Regulations
Dual Degree Program
Juris Doctor - Master of Earth and Environment Resources Management
University of South Carolina

USC School of Law: www.law.sc.edu      School of the Environment: www.environ.sc.edu

For additional information or questions, contact:   geidel@environ.sc.edu

 1.          Students who enter the program must: 

(a)        Be admitted to the School of the Environment’s MEERM Program 

(b)        Be admitted to the School of Law 

(a & b mean that the student must meet all entrance requirements of each school and be accepted as a student therein.) 

(c)      Be admitted to the Dual Degree Program.  Admission to the dual degree program must be made by application to both programs and both programs must approve the student’s admission to the dual degree program. 

(d)     Each program shall maintain appropriate records on each student in the program.

 2.       The program is prospective in operation. 

(a)      Those students holding a graduate degree in Earth and Environmental Resources Management or a Law degree will not be eligible for admission to the program. 

(b)     Students currently enrolled in either school may enter the program and appropriate credit granted by both schools with due care exercised to effect the transition to insure the closest compliance with these regulations as the individual situation of each student permits. 

3.         Students will often complete the dual degree program in four years.  Students shall begin the program by completing the first full year in the School of Law.  In the remaining years a student’s course work will be divided between the J.D. program and the MEERM program. 

4.         Students must maintain the academic requirements presently in effect or as may be placed in effect to remain in the program. 

(a)      Failure to maintain the requisite academic standing requirements of either school will preclude the student’s continuation in the program in the semester he or she becomes ineligible. 

(b)     The student may continue to complete the degree requirements in the school whose academic standing he or she has met. 

(c)      A student dropped from the program for academic deficiency may not re-enter. 

5.       (A)          The School of Law will grant up to 9 hours credit toward the J.D. degree for work completed in the MEERM Program with a minimum grade of C.  No degree credit will be granted by the School of Law when the candidate earns a grade of less than C in the MEERM Program.  Several courses published in the Earth and Environmental Resources Management Program, School of the Environment, University of South Carolina Courses as available for credit, are excluded as courses available for credit in the  MEERM-JD program.  These courses deal with legal issues and students in the joint program should select their additional business, finance, management, policy or science courses from non-legal courses.  Therefore, the following courses are excluded as credit courses in the dual degree program: 

Although students in the dual degree program may take any of the non-excluded listed MEERM courses, selection of the following courses to meet the MEERM requirements is highly recommended: 

Potential courses, in addition to the nine hours of School of Law courses listed below, to satisfy the 1/3 of the program in Business, Environmental Management and Policy: 

Potential courses to satisfy the 1/3 of the program in Earth Resources and Environmental Science or Engineering: 

(B)          The School of the Environment will grant up to 9 hours of credit toward the MEERM degree for specified course work completed in the School of Law.  No credit will be granted when a candidate earns less than a C grade in the School of Law.  All Graduate School academic requirements will be applicable to students participating in the Dual Degree Program. 

The School of the Environment will award  credit  toward the MEERM degree for up to nine hours earned in the following School of Law courses: 

 In addition, the School of the Environment will award credit toward the MEERM degree for such other Law School courses approved by the Joint Committee. 

6.          Students enrolled in this program must have completed the requirements for both degrees to come within the provisions of paragraph 5. 

7.       The School of Law will assign a P, F, or W grade as may be appropriate for purposes of determining the Law School G.P.R. with respect to non-Law School courses taken in the MEERM Program. 

(a)      The Joint Committee assigned to administer the program will take appropriate action to insure that each school is notified of the grades earned so that proper entries are made on the student’s record. 

(b)     The Joint Committee will adopt any forms necessary to carry out the objectives of the program. 

8.       The Joint Committee shall consist of one faculty member from the School of the Environment and one faculty member from the Law School appointed by the Dean of the School of the Environment and the Dean of the Law School in accordance with practice for committee appointments in each school.  They shall each pass on, endorse all applications to the J.D.-MEERM program and take all necessary administrative action to insure that the purposes, spirit, and intent of the program are fulfilled. 

The student may not take courses for credit under the dual degree program in one program where there is substantial duplication of material with a course which the student has taken in the other program. 

(a)      The Committee shall decide all questions of duplication or preemption of courses the student desires to take.  It is understood that each committee member will confer with the member of his or her faculty whose course or seminar the student desires to take for credit in this program where it appears that there is substantial duplication of material or preemption of the course by a similar course in the other program. 

(b)     If the Joint Committee shall be in disagreement with regard to the duplication of material or preemption then each shall confer as follows: 

(1)       The School of the Environment’s representative of the Joint Committee shall confer with and abide by the decision reached by the School’s Graduate Committee. 

(2)          The Law School’s representative on the Joint Committee shall confer with and abide by the decision reached by the Curriculum Committee of the School of Law. 

(3)          Each member of the Joint Committee shall be present and be permitted to present and discuss the matter on which there is disagreement with the Committee of each program. 

(4)          In the event a student is aggrieved by a decision of the Joint Committee denying him or her permission to take a course in either program he or she desires to take under this Dual Degree Program, the student may appeal the decision to the Committee of the school in which he or she seeks to undertake such work.  The decision of that committee shall be final and binding on the Joint Committee. 

9.       The Joint Committee shall take every effort to accommodate the needs of the student consistent with the aims and objectives of the program.  The Committee members shall counsel with the student, recommend alternative courses and otherwise assist him or her in furthering his or her career objectives through the Dual Degree Program.

10.     (A)       Course or seminar work undertaken in the MEERM Program for the Law School Credit will be at the 500 level or above.

 (B)             The entire program for both degrees must be completed within a period of six academic years unless substantial reasons acceptable to the Joint Committee are given.  In such event, each case will be judged on its individual merits and decisions in the case of other students will not serve as precedent. 

11.          Students in the joint program undertaking a thesis in the MEERM program shall have a member of the law school faculty on their thesis supervision committee.  Students in the joint program who have the approval of the Dean of the School of the Environment for the non-thesis option in the MEERM program shall be required to:  

                (A)   complete ENVR 790, a directed individual studies project through  the School of the Environment; and,

                (B)     complete faculty-supervised independent research (LAWS 570), as defined and regulated by the Law Student Handbook, on a subject related to environmental law.  This LAWS 570 research paper can also serve to satisfy the  “substantial legal research project” required for a J.D. degree (Law Student Handbook III.C).   

12.       A Program of Study, as required by the Graduate School, shall be approved by the Joint Committee prior to the beginning of the student’s second year.  Each student must submit his or her proposed schedule to the Joint Committee in sufficient time prior to registration to permit the Joint Committee to act on it.  Therefore, students in the program should confer with the Joint Committee at regular and frequent intervals when schedules become available. 

13.      The Joint Committee may make such other regulations concerning matters not contained  herein which have not been anticipated and which are in keeping with the objectives of the program and the desires of both faculties, keeping always in mind the wishes of the student and his or her career objectives. 

14.      Any student withdrawing from one of the programs in the Dual Degree Program will be required to satisfy all of the requirements of the degree program in which he retains candidacy.