Pursuing a career in law may be one of the most exciting and rewarding decisions that can have a significant impact on your life. Lawyers are known to hold distinction as defenders of truth and justice, which is why many young adults are now interested in legal education and earning a law degree. If you want to become a practicing lawyer, you may also want to consider taking up a specialty law course or degree in a certain industry. Some examples are business law degree, intellectual property rights law degree, information technology law degree, and environmental law degree.
If, for example, you decide to pursue an environmental law degree, the usual process would require you to enroll in the Juris Doctor Program (or JD Program) first. The Juris Doctor program would usually take you three years of full-time law studies in a land-based law school such as the University of Pennsylvania Law School. (1) After you have earned enough credits of law education, you can proceed to the next step, which is to take up the Master of Laws Program or the (or LL.M. program).
The Master of Laws Program is an advanced one-year program for law students who wish to gain specialized knowledge on various fields of law applications, where they can earn degrees such as intellectual property rights law degree, information technology law degree, and environmental law degree. (2) You would usually be tasked to engage in advanced research on environmental law provisions and comparative legal study for your environmental law degree program.
Therefore, it would take you four years of law education to earn your environmental law degree. However, it is also possible to earn an environmental law degree in less than four years by enrolling in dual degree programs offered by law schools such as Vermont Law School. Vermont allows qualified law students to earn two law degrees for three years. In a dual degree program called Juris Doctor/Master of Studies in Environmental Law ( J.D./M.S.E.L.) law students will enroll in Vermont’s Summer Session, take Vermont’s online law courses, and take an M.S.E.L. internship later on. (3) The process may vary for other dual degree programs in other law schools.
(1) http://www.law.upenn.edu/registrar/requirements.html
(2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_Laws
(3) http://www.vermontlaw.edu/academic/index.cfm?doc_id=121