First year S.J.D. students receive training in oral presentations and practice their skills in moot sessions for the Mid-Atlantic S.J.D. Roundtable at the end of the fall semester.

Upon completion of this course, students will have a greater understanding of and enhanced professional skill in creating and presenting listenable research and instructional presentations.

The SJD/Fellows Seminar is intended to provide our graduate students and fellows who hope to enter the legal academy with a shared body of knowledge regarding jurisprudence, legal theory, and interdisciplinary movements in law, as well as a place to "workshop" their works in progress.  The Seminar alternates between "workshop" meetings, in which graduate students and fellows may present their work in progress to the group and invited faculty members and receive critical feedback, and  "seminar" meetings.  The seminar runs four semesters, with a different theme in each of the semesters: one semester each is devoted to "Contemporary Legal Scholarship,"  "The History of American Legal Theory," "Law and Social Science," and "Law and Humanities."  The seminar aims to equip students and fellows with a basic core of knowledge in these areas that are widely shared in the legal academy, and expose them to the works and methods of scholarship now shaping the legal academy.

In Spring Semester of 2021, the seminar portion of the seminar/workshop will introduce important ideas and ways of thinking that have become a part of the shared discourse of the legal academy, including foundational work in Legal Realism, Legal Formalism, the Legal Process School, and Liberal Legalism. We will also look at recent movements, including Critical Legal Studies, Critical Feminist and Race movements, and their contemporary and postmodern critics.

The SJD/Fellows Seminar is intended to provide our graduate students and fellows who hope to enter the legal academy with a shared body of knowledge regarding jurisprudence, legal theory, and interdisciplinary movements in law, as well as a place to "workshop" their works in progress.  The Seminar alternates between "workshop" meetings, in which graduate students and fellows may present their work in progress to the group and invited faculty members and receive critical feedback, and  "seminar" meetings.  The seminar runs four semesters, with a different theme in each of the semesters: one semester each is devoted to "Contemporary Legal Scholarship,"  "The History of American Legal Theory," "Law and Social Science," and "Law and Humanities."  The seminar aims to equip students and fellows with a basic core of knowledge in these areas that are widely shared in the legal academy, and expose them to the works and methods of scholarship now shaping the legal academy.

In Fall Semester of 2020, the seminar portion of the seminar/workshop will introduce various types of legal scholarship that that have had, or will have, a significant impact on their respective fields, with a substantive focus on international and comparative law, such as the Jurisprudence of Comparative Law, Comparative Constitutionalism, Human Rights Law, Comparative Criminal Justice, and Comparative Family Law.  

The SJD/Fellows Seminar is intended to provide our graduate students and fellows who hope to enter the legal academy with a shared body of knowledge regarding jurisprudence, legal theory, and interdisciplinary movements in law, as well as a place to "workshop" their works in progress.  The Seminar alternates between "workshop" meetings, in which graduate students and fellows may present their work in progress to the group and invited faculty members and receive critical feedback, and  "seminar" meetings.  The seminar runs four semesters, with a different theme in each of the semesters: one semester each is devoted to "Contemporary Legal Scholarship,"  "The History of American Legal Theory," "Law and Social Science," and "Law and Humanities."  The seminar aims to equip students and fellows with a basic core of knowledge in these areas that are widely shared in the legal academy, and expose them to the works and methods of scholarship now shaping the legal academy.

In Fall Semester of 2021, the seminar portion of the seminar/workshop will examine law and its intersection with various fields in the humanities, including Law and Philosophy, Law and Literature, Legal History, and Law and Cultural Studies.  

The SJD/Fellows Seminar is intended to provide our graduate students and fellows who hope to enter the legal academy with a shared body of knowledge regarding jurisprudence, legal theory, and interdisciplinary movements in law, as well as a place to "workshop" their works in progress.  The Seminar alternates between "workshop" meetings, in which graduate students and fellows may present their work in progress to the group and invited faculty members and receive critical feedback, and  "seminar" meetings.  The seminar runs four semesters, with a different theme in each of the semesters: one semester each is devoted to "Contemporary Legal Scholarship,"  "The History of American Legal Theory," "Law and Social Science," and "Law and Humanities."  The seminar aims to equip students and fellows with a basic core of knowledge in these areas that are widely shared in the legal academy, and expose them to the works and methods of scholarship now shaping the legal academy.

In Spring Semester of 2024, the seminar portion of the seminar/workshop will focus on Law and Social Sciences.  We will look at recent articles from the related fields of Law and Economics, Behavioral Law and Economics, Law and Sociology, Law and Psychology and contemporary Empirical Legal Studies.

The S.J.D. Core Curriculum is for all students in residence and consists of four  components:  the S.J.D. Colloquium, the S.J.D. Seminar, Supervised or Independent Reading, and the S.J.D. and Fellows Seminar.

The S.J.D. Colloquium meets weekly, focusing on different themes each semester. These may include American Legal theory, Law and Society, Comparative Law, Law and Development, and other topics of special interest to S.J.D. students. Leading scholars in these fields teach segments from time to time.

The S.J.D. Workshop meets weekly to discuss students’ work in progress. Students present one or two times a year during which their faculty supervisors are encouraged to attend.  The goal is to improve the quality of their work in a collaborative and supportive environment. NOTE: During their fall semester, 1st year students take S.J.D. Methods in lieu of the S.J.D. Workshop.

S.J.D. Methods meets weekly in the fall semester for 1st year students in lieu of the S.J.D. Workshop. Students refine their dissertation topics, write their thesis statements, prepare for the National S.J.D. Roundtable, and learn writing strategies.

In Supervised or Independent Reading, students develop reading lists with their faculty supervisors to focus on particular research areas for their dissertations. In their first year, students engage in Supervised Reading with someone on the faculty, not necessarily their supervisor. Students take Independent Reading starting their second year.

The S.J.D. and Fellows Seminar meets weekly, alternating between seminar meetings and workshop meetings.  The seminar covers one topic per semester over a two-year cycle:  Law and Social Sciences, Law and Humanities, American Legal Theory, and Contemporary Legal Scholarship.  The workshop is primarily designed for those actively on the “academic market” to present works in progress for feedback.

The S.J.D. Core Curriculum is limited to S.J.D. students and requires departmental approval.

The S.J.D. Seminars are small group classes consisting of 6-8 students. Each seminar group meets weekly to discuss students’ work in progress. Students present their work two times a semester on a rotating basis. The goal is to improve the quality of their work in a collaborative and supportive environment.