Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws is an advanced degree in law.
It is not to be confused with degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Doctor juris (Dr. iur. or Dr. jur.), Juris Doctor (J.D.) which are all professional degrees used as first degrees by lawyers. The LL.D is the terminal degree for a professional lawyer or academic teaching in a university.
The D.Litt is most often given to notable people as an honorary degree
In the United States and Canada, a Juris Doctor is a degree in law. A Juris Doctor Degree is also a professional degree,[1] which is required by law to become a licensed lawyer.
Association of American Universities Data Exchange. Glossary of Terms for Graduate Education Archived 2009-03-04 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed May 26, 2008; National Science Foundation (2006). "Time to Degree of U.S. Research Doctorate Recipients Archived 2016-03-08 at the Wayback Machine," "InfoBrief, Science Resource Statistics" NSF 06-312, 2006, p. 7. (under "Data notes" mentions that the J.D. is a professional doctorate); San Diego County Bar Association (1969). "Ethics Opinion 1969-5" Archived 2003-04-11 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed May 26, 2008. (under "other references" discusses differences between academic and professional doctorate, and statement that the J.D. is a professional doctorate); University of Utah (2006). University of Utah – The Graduate School – Graduate Handbook Archived 2008-06-26 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed May 28, 2008. (the J.D. degree is listed under doctorate degrees); German Federal Ministry of Education. "U.S. Higher Education / Evaluation of the Almanac Chronicle of Higher Education" Archived 2009-03-25 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed May 26, 2008. (report by the German Federal Ministry of Education analysing the Chronicle of Higher Education from the U.S. and stating that the J.D. is a professional doctorate); Encyclopedia Britannica. (2002). "Encyclopedia Britannica", 3:962:1a. (the J.D. is listed among other doctorate degrees).
