Anyone have any experience of the JSD at Columbia? How many students are on the program?

The website states: "Equal consideration is given to applicants completing or having completed the LL.M. at Columbia and outside applicants."

I have spotted on the CLS website that there are currently 12 JSD candidates:

http://web.law.columbia.edu/admissions/graduate-legal-studies/jsd-program/jsd-candidates

That is only 4 per year. Why so few? With such a large faculty, surely there is no shortage of supervisors

I'm an LLM student at Columbia atm. I think talking to a research supervisor in advance would definitely help your chances - you want to make sure there is someone who is willing to supervise you and will support your admission. My understanding is that why the supervisor will have some influence, all or part of the faculty decide (I'm not sure if it is a committee with faculty reps or if it is broader than that). The Graduate Legal Studies team who look after LLMs and JSDs are super friendly and helpful, so I suggest you email them if you have questions that you can't find answers to on the website.