![open](/was/20140911222256im_/https://www.law.stanford.edu/sites/all/themes/custom/sls/images/portal/button-open-portal.png)
![Elsewhere Online](/was/20140911222256im_/https://www.law.stanford.edu/sites/all/themes/custom/sls/images/slsonline/elsewhere-rollover.png)
Stanford Law School offers the following graduate degree programs.
With a specialization in Corporate Governance & Practice, Environmental Law & Policy and Law, Science & Technology, the LLM program offers a course-based curriculum of advanced study. The LLM program enrolls approximately 15-20 students in each specialization per year. It is limited to students with a primary law degree earned outside the United States.
Leading to the completion of the Master of the Science of Law (JSM) degree, SPILS emphasizes empirical interdisciplinary research on issues that are often related to public policy and legal reform in the fellow's home country or internationally. SPILS is oriented toward international candidates committed to pursuing careers in teaching, research, the judiciary, public policy, or service in government or nongovernmental organizations. SPILS enrolls approximately 12 fellows per year. Students who are interested in pursuing a teaching or research career in the fields of Corporate Governance & Practice or Law, Science & Technology should apply to SPILS. The LLM program and SPILS make separate admissions decisions, so these students may also want to apply to the LLM program in the field of their specialization.
The Law School also offers the Doctor of the Science of Law (JSD) degree. JSD candidates are selected from among the applicants who have successfully completed the SPILS program. Students who are interested in the JSD program should apply directly to SPILS. However, completion of SPILS does not guarantee admission to the JSD program.
The Master of Legal Studies (MLS) is a nonprofessional degree designed for advanced graduate students from the United States or abroad who have no prior legal training and whose interdisciplinary research requires knowledge of the foundations of the legal system. Only a few such students, if any, are admitted in a given year. Questions concerning the MLS should be directed to graduate.admissions@law.stanford.edu.