Pardee RAND Graduate School and Southwestern Law School to Offer Public Policy and Law Certificate Programs

The Pardee RAND Graduate School and Southwestern Law School will jointly offer two certificate programs for the schools' public policy and law students, officials announced today.

Beginning in the fall of 2011, qualified students from the Pardee RAND Graduate School can take courses in law at Southwestern Law School leading to a Certificate in Legal Studies. Qualified students from Southwestern can take courses at the Pardee RAND Graduate School leading to a Certificate in Public Policy.

The non-degree programs are intended to provide students with a basic knowledge of law and public policy, and an understanding of the tools and frameworks relevant to each field.

"Public policies are largely contained in legislation and in regulations grounded in the law," said Susan L. Marquis, dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School. "Both law students and public policy doctoral candidates can benefit from better understanding of how the law and public policy are interconnected."

Currently, few public policy programs include law coursework and few law schools include training in policy analysis, said Southwestern Dean Bryant Garth.

"While this gap has been addressed to some extent by joint degree programs, many students want the exposure to another discipline without the time and expense of a dual degree program," Garth said. "Our new programs provide a very practical solution."

Enrollment in the certificate programs will be limited, with approximately two to four students enrolled from each school per year. Students generally will be drawn from the top 20 percent of their class at the end of their first year of study.

Over its 100-year history, Southwestern has earned a reputation for the continuing involvement of its graduates in leadership positions in law and policy, particularly within California. Currently in California, Southwestern alumni include more than 75 sitting Superior Court judges, 175 prosecutors, 100 public defenders and two federal district court judges.

Founded in 1970 as one of eight graduate programs in public policy created to train future leaders in the public and private sectors in policy analysis, the Pardee RAND Graduate School was and is the only program specializing in the doctoral degree. It is also the only one based at a research organization and is unique in focusing its core curriculum on analytical tools and methodologies including economics, statistics, operations research, and social and behavioral science research methods.

Prospective students who would like additional information about the programs, can contact Rachel Swanger, associate dean of the Pardee RAND Graduate School, at (310) 393-0411, ext. 7197 or swanger@rand.org, or Molly Selvin, assistant dean for interdisciplinary studies at Southwestern, at (213) 738-6624 or mselvin@swlaw.edu.