Visiting Researcher & Scholar Program

Visiting Scholar Program

Boston College Law School is one of the nation's premier institutions of legal learning and scholarship. Among the most selective law schools in the United States, we are a community of scholars and lawyers that enjoys excellent research facilities. Part of a fine research university, the Law School offers a range of highly selective advanced legal studies and research programs, including the LL.M., S.J.D., Drinan Visiting Assistant Professorship, and Visiting Scholar programs.

Prospective Applicants

Please send us an email stating your interest and the status of your communication with a prospective faculty sponsor (see below).

Inquire

About the Program


Overview 

Each year, BC Law hosts select graduate students, researchers from academia and the professions, and senior academics from the US and around the world as Visiting Scholars. They are expected to be in residence at the Law School for a semester or an academic year. Short visits are accommodated under less formal arrangements. 

Visiting Scholars are usually working on a doctoral dissertation elsewhere, seeking an early-career post-doctoral placement or — as occupant of senior position in academia, research institutions, government, or private or civil society institutions — are pursuing in-depth research.


Faculty Sponsors

Visitors must be sponsored by a faculty member who is willing to act as a consultant or main interlocutor on the researcher’s or scholar’s project. Applicants are encouraged to directly contact appropriate faculty members to discuss such sponsorship before submitting their applications.

Information about faculty expertise and research interests is found in the faculty directory.


Resources

Visiting Visiting Scholars have access to facilities of the Law School and the University that enables them to conduct research while in residence.  Those appointed have full library privileges, including dedicated space in the Visiting Scholars Center at the Law Library. They also attend colloquia and other scholarly presentations at the Law School, and are invited to participate in faculty social events.

Visitors may audit Law School courses on a non-credit basis with the permission of the course instructor.

“As one of the world's preeminent institutions for legal learning, research, and scholarship, part of what makes the excellence of our School is the caliber of the visiting scholars that our highly selective program attracts every year from around the United States and the world.”
Paulo Barrozo, Associate Dean of Faculty

Application Information

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Application Dates

Recommended dates:

  • September, for applicants who seek to initiate their period of residence at the beginning of the following spring semester. 

  • April, for applicants who seek to initiate their residence period at the beginning of the following fall semester.

Fees

There is a one-time fee of $2,500.00 dollars for those admitted to the semester or year-long program. In considering requests to waive the fee, the program considers the economic needs of the applicant, reciprocity among institutions, and other special circumstances.

Faculty Sponsors

Visitors must be sponsored by a faculty member who is willing to act as a consultant or main interlocutor on the researcher’s or scholar’s project. Applicants are encouraged to directly contact appropriate faculty members to discuss such sponsorship before submitting their applications. Information about faculty expertise and research interests is found in the faculty directory. 

Inquire

Prospective Visiting Researcher and Visiting Scholar applicants are invited to please send an email to VisitingScholars-Law@bc.edu informing their interest and the status of their communication with a prospective faculty sponsor. Further application instructions will be provided at that point.

Current and Recent Past Visitors

Alejandra Aldana
BC Law LLM 2025

Nazan Begum Ugurluoglu
Ph.D. candidate in Corporate Law, University of Leicester Law School

Yvette Butler
Associate Professor of Law, Maurer School of Law

Jose Ignacio Hernandez Gonzalez
Law Professor and Consultant, Center for Stratigic & International Studies

Alyssa King
Associate Professor, Queen’s University Faculty of Law

Yair Listokin
Shibley Family Fund Professor of Law and Deputy Dean, Yale Law School

Rodrigo Francisco de Paula
Researcher, Faculdade de Direito de Vitória

Laura Sjoberg
Professor of International Relations, University of Oxford and Kloppenburg Official Fellow and Lecturer of Politics, and International Relations, Exeter College

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