Program Timeline
Year One
At the Law School, complete the first-year foundation curriculum requirements.
Year Two
Enroll at the Business School and complete the core curriculum requirements. You may begin taking electives at both schools.
Year Three
Enroll at the Law School, with the option to register for courses at both schools, including classes that are cross-listed by the Business School and the Law School.
You must earn 71 law credits and 45 business credits (in addition to separate requirements from each school) and satisfy all degree requirements for both schools. During the second and third year of the program, you may choose from a wide range of elective offerings at both schools in disciplinary areas outside of business law.
J.D. Requirements
All first-year foundation courses
A professional responsibility course
A course in legislation and regulation.
Two writing credits, at least one of which must meet the criteria of the Major Writing Credit.
A minimum of six experiential credits.
A minimum of 40 hours of pro bono service.
MBA Requirements
Students must fulfill Columbia Business School’s https://academics.gsb.columbia.edu/mba/academics/core-curriculum requirements and must also be in residence at the Business School while taking first-semester core classes.
While in residence at the Business School, students can “test out” of certain core requirements by taking exemption exams prior to the start of classes. Exempting out of core classes means that students may take an elective in place of those classes; it does not reduce the total number of Business School credits required for the dual degree.
Because some of the core curriculum requirements at the Business School are cross-listed with the Law School, students must replace any exempted cross-listed core course with another cross-listed course.
Contact Kristen Casano, associate director, Advising and Academic Success at the Business School, with any questions regarding the MBA degree requirements.
| Year | Coursework |
|---|---|
| First Year (Law School) | Legal Methods, Contracts, Civil Procedure, Torts, Legal Practice Workshop I, Legal Research, Property, Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Legal Practice Workshop II, Foundation Year Moot Court, and a 1L elective |
| Second Year (Business School) | REQUIRED COURSES: LEAD: People, Teams, Organizations (during CBS Orientation)*, Corporate Finance*, Financial Accounting*, Managerial Statistics*, Managerial Economics*, Strategy Formulation*, Business Analytics*, Marketing*, Global Economic Environment*, Operations Management* |
| ELECTIVE COURSES: 12 or more credits in Business elective courses; students have the option to take additional electives at the Law School and may begin satisfying the upper-year J.D. degree requirements | |
| Third Year (Law School) | Combination of Law and Business School courses and completion of all remaining J.D. degree requirements |
Courses Cross-Listed at the Business School
These classes may be counted toward the MBA degree as if they were Business School courses.
This list is subject to change and may contain courses that are not being offered in the current semester.
Courses designated with an asterisk (*) are open to J.D./MBA students only.
Note that enrollment into courses designated with a caret (^) require instructor permission.
L8247 Advanced Bankruptcy
L6202 Advanced Corporate Law: Mergers & Acquisitions
L6931 Advanced Corporate Law: Theories and Practice
L8242 S. Advanced Securities Regulation
L6293 Antitrust and Trade Regulation
L8246 Architecture of Financial Regulation
L6536 Bankruptcy Law
L6221 Commercial Transactions
L6231 Corporations
L6233 Corporate Reorganization & Bankruptcy
L6230 Corporate Taxation (added August 2014)
L6107 Deals (added June 2015)
L6923 Drafting and Negotiating Commercial Real Estate Documents (added fall 2019)
L6346 Electronic Commerce
L8631* Entrepreneurship and Community Development Clinic (added December 2018)
L6242 Environmental Law
L8214* Ethics on the Edge: Business, Nonprofit, Government (added December 2018)
L6256 Federal Income Taxation (added August 2014)
L6552 International Commercial Arbitration
L6040 International Environmental Law
L6382 International Finance
L8032 International Financial Transactions
L6424 International Securities Regulation
L9246 International Taxation (added fall 2019)
L6936 Investment Banking (added August 2014)
L8422 Law and Finance of the Art Market (December 2023)
L6916* Litigation, Economics, and Statistics (added December 2018)
L8206 Non-Profit Law, Taxation, and Policy (added January 2023)
L9061 P. International Arbitration
L6338 Patents* Restricted to those in the JD/MBA program (3-unit and 4-unit offerings) (added August 2014)
L8180 Private Investment Funds
L6362 Professional Responsibility Issues in Business Practice
L6922 Real Estate Finance
L6483 Real Estate Transactions
L6391 Regulation of Financial Institutions
L6538 Secured Transactions
L6423 Securities Regulation
L6320 Taxation of Financial Instruments
L6389 The Law of Transactions
L8011* The Technology, Business, Law, and Policy of AI (added December 2018)
L6337* Trade Secrets (added December 2018)
L9467 S: Contracts, Collaboration and Interpretation
L9253 S: Deals Workshop (ALL SECTIONS as of June 2015)
L9251 S: Drafting and Negotiating Cross-Border M&A Transactions (added July 2021)
L8037* S: FinTech Innovation and the Transformation of Financial Services: Business Models, Regulatory Structures and Policy Issues (added December 2018)
L9065 S: International Banking and Financial Law
L9069 S: Law and Economics
L9462 S: Law in Emerging Markets
L8202 S: Leadership and Org. Character: Role of Inside Counsel (added December 2018)
L8294^ S: Managing Human Rights (added December 2018)
L8107 S: Technology and Venture Capital (added fall 2019)
Business Courses Cross-Listed with the Law School
These courses may be counted toward the J.D. degree as if they were Law School courses.
