Press release, April 13, 2010

University of Texas School of Information and School of Law launch new joint degree in

Legal Information Studies

In the fall 2010 semester the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Information and

School of Law will admit the first cohort of students for a new three-year MSIS/JD dual

The dual degree program responds to an increased need for specialists trained in both of

these fields and thus positioned to help address legal issues arising from the

increasingly complex and changing world of information use, retrieval, and storage in the

twenty-first century. Several years in the planning, the program results from shared

recognition that not only is digital information changing the practice of law, but that

increasing reliance on digital information is changing our understanding of ownership,

concentrated set of coursework in both degree programs and to tailor their programs to

specific areas of interest.

“The legal aspects of information are evolving and complicated,” said Dean Andrew Dillon

of the School of Information. “As the world’s information supply is increasingly born

digital, the international and intellectual challenges facing us need to be tackled by

professionals who understand people and contexts of use as well as they understand the

law.”

The School of Information is home to an intellectually diverse faculty with expertise in

librarianship, user psychology, social informatics, computer science, and archival and

preservation studies. The school offers the nation’s #1 ranked program in Archives and

Preservation and #3 ranked program in Legal Librarianship. Close links with the School of

Law’s Tarlton Law Library offer students unique opportunities to engage in projects and

gain practical experience in all aspects of legal informatics. The Law School is a

top-tier law school with specific strengths in the areas of constitutional, intellectual

property, energy, and international law. The Law School is also home to a nationally

honored trial advocacy program, seventeen legal clinics, and over a dozen special centers

and institutes that facilitate interdisciplinary studies.

Graduates of both programs are in high demand nationally and the new joint degree

formalizes and builds on the tradition of legal librarianship courses offered at

University of Texas over the last two decades.

More information on admissions and a sample program of work can be found on the School of

Information’s Dual Degree Programs webpage.

Program contact:

Dr. Mary Lynn Rice-Lively, Associate Dean, University of Texas School of Information,

Media contact:

Amy Crossette, Director of Public Affairs, University of Texas School of Information,