The condition for legal education varies from one country to another. The Bachelor's or BA degree in Law in one country may be equivalent to a Juris Doctor degree – used in the US, Canada, and Hong Kong, but it is a non––law degree that can be used to apply to law courses.
The field of legal education and degree courses is challenging and ever-changing, and even the Juris Doctor course is not easy as it involves traineeship with professionals.
In the US, the JD certificate is considered a terminal doctoral degree program, the highest level of education available for legal studies.
Many students try to get a JD degree as they prepare for the state's bar exam or when they start providing legal counsel to their clients.
LLM can be pursued by practising lawyers who have already earned a JD and wish to specialize in certain fields.
There are other courses like a JD with a financial education like an MBA, a course on financial markets or MPH or MPP offered by the universities that may involve a joint degree program that allows the students to obtain two degrees in less than a specified duration.
Certain specified programs prepare graduates with a well-rounded education that involves politics, government, business, civil procedures, legal writing, property law, and professional ethics.
Generally, JD degree holders can become magistrates, judges, legal consultants, and court officers.
In Hong Kong, it is considered highly prestigious, just like LLB and is the course offered by the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
However, LLM is the most prestigious degree in the field of Law, which is required for most senior positions.
The US has been offering the course for many years, where JD alone can provide the license to practice Law.
In the same way, the Doctor of Jurisprudence post is considered highly respected in Singapore, and a person can practice law with such a qualification.