MCP + JD

The Department of City & Regional Planning (DCRP) has developed concurrent degree programs with Berkeley Law at UC Berkeley and UC Hastings College of Law (San Francisco), which permit qualified students to obtain both an Master of City Planning (M.C.P.) degree and a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree in four years (rather than the five years necessary if the programs were taken in sequence).

The purpose of this program is to provide an integrated professional curriculum of greater breadth than would otherwise be available for students interested in urban land use, housing, or social policy problems. The planning curriculum offers students training in policy analysis and exposure to theories and programs that address urban development problems. Legal training provides additional analytic skills and substantive knowledge necessary for successful plan and program implementation.

Graduates of the concurrent degree program are qualified for a number of professional roles at the intersection of law and planning. These include municipal attorneys, community development administrators or counsels, staff personnel on legislative committees, development administrators, planning directors, consultant planners, advisors to private clients on land use matters, staff members of governmental agencies, public interest advocates, and executive assistants to mayors, governors, and department heads. Past graduates of the program have found an impressive variety of professional opportunities available to them.

See Master of City Planning—Concurrent Degrees for information on how to apply to the concurrent degree programs.

Note: For the M.C.P./J.D. degree, applicants must fill out separate applications for the M.C.P. program and the J.D. program. For more information on required materials and deadlines for the J.D., please visit the Berkeley Law and UC Hastings College of Law websites respectively.