JD/Master's in Urban Planning
Law and Urban Planning intersect in numerous ways academically and professionally. Common ground includes issues of land development, property, regulatory systems (such as zoning, environmental controls, and other municipal, state, or federal regulations), community development, environmental law and policy, housing, and business development.
The J.D./M.U.P. dual degree program, offered jointly by the UB Law School and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning in the School of Architecture and Planning, trains professionals with expertise in both the legal and planning facets of local, state, federal, and international policy and practice. The program prepares students for a variety of professional roles in public service, private law firms, planning consulting firms, and public legal practice.
By permitting some elective courses to count toward both degrees, the J.D./M.U.P. program enables students to complete the two degrees in four years rather than the five years required to complete the programs separately. The program offers considerable curricular flexibility enabling students to custom design a dual professional degree matching their interests and career aspirations.
Admittance to the J.D./M.U.P. Program
Students must apply to and gain admittance separately to both the Law School and the Department of Urban and Regional Planning. Applications should specify that the student is applying to the dual J.D./M.U.P. program. Students may also apply to the program while enrolled in either the Law School or Department of Urban and Regional Planning, meeting all application requirements, including taking the Law School Admission Test (LSAT).
Requirements for J.D./M.U.P. Dual Degree Program
Taken separately the programs in Law and Urban and Regional Planning require 142 graduate credit hours and a five-year commitment:
Law School (J.D.) 90 credits (3 yrs)
Urban & Regional Planning (M.U.P) 52 credits (2 yrs)
The J.D./M.U.P. dual degree program reduces this commitment to 124 credits hours over four years of full-time study. Reduction in course credits results from allowing students to count 18 credits of courses toward both degree requirements. In particular, the Law School will accept nine credit hours of graduate planning courses toward the J.D. degree while the Department of Urban and Regional Planning will accept nine credit hours of law courses toward the M.U.P. degree.
Students may begin the dual degree with either Law or Urban and Regional Planning. For tuition purposes, students are resident in the Law School for three years of study and in the School of Architecture and Planning for one year.
Curriculum
In years one and two students take a full foundational curriculum in each program (e.g., a year of law followed by a year of urban and regional planning or vice versa). Students take a leave of absence from the program in which they are non-resident during these years.
By the third semester of study, all MUP students, including dual degree students, must either declare an option to pursue one of the five specialization options, or they must opt to pursue one of two interdisciplinary approaches.
In years three and four students combine law and urban and regional planning, mixing courses from both schools to complete the curriculum. Students enroll in a full-year law clinic in year three concurrent with a J.D./M.U.P. colloquium. In the fourth year students enroll in a graduate planning studio and Law Seminar, and complete degree requirements toward the dual degrees. Students may choose to tailor their elective choices to concentrate studies in a cross-professional topic area, such as land use and environmental law/planning; housing and community development law/planning; international law/planning; or state and local governance. Courses marked with an asterisk in the matrix count as credits toward both degree programs.
Optional Areas of Concentration
Students in the dual program may further choose to concentrate their elective choices in one or more optional areas of concentration, such as land use and environmental law/planning; housing and community development; state and local governance; international law/planning; or another area designed by the student. Sample course offerings in these areas follow, for illustrative purposes only. Course selections may also include relevant law clinics, law seminars, planning studios, and other electives.
Land Use and Environmental Law/Planning
- PD 568 Environmental Planning and Policy
- PD 578 Environmental Planning Methods
- Law 672 Environmental Law I
- Law 640 Environmental Law II
- Law 884 Zoning and Land Use Law
- Law 937 Science and Environmental Law
- Law 627 Real Estate Development and Finance
- PD 606 Community Development
- PD 520 Housing and Social Policy
- PD 525 Financing Urban Development
- Law 664 Counseling Small Business
- Law 654 Financing Small Business
- Law 701 Housing Finance and Development
- PD 506 Urban Management
- PD 539 Public Finance
- Law 775 State and Local Government
- Law 631 Administrative Law
- Law 966 State and Local Government Issues
- PD 627 Comparative International Development
- PD 575 Development Planning in Practice
- Law 707 International Trade and Development
- Law 697 International Law and Human Rights
- Law 674 International Business Environment