This list is subject to change and may contain courses that are not being offered in the current semester.
If a student waives out of one of the four required CORE classes, they should replace it with another cross-listed course.
Courses designated with an asterisk (*) are open to J.D./MBA students only.
CORE B6300* Corporate Finance
CORE B6302* Corporate Finance
CORE B6001* Accounting (Financial Accounting)
CORE B6200* Managerial Economics
CORE B6100* Managerial Statistics
B8307 Advanced Corporate Finance
B8263 Anti-Trust in the Modern Economy
B8114 Applied Regression Analysis
B8373 Applied Value Investing
B9310 Behavioral Finance (seminar—Ph.D. course)
B8214 Business in Society
B8306 Capital Markets and Investments
B7306 Capital Markets and Investments (EMBA course; added spring 2020)
B8343 Corporate Governance
B8443 Corporate and Government Restructuring
B8329 Credit Markets & Leveraged Buyouts: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly
B8376 Distressed Value Investing
B8008 Earnings Quality and Fundamental Analysis
B8221 Economics of Health Care and Pharmaceuticals
B7216 Economics of Strategic Behavior (EMBA course)
B8216 Economics of Strategic Behavior
B8561 Entrepreneurial Law for Startups: Planning for Success
B8586 Entrepreneurial Strategy (added Nov. 2018)
B8007 Financial Analysis and Planning
B8009 Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation
B8457 Foundations of Private Equity
B8459 Foundations of Private Equity II (added Nov. 2018)
B8439 Foundations of Venture Capital
B8315* Game Theory and Business
B8117 Health Care Industry in the 21st Century
B8211* Incentives and Performance
B8462 Introduction to Blockchain and Cryptocurrencies (added January 2023)
B8318 Investment Banking Tax Factors
B8510 Managerial Negotiations (provides Experiential credit)
B8325 Mergers & Acquisitions
B8265 Modern Political Economy
B8444 Modern Value
B8471 Public Pensions and Retirement Security in the U.S. (added August 2021)
B8453 Real Estate Debt Markets
B8331 Real Estate Finance (added Sept. 2015)
B8339 Real Estate Mergers and Acquisitions
B8332 Real Estate Transactions
B8580 ReEntry Acceleration Program (REAP) Immersion
B8584 REAP: Reforming Mass Incarceration and the Role of Business
B8210 Regulatory and Legal Matters on Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Digital Assets (added 2023)
B8644 Sports Economics and Policy (added January 2023)
B8536 Strategy and Competition in Pharmaceuticals and Biotechnology
B8473 The Credit Superhighway
B8378 Value Investing with Legends
Law and Business Courses Offered at Both Schools
These courses are offered at both the Law School and Business School.
We strongly encourage students to register for the course offered at the school where they are in residence.
This list is subject to change and may contain courses that are not being offered in the current semester.
(+) This course is offered at the Law School for a total of 13 pts and offered at the Business School for a total of 12 points. The course also slightly differs in title between the two schools. Students may only receive experiential credit if they take the course at the Law School.
Law School/Business School Course Equivalent
L6347/B8326 Capital Markets Regulations
L6939/B8347 Financial Crises, Regulatory Responses
L9303/B8441 Strategic International Commercial Transactions (added Feb. 2015)
L6701/B8366 The Media Industries: Public Policy and Business Strategy
+ L8016/B8547 Structural Change in Public Education and Social Change Lab
A typical plan of study over your three years might look something like this:
| Semester | Classes | J.D. Credits | MBA Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Law School Foundation | 16 | 0 |
| 2 | Law School Foundation | 15* | 0 |
| TOTAL FOR FIRST YEAR: | 31** | 0 | |
| 3 | Corporate Finance | 3 | 3 |
| Accounting (Financial Accounting) | 3 | 3 | |
| Managerial Statistics | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| Managerial Economics | 1.5 | 1.5 | |
| Strategy Formulation | 0 | 1.5 | |
| Marketing | 0 | 1.5 | |
| Business Analytics | 0 | 1.5 | |
| Global Economic Environment | 0 | 1.5 | |
| LEAD (completed at orientation) | 0 | 1.5 | |
| 4 | Operations Management | 0 | 1.5 |
| Elective (JOINT) | 3 | 3 | |
| Elective (JOINT) | 3 | 3 | |
| Elective | 0 | 3 | |
| Half-Term Elective | 0 | 1.5 | |
| Half-Term Elective | 0 | 1.5 | |
| Half-Term Elective | 0 | 1.5 | |
| TOTAL FOR SECOND YEAR: | 15 | 31.5 | |
| 5 | Law Elective | 3 | 0 |
| Law Elective | 4 | 0 | |
| Elective (JOINT) | 3 | 3 | |
| Elective (JOINT) | 3 | 3 | |
| 6 | Law Elective | 3 | 0 |
| Law Elective | 3 | 0 | |
| Elective (JOINT) | 3 | 3 | |
| Elective (JOINT) | 3 | 3 | |
| Business Elective | 1.5 | 0 | |
| TOTAL FOR THIRD YEAR: | 26.5 | 12 | |
| TOTAL POINTS FOR PROGRAM: | 71* | 45 |
*Depending on their 1L elective, students will earn either 15 or 16 Law School credits during their second semester.
**Total to be adjusted pursuant to the notes above.