To be honest, I don't think this fight is worth fighting as I'm not sure
it is winnable, at least in the sense of calling yourself Doctor. It is
certainly important to defend your qualifications to teach the subject.
By the title itself, I doubt will be accepted by your colleagues. I very
much doubt if it would be even in Canada and from my experience in the
UK and Australasia and what I know of Germany, I don't see the title
flying. I recall both my grandparents who had Doctors of either Law of
Economics from Germany making the distinction clearly that they were not
entitled to call themselves Doctor. Their qualifications were more akin
to a Master's degree. Given the importance of titles in Europe I
understand your concern. But I would focus on qualifications for the
position rather than title itself. I think pushing the latter would a)
not likely be successful and b) would raise backs where that is not the
aim.

Sally

Lawrence B. Landman wrote:

> As a person who didn't start the discussion, but certainly encourged
> it, I
> feel I should defend it, at least from my perspective.  I am looking
> at it
> as an American working in Europe.  In Europe one can get a
> undergraduate,
> masters, and Ph.D. in law just as one can for sociology, economics and
> so
> on.  And I'm working in academia.  That naturally leads to the
> question of
> how an American JD fits into the European system.  Europeans say that
> since
> a JD takes classes, does not write a dissertation, and does not have a
>
> masters degree, it is comparable to a masters degree.  I say that
> since it
> qualifies one to be a law professor it is equivilent to a Ph.D.  I
> might
> add I have not been very successfull with this argument.  Saying that
> I can
> call myself "Doctor" would help, as would other arguments such as the
> ones
> others have advanced during this discussion.  I'm always on the
> lookout for
> help in this argument, which has a direct effect on how competent
> Europeans
> perceive me to be.
>
> Larry Landman
>
> >This thread exemplifies what I perceive to be one of the most
> frustating
> >aspects of academia.  I would urge that the academic world often
> concerns
> >itself far too much with the niceties of  "form" at the expense of
> its much
> >more interesting and rewarding converse.
> >
> >Does it really matter whether or not a JD or LLM is called "Dr."?
> Taken out
> >of the context in which most of us work, the answer is no, of course
> not.
> >It seems to me that our concern with this issue arises from the
> perception
> >(real or imagined) that someone with that particular title in front
> of her
> >moniker is (pick one) smarter, more educated, more respected, cooler,
> less
> >redolent, more redolent or  better looking than the next person.
> (Alright,
> >maybe not better looking.)
> >
> >In any event, it's elitist, anti-egalitarian, archaic and even
> barbaric.
> >Why did we in the US abandon all the old titles like baron, lord,
> sir, your
> >excellence, etc., etc.?  I believe it was Monty Python that had a
> skit in
> >which some laughably pompous character was repeatedly and with mock
> respect
> >referred to by his underlings as "your [expletive deleted]ness."  The
> bearer
> >of this title didn't seem to notice its disparaging
> connotation--presumably
> >he was too absorbed with his own importance, and only knew that he
> was
> >properly being referred to as "your" something or another.  Not to
> belabor a
> >sophmoric point, but titles like these rail against the idea that a
> person
> >should be judged on who they are and what they can do, rather than
> what we
> >are required to call them.  Most of us teach in business schools, in
> which
> >we are charged with training students to be better citizens of an
> >increasingly democratic and capitalist world.  Yet we are ourselves
> caught
> >up in a feudalistic title-grubbing.
> >
> >Perhaps we lawyers should be the first group of academics to insist
> that we
> >be judged on what we can do, not what we're called.  It wouldn't be
> the
> >first sacred cow toppled by lawyers in the interest of improving
> society.
> >
> >My favorite "Dr."?  Dr. Suess.
> >
> >
> >
> >Kent Schenkel
> >University of North Carolina at Wilmington
> >[log in to unmask]
>
> --
>
> Lawrence B. Landman
> Roskilde University
> Management Studies
> Department of Social Sciences
> P.O. Box 260
> DK-4000, Roskilde, Denmark
> Tel. +45 46 74 25 04
> Fax  +45 46 74 30 81
> [log in to unmask]