Law Degree - Types of Degrees

Types of Degrees

The type of law degree conferred differs according to the jurisdiction. Some examples include;

  • Bacharel em Direito (Bachelor of Laws) or Bacharel em Ciências Jurídicas e Sociais (Bachelor of Laws and Social Sciences), in Brazil, is an undergraduate degree. The abbreviation for Bachelor is Bel.. To be a Lawyer and be admitted at the Ordem dos Advogados do Brasil (Brazilian Bar Association), the Bachelor must be approved at the Brazilian Bar Exam, if the Selection and Registration Committee accept the new member he/she will be consider an Advogado (Attorney at Law/Advocate). According to the Brazilian Law, the Barrister can also be called as Doutor (Doctor).
  • Bachelor of Laws also referred to as a B.A. in Law (B.L.) or an LL.B. (Hons) in the United Kingdom and various current or former Commonwealth countries. It is an undergraduate degree.
  • Laurea in Giurisprudenza or Dottore in Giurisprudenza for graduates before the Bologna Process reforms, or Laurea Specialistica in Giurisprudenza (now Laurea Magistrale in Giurisprudenza) after the Bologna Process reforms, in Italy. It is a masters level degree, however all graduates of Italian universities, even of the undergraduate degree, are authorized to use the title of "dottore" (Italian for doctor).
  • Erstes Juristisches Staatsexamen is the equivalent to the law degree, since the second part (Zweites Juristisches Staatsexamen) is the German equivalent to the Bar exam in the U.S. At some Universities you either become a "Lizentiat des Rechts (Licentiatus iuris)", a Magister iuris or a Diplom-Jurist. It is a masters level degree.
  • Juris Doctor (J.D.) in the United States and Japan (also offered at some schools in Canada, Australia, and Hong Kong). It is a professional doctorate.
  • Legum Doctor (known as the LL.D., or in some jurisdictions Doctor of Laws) is in some jurisdictions the highest academic degree in law and is equivalent to a Ph.D., and in others is an honorary degree only.
  • Doctor of Juridical Science (S.J.D.) is a research doctorate in law awarded mostly in the United States and Canada.
  • Licenciado en Derecho ("Licentiate in Law") in Spain. It is an undergraduate degree.
  • Licenciatura en Derecho ("Bachelor in Law") in Mexico. It is an undergraduate degree.
  • Lizentiat der Rechtswissenschaften (German) / Licence en droit (French) until 2004 and Master of Law (MLaw) since 2004 (as a result of the Bologna Process) in Switzerland. It is a masters level degree.
  • Magister iuris (Mag. iur.) ("Master of Law") in Austria and Croatia. It is a masters level degree and the first academic title within both systems. After three years of practice you can take the "Anwaltsprüfung" (in Austria) or "Pravosudni ispit" (in Croatia), an equivalent of the bar exam.
  • Specialist in law or Jurist in Ukraine and Russia. It is a graduate degree which allows doing a PhD research after admission to the PhD department (aspirantura), though formally it is not at the masters level.

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