The J D is not a doctoral level degree That someone chooses to call it that means nothing There is at least one college that calls all of it B S level alumnae doctor because of some tradition akin to the Italian use of Dottore Everyone agreed that the old D Pharm before the recent changes was a master s level degree When I see surveys of highest level of education completed I often see the J D lumped with professional master s degrees like a M Arch usually 2 3 years or M S W or the like The D C was often lumped in there but they re made an effort to get more people to have completed a B S first to raise their standing as pharmacy is trying to do As mentioned in many fields the terminal degree is a master s for example in many artistic fields M F A I clearly recall arguments reported in The Chronicle of Higher Ed over whether a J D holder should be a university s president given the lack of a terminal doctoral degree I also point out that following a J D one still takes a master s or higher doctorate as the next step if desired In my experience J D holders occasionally use Doctor in very formal settings in academiaif speaking at a graduation ceremonybut for the most part no Certainly I consider them to have a degree that is the equivalent of a 3 year M Arch Since there is no pre law curriculum it just isn t comparable to a Ph D biologist who took a B S and M S in the same subject