• Journalism and Law in the Nation's Capital
• Academic Requirements and Curriculum
• Term of Study
• Enrichment Activities
• Admission
• Press Release for Launch
  of MSL Program

Georgetown University Law Center offers a Master of Studies in Law (M.S.L.) degree for journalists.  The goal of this program is to provide journalists who report on legal affairs with the opportunity to enhance their reporting skills by acquiring a strong legal background.  This degree program is open to working journalists – broadly defined to include professionals reporting in print, television, radio, and Internet media – who do not have a J.D. degree and have at least two years’ experience in the media.   Students may enroll in this program on a full-time or a part-time basis.  Full-time students would normally complete the M.S.L degree requirements in one year.

                                                            

Journalism and Law in the Nation’s Capital

Journalists in the United States, especially those working in Washington, D.C., regularly report on national and international legal developments, including high-profile court cases, legislative proposals and enactments, criminal investigations, agency and regulatory proceedings, and policy issues involving legal questions.  Issues like standing, procedural requirements, federal jurisdiction, and administrative law doctrines, while often crucial to the outcome of these matters, are sometimes hard to appreciate and even harder to communicate intelligibly to lay audiences.  By providing journalists with a more lawyerly understanding of the legal system – including how to spot issues and understand complex legal arguments – the M.S.L. program is designed to enhance journalists’ ability to provide accurate and nuanced reporting on legal questions.

Georgetown University Law Center is uniquely situated to offer this new program to the journalism community.  Georgetown combines preeminent full-time faculty with out­standing adjunct professors and a diverse and talented student body.   Our faculty have the expertise and experience to provide M.S.L. candidates with a solid grounding in the relevant course work, which will include a subset of first-year classes and elective courses in areas that may appeal to particular journalists (such as business and securities law, environmental law, international law, or criminal process).  And the Law Center provides an ideal location for studies at the intersection of law and journalism, situated at the foot of Capitol Hill a few blocks from the Mall.

                            

Academic Requirements and Curriculum

The M.S.L. degree requires completion of 24 units of academic credit.  All candidates for this degree are assigned to sections of the first-year J.D. class and are required to take three first-year courses:  Civil Procedure; Constitutional Law I; and one of the following courses: Torts, Contracts, or Property.  The program includes a course designed specifically for journalists on focused legal research, in which M.S.L. students will receive personalized instruction about research tools keyed to their areas of professional interest.  Journalists pursuing the M.S.L. degree are also be expected to participate in Law in a Global Context, an intensive week-long program for first-year students in early January.  All other courses are elective with the student and may be chosen from the regular first-year curriculum or from advanced courses in areas especially relevant to the journalist’s “beat,” such as environmental law, business law, or criminal justice.

Term of Study

The M.S.L. degree is offered, at the student’s option, on a full-time or a part-time basis.  Most degree candidates are expected to complete the degree requirements over a period of one to two years, with extensions available for reasonable cause.  Students desiring to take a year off from their jobs can complete the full M.S.L. degree in one academic year.  However, the program is offered on a flexible basis so that journalists can continue to work full- or part-time while taking their courses.  Thus, the program can be completed by part-time students in two academic years (6 credits per semester) or in 18 months (7 credits per semester plus 3 credits in summer session).  Georgetown offers first-year and advanced courses during the day and in the evening.  Journalists who are attending school part-time while continuing to work may select classes at whatever time of day is most convenient, in light of their job commitments.

Enrichment Activities

The Law Center provides a lively forum for discussion and debate about legal issues of great consequence to the country.  High officials from all three branches of Government regularly visit the campus, delivering remarks that range from major addresses to informal conversations.  There are frequent, often weekly, panel discussions on breaking legal developments, moderated by media representatives and faculty members intensely involved in these matters.  Candidates for the M.S.L. degree will have the opportunity to participate actively in these discussions, on both sides of the microphone.  M.S.L. students will also be invited to events with the program’s outside Board of Advisors, comprised of nationally-known journalists, lawyers, and media executives, who will play a hands-on role in shaping the program’s direction.

Admission

Questions about admissions may be directed to the Admissions Office at 202-662-9020 or by e-mail to hotline@law.georgetown.edu.   Applicants to the MSL Program must apply using the separate MSL application on the Admissions web page for the MSL Program.

For information about the curriculum please contact Albert G. Lauber, the Director of the M.S.L. Program, at 202-662-9124 or agl26@law.georgetown.edu.

Full and partial tuition scholarships may be available to qualified applicants.

 

 

Revised September 26, 2007 (mbj)