JD/MS, JD/PhD
Stanford joint degree programs really do help law students begin to "think like a client." The interdisciplinary background I'm building will help me be a better lawyer and a more effective advocate. — Brian Shillinglaw, JD/MS, Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (IPER) '08
Addressing the ecological and resource challenges of our rapidly changing world requires more than a passion for the environment. It takes a mastery of analytical tools, strong problem-solving skills, and a commitment to thinking and working across disciplines as diverse as law, biology, history, economics, psychology, and engineering.
Stanford's Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Environment and Resources (IPER) allows students to combine expertise in the natural and social sciences, engineering, law, and business to address pressing environmental and natural resource problems. Formally part of the School of Earth Sciences, IPER offers a rigorous joint degree program that pushes students to understand and use natural and social science approaches, skills, and concepts to re-imagine and address legal and policy questions with a fresh mind-set and novel analytical tools. By giving students the opportunity to delve into both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of environmental issues, course work prepares them to analyze environmental and resource problems from multiple perspectives and use diverse analytical approaches from multiple disciplines. For example, a student interested in exploring the potential for open-ocean fin-fish aquaculture can use classic economic analysis as well as business market studies, coupled with biological risk assessment and legal gap analysis, to understand and evaluate both the potential for and important environmental issues raised by such a venture.
IPER students who earn a JD/MS are poised to move into a multitude of potential professional opportunities that merge law with environmental concerns, including academia, policy development, private industry, NGOs, government, or in-house lawyering. There will also be a JD/PhD option for students who want to be prepared for careers in academia or government, or with an NGO.
In addition to IPER, Stanford offers many resources, opportunities, and experiences to support an education that blends legal skills and perspectives with a deep understanding of environmental issues, including:
All students must take at least two IPER courses
along with the Environmental Law Workshop. Designed specifically for joint MS students, Environmental Science for Managers and Policy–Makers covers the fundamentals of earth systems and environmental science and develops skills in spreadsheet modeling, optimization, and Monte Carlo simulation that are essential for environmental policy analysis and resource management. The course is taught by a diverse team of stellar faculty from the schools of Humanities and Sciences, Earth Sciences, Engineering, Law and Business. It prepares future managers, entrepreneurs, and policy makers to apply scientific understanding to business operations, strategy, and the design of effective market–based environmental policy.
Joint degree students must also take at least eight additional courses within one or two of IPER's four focal areas:
A full listing of courses in these categories is online.
Students pursuing the JD/MS program may apply up to 30 semester (45 quarter) units toward both degrees, potentially allowing the joint degree to be completed in three academic years. No more than 24 semester (36 quarter) hours of courses that originate outside the law school may count toward the law degree. For additional information regarding requirements and application procedure, please visit iper.stanford.edu