MSLIS / JD Brooklyn Law

In affiliation with Brooklyn Law School, the Pratt Institute School of Information and Library Science offers a joint degree program leading to a Master of Science/Juris Doctor degree. The combined program prepares students for careers in law librarianship and related fields. The J.D. in addition to the master's degree in library science is now a requirement at many law libraries and is gaining wide acceptance in the private sector, especially in legal and other database publishing companies.

The joint degree requires the completion of 86 credits in law. Of the 36 credits required for the M.S. degree in Library and Information Science, 9 can be for courses taken at Brooklyn Law School, subject to approval by the dean of SILS. Pratt will allow credit toward the M.S. for law courses such as:

• Accounting for Lawyers
• Administrative Law
• American Legal History
• Brooklyn Journal of International Law or Brooklyn Law Review
• Clinical Offerings
• Comparative Law
• Copyright Law
• Employment Law
• Independent Research
• Information Privacy
• Intellectual Property: Protection of Digital Information
• International & Foreign Law Research
• Jurisprudence
• Legislation and Statutory Interpretation

Nine of the eight-six credits required for a J.D. degree may be taken as courses at Pratt. The following courses can be credited towards the J.D.: Business, Economics, and Statistical Sources

• LIS-605 Online Databases: Searching and Services
• LIS-613 Government Information Sources
• LIS-616 Business, Economics and Statistical Sources
• LIS-617 Legal Research Methods & Law Literature
• LIS-623 Online Databases: Social Sciences and Humanities
• LIS-626 Online Databases: Law
• LIS-627 Online Databases: Business
• LIS-684 Law Librarianship: Contemporary Issues

The joint degree can be completed in three to four years of full-time or four to five years of part-time study, including summers. To enter the joint degree program, a student must apply separately to both Pratt and Brooklyn Law School. Each school processes applications independently, without reference to the joint degree program. Once a student is accepted to both institutions, he or she can follow the program leading to the conferring of both degrees. Students who have already earned a library science or law degree before applying to Pratt may not enter the joint degree program.

For a Brooklyn Law School application and catalog, contact
Office of Admissions
Brooklyn Law School
250 Joralemon Street
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718-780-7906
www.brooklaw.edu/admissions