What Starts Here – Changes the World

That’s the motto (or slogan for those who prefer the Gaelic) of the University of Texas at Austin, which today announced a new three-year joint degree programme combining a Master of Science and Information Studies and Doctor of Jurisprudence (MSIS/JD).

The new programme “responds to an increased need for specialist trained to help address legal issues arising from the increasingly complex and changing world of information use, retrieval and storage in the 21st century.”

For those interested, eligibility is set out here.

For all the hype, the sample course selection here is fairly ho-hum, just plain vanilla JD and MIS separate studies bolted together: Criminal Law, Constitutional Law, Contracts, Legal Research and Writing, Property, Torts, Civil Procedure, Legal Writing and Research, Law School Elective, Understanding & Serving Users, Intro to Research in Info Studies, iSchool Elective and Law School Elective. Followed by a second year of Org & Prov Access to Info, Intro to Info Studies, Legal Information Resources, iSchool Elective, Professional Responsibility, Constitutional Law II, Managing Info Services & Orgs, Law Librarianship/LegalInformatics, Intellectual Property Course, Law School Elective, Law School Elective. Final year: iSchool Elective, Writing Seminar, Intellectual Property Course, Law School Elective, Law School Elective, Capstone Project, iSchool Elective and three Law School Electives.

Somehow I expected more innovative thinking.