In the past few years I have frequently been asked by alumni whether Stanford Law School plans to change the name of its basic professional law degree from Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) to Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D.). The question has arisen out of a growing awareness that an increasing number of law schools have in recent years adopted the J.D. nomenclature.

This spring the Law faculty voted to recommend that Stanford join the change-over of the name of the degree, and the change has now been made by action of the Board of Trustees.

The change from LL.B. to J.D. does not import a change in the School’s educational program; it is merely one of denomination. The major reasons for the change are two. First is the argument for clarity. The professional degree in law is a graduate degree, a fact not accurately reflected by the term “Bachelor of Laws.” Second is the argument for uniformity. Throughout this century the nation’s law schools have been inconsistent and vacillating in their nomenclature for the basic professional law degree. Some four or five years ago a movement began among America’s law schools to settle upon the term J.D. This development has been endorsed by both the American Bar Association and the Association of American Law Schools. More and more schools have changed to the J.D., and at this date, over 80% of American law schools refer to their basic professional law degree as the J.D. It is now clear that “J.D.” will become uniform usage and Stanford, in making the change-over, is contributing toward that uniformity.

The history of degree nomenclature at Stanford Law School is unique and reflective of the uncertainty that has surrounded that topic. From 1906 until 1930 the Law School granted the J.D. During most years since 1901 we have offered the LL.B.* Thus, in changing over to the J.D., Stanford returns to its own earlier usage.

*In the earliest days after the School’s founding in 1893, the basic law degree was known as the “Bachelor of Arts in Law.”

For many years the Law School has offered two advanced degrees in law beyond the basic professional degree. One is the Master of Laws, LL.M., which has customarily required a fourth year of law study; the other is the Doctor of the Science of Law, the J.S.D., the School’s most advanced scholarly degree, calling for a research dissertation of publishable quality. Concomitant with the change of nomenclature from LL.B. to J.D., the School this spring made a conforming change in the LL.M., altering its designation to Master of the Science of Law, J.S.M. The name of the most advanced degree will remain J.S.D. as in the past.

Although Stanford Law School offers these advanced law degrees, and annually has many inquiries about the J.S.M. and the J.S.D. there are virtually no students at the School today studying for them. Because of the School’s shortage of scholarship funds we deliberately concentrate our entire resources on help to J.D. students, and allocate no funds to fellowships for post-J.D. study. Very few students interested in advanced legal study are in a position to pay their own way entirely. The availability of generous fellowships for advanced legal study at other major law schools means, as a practical matter, that such students cannot and do not come to Stanford for their advanced work. As a first-ranking center of legal education and scholarship, the Stanford Law School must find the resources to enable it to offer a limited number of fellowships for lawyers interested in working toward the J.S.M. and J.S.D.

In the course of the revamping of the School’s degree structure this spring a new two-year degree in law was established for special students who wish to terminate their law study after two years. Graduates of this two-year degree program will obtain a solid and useful grounding in the fundamentals of the law, but will not be able to enter upon the legal profession, since almost all bar examination rules set a precondition of three years of law study. Called the Master of Jurisprudence, J.M., this new two-year degree in law is not, so far as is known, awarded by any other law school.

The School is offering alumni the opportunity to have their law degrees, bearing the new nomenclature, reconferred if they wish. Letters are being sent to all alumni, explaining the reconferral procedure. As reconferred, the diplomas will duplicate the design and format of the originals, will bear the same date as the originals, and will bear reproductions of the signatures appearing on the originals.