Joint J.D./M.B.A.

Return to: Degrees Offered

Mississippi College offers a joint degree program for the Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees. Students must be separately admitted to both the J.D. and M.B.A. programs, and candidates in the joint degree program, in order to receive the J.D. degree, must substantially complete the requirements for the M.B.A degree and complete all of the requirements for the J.D. degree, of which six hours of work required for the J.D. degree may be satisfied by the following Business School classes: Accounting Issues in Business Decisions (ACC 6501) and Policy Formulation and Administration (MGT 6572). Further, nine of the 30 semester hours of course work required for the M.B.A. degree may be satisfied by law school course work. The Law, Business and Society class (three credit-hours) will be satisfied by completion of the following law school classes: Contracts I  and Contracts II , Property , and Professional Responsibility and Ethics . The two electives (three credit-hours each) in the M.B.A. curriculum will be satisfied by completing six credit hours of any of the following law classes: Agency , Antitrust , Banking, Business Associations I , Business Associations II , Business Planning , Commercial Paper , Corporate and Partnership Taxation , Bankruptcy , Employment Law , Estate and Gift Taxation , Federal Taxation, Insurance , International Business Transactions , Labor Law , Pension and Employee Benefit Law , Real Estate Finance and Development , Real Estate Transactions, Sales and Leasing , Secured Transactions and Creditors’ Rights , and Securities Regulation .

Students must earn a C or better in all classes for which dual credit may be given. Law school credit for business school classes will not be finally awarded until the student has substantially completed the M.B.A. portion of the joint degree program and has completed all the requirements for the J.D. degree including the six hours of Business School courses. In sum, a law student who has completed all prerequisites to the M.B.A. program could complete the requirements for the two degrees in three and one-half years of full-time study. Students pursuing the joint degree may sequence the law and business classes in almost any way, except that students may not take business school classes during the first year of law school.

The law school and business school each have assigned one faculty member to serve as advisor to the students in the joint degree program regarding course sequencing. Except during the first year of law school, a student may take both law and business classes in the same semester, or take all course work during a given semester in one program or the other. The flexibility in sequencing permits M.B.A. students to enter the joint degree program at any time and law students to enter at any time after the first year of law school.

As currently required for the J.D. degree, students must complete the course work necessary for the law degree within five years. The J.D. degree requires a minimum of five semesters in residence (four for transfer students) at the law school. Residency credit for purposes of the J.D. degree will be awarded proportionately for semesters in which a student takes both J.D. and M.B.A. courses. See the Mississippi College Graduate Catalog for further details and joint degree requirements.