Cross-Disciplinary Programs

STUDENT ORGANIZATIONS

Penn Law Bioethics Society

Urban Ventures Project

Entertainment and Sports Law Society

Penn Association of Law and Business

Penn Intellectual Property Group (PIPG)

Penn Law Association for Law in the Arts

International Law Organization (ILO)

Penn Law National Security Society

Penn Law Real Estate Club

RegBlog

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PRO BONO PROJECTS

Environmental Law Project (ELP)

L.E.A.R.N.

Legal Education Partnership

Health Law and Policy Project (HeLPP)

Penn Law Immigrant Rights Project

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

Amanda AronoffAssociate Director, Cross-Disciplinary Programs

[email protected]

https://www.law.upenn.edu/crossdisciplinary/

STUDENT ENGAGEMENT

Students at Penn Law participate in a range of student groups that demonstrate the impact of legal study on a wide array disciplines and issues. Student groups involved in cross-disciplinary work include:

CENTERS AND INSTITUTES

Penn Law’s centers and institutes catalyze cross-disciplinary scholarship and put that scholarship into practice, convening faculty and scholars from across Penn — and around the globe — across a number of fields, including economics, national security, tax law, and technology. The centers and institutes conducting cross-disciplinary work include:

Center for Asian Law

Center for Ethics & the Rule of Law

Center for Tax Law & Policy

Center for Technology, Innovation & Competition

Criminal Law Research Group

Institute for Law & Economics

Institute for Law & Philosophy

Legal History Consortium

Penn Program on Documentaries & the Law

Penn Program on Regulation

Quattrone Center for the Fair Administration of Justice

83% of the Class of 2015 took

at least one class at another graduate department outside Penn Law

35 joint degree and certificate programs

offered in conjunction with other Penn schools & departments

25cross-disciplinary student organizations

75%of the Class of 2015 graduated

with a joint degree or certificate (186 students)

11academic centers & institutes

9 clinics

6 law reviews & journals

“I believe enrolling in classes and participating in student groups outside of the law school enhances legal education. For any range of issues, time spent with colleagues and instructors at other Penn programs has taught me to consider alternative solutions that a casebook may not provide. Here at Penn Law, cross-disciplinary learning is strongly encouraged, and that is partly why I chose Penn for law school.”

Joel Dankwa L’17Certificate in Business Economics and Public PolicyIntern, QlikTech Inc. (Radnor, PA)

Professor Claire Finkelstein discusses issues of law and security that cut across academic boundaries.

Penn Law students manage RegBlog, an online source of regulatory news, analysis, and opinion.

CROSS-DISCIPLINARY PROGRAMS

INNOVATION IN ACTION

“Penn Law integrates a cross-disciplinary approach into legal education better than any school in the country. Not only are most professors engaged in projects involving other disciplines, but students have many opportunities to take courses across Penn’s campus and to graduate with a joint degree or certificate of study with other schools.”

Dorothy E. RobertsGeorge A. Weiss University Professor of Law and Sociology and the Raymond Pace and Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights

FACULTY

In addition to being experts in the law, many of our faculty members are also scholars in related fields. Approximately 70 percent of faculty members hold degrees beyond the JD, and nearly half hold secondary appointments or affiliations with other Penn professional schools, departments, or centers.

ENHANCING LEGAL EDUCATION

Penn Law’s curriculum is cross-disciplinary at every level — in our classrooms, across the faculty, throughout our practical training opportunities, and in our students’ seamless ability to engage in course content throughout the University.

Our faculty members examine legal issues from a broad array of perspectives, infusing their teaching with ideas and analyses from other disciplines. Our faculty develop courses, seminars, and clinics that bridge multiple fields and co-teach courses with faculty from other schools and departments in the University. Our physical proximity to and intellectual integration with the University’s other renowned departments and schools provides a tremendous advantage when bringing together faculty and students to explore the most important issues of our times.

