J.D. Program

Khiara Bridges teaching

Berkeley Law is one of the premier law schools in the United States, and the cornerstone of the school is its J.D. Degree Program.

The J.D. program is demanding, engaging, hands-on, and selective. Each year, only about one out of every ten applicants is accepted. Central to our program is Berkeley Law’s challenging curriculum and world-class faculty. Incoming students can expect to learn the fundamentals from top scholars and outstanding teachers. They can also expect to infuse their studies with their own curiosity and concerns, to look at the law from a multidisciplinary perspective, and to roll up their sleeves and do real work.  

The diverse and constantly evolving curriculum offers hundreds of courses, including dozens in our top-ranked Intellectual Property, International Law, Social Justice, and Environmental Law programs. Faculty members—some of the best legal minds in the business—embody the school’s commitment to academic vigor, multidisciplinary research, and intellectual diversity. One of the hallmarks of the J.D. Program is the diversity of its student body, faculty, and curriculum. Such diversity is critical in a law school, which must train its graduates to analyze and interpret the law, reflect on competing viewpoints, present persuasive arguments in a variety of forums, and develop insightful and effective policies affecting broad swaths of society.

But what sets the J.D. Degree Program apart is its real-world focus. Our school-sponsored clinics give students the opportunity to gain hands-on legal and public policy experience. Student-run clinics and journals round out the offerings in practically every conceivable area. And our major think tanks—home to some of our most forward-looking research and outreach—serve as laboratories where J.D. students can collaborate with some of the most innovative thinkers in the legal profession.