A combined degree in law (JD) and planning (MRP) is offered in an arrangement between the Regional Planning Program and the School of Law at Western New England College (WNEC) in Springfield.The combined degree in law and planning provides the following advantages:
- Both degrees can be completed in four years instead of the usual five.
- Professional status can be obtained in two fields.
- A practice specialization is established.
- A network of contacts in both law and planning is obtained.
Holders of such degrees are employed in a wide variety of occupations in both public and private sectors. According to a combined planning/law degree program at another institution, the University of California at Berkeley, its past graduates "have found an impressive variety of professional opportunities available to them."
The purpose of the combined law/planning degree program is to provide a professional education of greater breadth than would otherwise be available for students interested in urban, land use, housing, or social policy problems. The planning curriculum offers students training in policy analysis and exposure to theories and programs which address urban development problems. Legal training provides additional analytic skills and substantive knowledge necessary for successful plan and program implementation. Education in planning offers an overview of theories and methods that permit identification and treatment of societal problem. Education in law offers insight into the institutional causes and possibilities for treatment of these problems.
Graduates of a combined degree program are qualified for a number of professional roles at the intersection of law and planning. These include municipal attorneys, staff personnel on legislative committees, economic development administrators, planning directors, consultant planners, advisors to private clients on land use matters, staff members of governmental agencies, public interest advocates, and executive assistants to mayors, governors, and department heads.
Applicants to the combined program must apply to and be admitted separately by the School of Law and the Regional Planning Program, prior to acceptance into the combined program. Admission to this program is limited to students who have applied simultaneously to both units or who are already completing their first year of law or planning study. Applicants must meet the separate admission requirements of each institution, including satisfactory performance on the GRE for admission to Planning and satisfactory performance on the LSAT to the law school.
The combined J.D./M.R.P. allows students to obtain the two degrees in four years rather than the five years it would take if pursued separately. Students will pursue course work at the two institutions consecutively rather than concurrently.Students must spend their entire first year in either the Planning Program or the School of Law. The second year is normally spent full-time in the program not chosen the first year. Thereafter, the student will finish the degree requirements by spending entire semesters at either institution to complete remaining credits. After the first two years the student has three additional semesters (with 12-16 course credits per semester) to complete at the School of Law and 12 semester credits to complete in Planning. Put another way, after two years, the student will have one semester's work to complete in Planning, and three semesters (1 ½ years) to complete in Law.
The successful completion of the combined program (and the awarding of the law and the planning degrees) requires the student to complete the core courses and mandatory academic requirements at each institution. In meeting these requirements, the combined program requires that each institution grant credit for one semester's academic work (what is now indicated as twelve course credits by both institutions) at the other institution. Thus for Planning's 48 credit program, 36 credits will be taken in the Regional Planning Program (including required courses and a master's thesis or project), with law courses constituting the remaining 12 credits (cross-credits) for the MRP degree. The 12 law credits are in essence the electives allowed in the planning curriculum. At the Law School, the student must still earn the 88 credits required to obtain the J.D. degree, but 12 of those credits will be earned through the successful completion of courses at the Regional Planning Program.
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