Degree Requirements
The MA/JD Dual Degree Program capitalizes on John Jay College’s highly recognized specialization in Forensic Psychology and on New York Law School’s nationally renowned expertise in mental disability law to develop lawyers who will be uniquely trained to advocate for the mentally disabled, as practitioners, policy makers, and legal scholars.
Degree Requirements
The curriculum is composed of a combined total of 128 credits, including 42 credits for the MA program in Forensic Psychology and 86 credits for the JD program in Law. However, 12 New York Law School credits focusing on mental disability law will be credited towards both the MA and JD programs. Likewise, 12 credits from the John Jay College MA in Forensic Psychology program will also be credited to the New York Law School JD program. Consequently, due to the 24 credits applied in the dual-degree program, the actual number of credits taken will be 104, resulting in graduation for full-time students in four years, instead of five.
The 42-credit MA program in Forensic Psychology consists of 24 required credits; 15 elective credits, including 12 credits from the New York Law School Mental Health and Disability Law track and 3 credits of externship. The 86-credit JD from New York Law School consists of 41 required credits, 12 credits from the Mental Disability Law Studies, 12 transfer credits from the John Jay MA Forensic Psychology program, and 21 additional law school elective credits.
Students are required to complete their first full year of law school without John Jay MA courses during that regimen; they are likewise required to complete their first year of the MA program in Forensic Psychology (24 credits) without New York Law School course (except those counting toward the MA degree) during that period. Although students have the option of starting their degree in either of the two programs, non-transferable Forensic Psychology MA courses can be counted towards the JD unless they are begun after the student has completed the first year at NYLS.
(42 credits, including 12 transfer credits from New York Law School)
Required MA Courses
- PSY 700: Mental Health Professionals, Social Science and the Law
- PSY 715: Research Design and Methods
- PSY 745: Psychopathology
- PSY 769: Intermediate Statistics in the Social Sciences
- PSY 731: Human Growth and Development OR PSY 741: Theories of Personality and Counseling
- PSY 760: Counseling and Psychotherapy Methods OR PSY 761: Clinician Interviewing and Assessment
- PSY 734: Criminal Psychological Assessment
- PSY 754: Advanced Forensic Assessment
PSY 700, PSY 734, PSY 754: New York Law School will accept specific John Jay College MA courses up to 12 credits toward the JD.
Required MA Supervised Externship
- PSY 780: Fieldwork in Counseling I
New York Law School JD Program
86 credits including 12 transfer credits from John Jay College of Criminal Justice
JD Courses
- REQ 100: Civil Procedure
- REQ 200: Constitutional Law I
- REQ 250: Constitutional Law II
- REQ 300: Contracts
- REQ 400: Criminal Law
- REQ 650: Evidence
- REQ 600: Lawyering
- REQ 450: Professional Responsibility
- LWR 100: Legal Reasoning, Writing, and Research
- REQ 150: Legislation and Regulation
- REQ 500: Property
- REQ 550: Torts
- LWR 200: Written and Oral Advocacy
REQ 600: This course is expected to be phased out shortly and replaced with a new course in “lawyering skills.”
For more information about the New York Law School curriculum and admissions process, please visit https://www.nyls.edu.
Mental Health and Disability Law Electives
Select four courses (12 credits) from New York Law School; maximum of one per semester.
- CRI 507: Survey of Mental Disability Law (*required for this speciality).
Select three courses:
- ADV 600: Advocacy Skills in Cases Involving Persons with Mental Disabilities: The Role of Lawyers and Expert Witnesses
- CON 275: The American with Disabilities Act: Law, Policy, and Practice
- FAM 160: Custody Evaluations, Juvenile and Family Law, and Mental Disabilities
- CRI 280: Forensic Reports, The Role of Experts and Forensic Ethics
- CRI 260: Mental Disability and Criminal Law
- CRI 250: Mental Health Issues in Jails and Prisons
- CRI 275: Mental Illness, Dangerousness, the Police Power and Risk Assessment
- CRI 508: Sex Offenders
- UCI 125: Therapeutic Jurisprudence
- International Human Rights and Mental Disability Law
- Race, Gender, Class, and Mental Disability
- Trauma and Mental Disability
Select one course (3 credits) offered through John Jay College MA program in Forensic Psychology
- PSY 701: Criminal Behavior
- PSY 705: Victimology
- PSY 714: Alcoholism and Substance Abuse
- PSY 716: Assessment and Counseling of the Juvenile Offender
- PSY 718: Social Science Evidence in Court
- PYS 720: Social Psychology and the Legal System
- PSY 726: Mental Health Issues in Policing
- PSY 727: Eyewitness Identification
- PSY 742: Family Violence and Disputes
- PSY 746: Empirical Profiling Methods
MA Forensic Electives: New York Law School will accept specific John Jay College MA courses up to 12 credits, toward the JD.
Students must choose an additional 7 out of 250 other elective law school courses from groups outside the Mental Disability Law Track, including those in administrative law, constitutional law, criminal law, history, philosophy, sociology and theory of law, international law, professional skills, public interest law, tort law, and externship and clinic settings. Course offerings vary from semester to semester. The full catalogue and listings are available online at the New York Law School website, www.nyls.edu.