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 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 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