Since the Stanford Board of Trustees approved changing the name of the basic professional law degree from LL.B. to J.D. in June 1969, some 1,216 alumni have applied for reconferral of their diplomas to reflect the new terminology Six LL.M. holders have purchased diplomas bearing the new designation for their degree, J.S.M. (Master of the Science of Law) .

Applications for J.D. and J.S.M. diplomas are still being accepted by the School. Since the number of orders has slowed to a trickle, orders for oredesignated diplomas are now processed on an annual basis, to reduce engraving and printing costs, which skyrocket for small orders. Inflation has also forced an increase in the reconferral fee from $30 to $35.

The School determined the original reconferral fee based upon the expenses of providing 1,200 J.D. diplomas, an estimate that was based on the percentage of alumni of other law schools that took advantage of reconferral offers. Only 16 more alumni ordered J.D. diplomas than was projected.

When the reconferral program began in July of 1969, the School had on record 437 J.D. recipients, 2,869 LL.B. holders and 57 LL.M. holders. Including J.D.’s awarded since June of 1969, the number of J.D. holders is slightly over half the number of Stanford Law graduates.

In contrast with reconferral arrangements of other law schools, Stanford alumni were offered exact duplicates of original diplomas. Sheepskin was ordered especially from England for diplomas dated prior to 1966, when Stanford ceased using genuine skins because of their scarcity and high price; all reconferred diplomas.carried original signatures; more than eight special engraving plates and dies were cast to duplicate as exactly as possible the designs of original diplomas; hoand coloring was applied as in the originals.