, and I don't believe we're exceptional in that respect). And you can do either a research-based LLM, or a taught LLM.

    Obviously you're unlikely to learn much U.S. law in a taught LLM, but there are theoretical/international LLM's. Plus, if you wanted to do a research-based LLM that used a lot of U.S. law, there are plenty of U.S.-trained lawyers teaching in the U.K. (such as myself) that would be perfectly able to advise such a thesis.

    Reply
  6. JudyH

    I am a PhD student in philosophy, currently writing my dissertation, and I received my JD from Stanford in 2006. While Stanford is a really good law school and incredibly open to interdisciplinarian endeavors, it is not a very "philosophical" school. I didn't even realize they had an MLS program.

    When I was there, Stanford offered one (introductory) class on American legal thought and a more-advanced colloquium each year on legal theory, but, the professor who ran both of those has since retired.

    That said, there are two things that speak for it, even for someone with a philosophical interest. First, the classes do tend to be pretty theoretical, especially classes related to Constitutional Law, and are taught by amazing legal minds. If you don't mind drawing some of your own connections, I found many of classes philosophically interesting to me. Though your professors will not in general be as philosophically-informed as you, they do provide a first-rate legal education, which will, in turn, enrich and deepen your philosophical thinking about the law.

    Second, Stanford is incredibly open to interdisciplinarian studies. Though I found it challenging to find faculty who shared my interest and background in philosophy, Stanford made real administrative efforts to make it possible to pursue my PhD in philosophy (even at a separate institution), and its faculty were always willing to advise me, even in, what was for them, a new field. For example, Stanford gave me a semester's credit to return to another school to work on my dissertation (calling it an independent study), and four faculty members stepped in to oversee the work I produced while I was there. Thus, I think the law school would do what it could to help you pursue your interests.

    I should mention, however, that my philosophical interest was mainly epistemological (e.g., theories of interpretation). Stanford may be a better fit, if your interest is in the area of ethics or political theory.

    I don't have any experience about opening "scholarly vistas," but, depending on your purpose, you might want to consider doing the JD rather than the MLS. My impression is that, if you want a law faculty position, schools prefer if you can teach some "bread and butter" course on top of philosophy of law (your current background in philosophy should be enough to demonstrate that you can teach the latter).

    As for financing, most JD programs don't give much assistance up front, except in the form of loans. Law schools, especially Stanford, forgive portions of the loans of those who enter public service and meet certain income requirements, but I don't know if teaching philosophy would qualify. If your plan is to get a faculty position at a law school, you wouldn't qualify for loan forgiveness but should make enough, depending on your circumstances, to re-pay your loans. I don't know how this differs for MLS programs, since they might not count as professional degrees.

    Reply

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