Academic Programs

Dual Degree Program with Law

In the dual degree program in law and public administration, the student receives two graduate degrees: Juris Doctor (J.D.) and Masters of Public Administration (M.P.A.)

Basically, the program calls for the completion of 33 hours in the Public Administration program and 85 hours in the College of Law. By virtue of the joint enrollment, the student will receive elective MPA credit for 12 hours taken in law school and 6 hours of elective law school credit for courses completed in the MPA program (thus reaching the required level of 45 hours for the MPA degree and 91 hours for the J.D. degree). This represents a net savings of up to 18 credit hours compared to the number of hours which would be required were the degrees to be earned in the normal fashion.

The student is advised to take foundation courses in the MPA curriculum during the Spring or Summer semester before the first year of law school begins. Then, the student expected to take nearly all of their classes in the law curriculum during their first year in law school. Mixed MPA and law coursework may be taken in succeeding years. The schedule may be greatly accelerated if some MPA coursework and the internship are completed in the summers. Interested students should meet with advisors in both programs to explore specific schedules.

The Law College requires the student to complete both programs in order to receive the 6 hours of credit toward the J.D. The Division of Public Administration may accept up to 12 credit hours of law school courses whether or not the student completes the J.D. curriculum.

OPPORTUNITIES FOR HOLDER OF J.D. AND M.P.A. DEGREES

Persons holding graduate degrees in both law and public administration have an advantage in both seeking and being well prepared in certain career settings. Careers profiting from the dual degree would include legal counsel for government agencies, court administrators, city attorneys, and administrators in government and not-for-profit agencies that lack internal legal assistance (e.g. small cities and towns, school boards, research and health centers.). In the latter situation, the public sector is looking to profit by employing persons with two sets of professional competencies. Althought, technically speaking, court administrators do not have to have law degrees, the fact that they do increases their acceptance among judges and other members of the legal profession. In addition, attorneys in private practice who obtain an MPA degree will be better equipped to represent their clients in litigation against government, licensing matters, and in responding to regulatory requirements.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Students wishing to enter the dual degree program must apply separately to the College of Law and the Division of Public Administration. In addition to submitting two application forms to the Office of Admissions and Records, the student must pay two application fees.

Although the Division of Public Administration prefers the Graduate Records Examination (both verbal and quantitative parts), it will accept either the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) or Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). Other materials required to be submitted by each of the programs should be requested from the respective program offices (telephone numbers are, PA: 304/293-2614, and Law: 304/293-5301). The contact faculty person in Public Administration is Gerald Pops, Professor, and for Law it is Joyce McConnell.