Penn Law allows all JD students to take up to four pre-approved classes (12 credits) at any one of our world class sister schools. Law students often use this unique opportunity to take non-law courses that complement their educational or career goals — often towards a joint degree or certificate of study. Indeed, in the Class of 2015, 75 percent of the class graduated with a joint degree or a certificate of study from a sister school at the University of Pennsylvania.

If you have questions about any of our cross-disciplinary programming, including joint degrees or certificates of study, please email us at [email protected].

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*All joint degree students are responsible for an administrative fee. In addition, tuition charges may be incurred where the second program requires more than the four courses for which students can receive law credit.

**While Penn Law subsidizes the cost of the certificate with significate payments to sister schools for up to four non-law courses, the certificate candidate is responsible for an administrative fee that is set annually with tuition.

THE WHARTON SCHOOL

Certificate in Management Certificate in Business Economics and Public Policy

SCHOOL OF SOCIAL POLICY & PRACTICE

Certificate of Study in Nonprofit Leadership

INSTITUTE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES

Certificate of Study in Environmental Policy Certificate of Study in Environmental Science

WOMEN’S STUDIES PROGRAM AT THE SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Graduate Certificate in Gender & Sexuality Studies

JOINT DEGREE PROGRAMS

Joint degree students seek admission to other programs independent of the JD application and, in most cases, can apply to that second program either contemporaneously with their application to Penn Law, or while in their 1L or 2L year. Students who choose to pursue a joint degree while at Penn Law will appreciate a significant opportunity cost benefit by reducing the length of their studies, sometimes by as much as a full year.*

CERTIFICATES OF STUDY

In addition to the option of pursuing the joint degree, Penn Law students can earn a certificate of study in one of several disciplines as part of their three-year JD. Typically, these programs require that the students take three or four courses in the granting department and one or two courses from a prescribed topic area at the Law School. There are no admissions requirements: all students who successfully complete the requirements are granted the Certificate.** O ther certificate programs may be available on an ad-hoc. Examples of recent ad hoc certificates include: the Certificate in Historic Preservation (Penn Design) and the Certificate in Engineering Entrepreneurship (SEAS).

Dorothy Roberts is the 14th Penn Integrates Knowledge Professor at the University of Pennsylvania. As the George A. Weiss Professor of Law & Sociology, the Raymond Pace & Sadie Tanner Mossell Alexander Professor of Civil Rights, and Professor of Africana Studies, Roberts investigates the intersections of law, social justice, science, and health in society. Her research details the consequences of racial inequality for women, children, families, and communities, and also challenges scientific tenets about racial identity.

JD/MBA The Wharton School

JD/MSE School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)

JD/MCIT School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)

JD/MA/MS, Criminology Department of Criminology

JD/MES Institute for Environmental Studies

JD/MPA Fels Institute of Government

JD/MSED Graduate School of Education Education Policy

JD/MSED Graduate School of Education Higher Education

JD/MBE Department of Medical Ethics Bioethics in the School of Medicine

JD/MPH School of Medicine Graduate Program in Public Health Studies

JD/MSSP School of Social Policy Social Policy & Practice

JD/MSW School of Social Policy & Practice

JD/MCP Penn Design City & Regional Planning

JD/AM Department of Near Eastern Islamic Studies Languages and Civilizations, School of Arts & Sciences

JD/MA The Lauder Institute, International Studies Wharton and the School of Arts & Sciences

JD/MA Institute D’Études Politiques Global Business Law (Sciences Po)

JD/LLM Double Degree – University of Hong Kong Faculty of Law, Hong Kong, SAR

JD/PHD Department of Philosophy

JD/PHD Department of Psychology

JD/PHD Department of History American Legal History

FELS INSTITUTE OF GOVERNMENT

Certificate in Nonprofit Administration Certificate in Public Finance

CENTER FOR NEUROSCIENCE AND SOCIETY

Social, Cognitive, and Neuroscience (SCAN) Certificate

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES AT THE SCHOOL OF ARTS & SCIENCES

Graduate Certificate in Global Human Rights Certificate of Study in Middle East and Islamic Studies Certificate of Study in East Asian StudiesCertificate of Study in Latin American and Latino Studies

KNOWLawEDGE