The Graduate School of Law is comprised of three divisions: Professional Legal Studies ("School of Law"), Academic Legal Studies, and Political Science. The three-year "School of Law" will be explained under its own heading (http://www.law.kobe-u.ac.jp/english.html). The latter two divisions provide a five-year graduate program consisting of a two-year program leading to the master's degree program and a three-year program leading to the doctoral degree. For the master's degree program, students who have successfully completed an undergraduate program are eligible to apply. Students in this program are conferred a master's degree: either a master of law (LL.M.) or a master of political science upon completion. After completing this program, some students proceed to the doctoral program while others find employment. In the master's degree program, each division has 3 research groups: one dedicated to training future scholars, another dedicated to training students to become professionals with expertise in law and political science, and the last dedicated to training students who seek to expand their working experiences. In the doctoral program, each division has 2 research groups: one for training future scholars and the other for advanced professional experts in the public or private sectors.
In 2003, the Graduate School of Law was given the distinct honor of becoming a site for the prestigious Center of Excellence academic research program.