It is the end of the semester and I need to hit the books and writing hard and finish strong. Still, with me going to law school this fall, I couldn't help perusing through some blogs last night, looking at what it takes to become a law professor. Here is some of what I've found (emphasis mine):
As Larry Solum (Law, San Diego) remarks here (and as data Solum has collected and I have collected in the past confirm), it's really not the case that "top five" is the relevant parameter: per capita, Yale Law School leads everyone by a wide margin in producing new law teachers (not a good thing for the legal academy, but that's a subject for a different day); after Yale, Harvard and Stanford lead everyone else, again by substantial margins (Harvard leads in gross numbers, but per capita, Harvard and Stanford are largely neck-and-neck). "Top 3" not "top 5" is probably the more relevant parameter.
And even there some caveats are needed. ...for "law and economics," someone not in to one of the top schools strong in that area ought to be choosing George Mason over many other schools more highly ranked overall by U.S. News and by reliable measures.
Christine Hurt weighs in with her thoughts on jumping into the law school professor credentialing fray:
...it is not fair that doing poorly on the LSAT one Saturday can pre-determine your law school and your career path. But statistics do not determine individual success. So, if you didn't go to a top, top, top law school, you cannot use your degree as a proxy for intellectual rigor. So, give them something else. Show them.
Glenn Reynolds points to several useful posts:
INTERESTED IN BECOMING A LAW PROFESSOR? You might want to read this post, and also this one (and this one) over at PrawfsBlawg. And Christine Hurt has more advice that's worth reading, too.
If you're interested in applying this coming year, it's already late, though there's still time -- the first deadline to sign up with the AALS as a faculty candidate is August 5, and you're well-advised not to miss it. Go here for more information.
And this article provides a useful overview of the process, which is quite different from what's followed in many other academic disciplines.
Reynolds shares more thoughts here, here, here, and here.
Orin Kerr over at the Volokh Conspiracy on the long road to being a law professor:
...there is a wide gap between the success rates of candidates who are committed to getting a teaching job and those who are less committed to it. ...those who are willing to work really hard, write up a storm, and are flexible about what jobs they'll take usually end up with something eventually. Of course, it's hard to generalize on a point like this. I don't want to make it seem like anyone can be a law professor if they try hard enough; that's not true. But in my admittedly limited experience, my sense is that those who keep knocking on the door have a pretty good chance of having someone let them in.
More advice can be found on the Volokh Conspiracy in this series of posts:
- Getting a Law Teaching Job:
- Getting a Law Teaching Job II:
- Getting a Law Teaching Job III:
- Getting a Law Teaching Job IV:
Lawrence Solum writes:
...if you are attending a school outside the top three (or top twenty), you should think about creating an environment that will enable you to write before you go on the job market--that could be an LlM or SJD program, PhD program, a Visiting Assistant Professorship, or a legal writing position at one of the schools (like Chicago) that emphasizes preparation for the academic job market for the instructors.
Eric Goldman takes a look at law professor salaries 2006-07. He remarks that law profs seem to do better than their academic peers. (See more detailed stats for law profs here.) Law profs seem to earn significantly more on average than other academic disciplines. Goldman also has another post with many great links relating to careers in law teaching.
The Association of American Law Schools (AALS) has an article on a recruit's advice for faculty recruiting.
It's not specific to teaching, but GMU law prof, David Bernstein, gives his advice for choosing a lower-ranked school over a higher-ranked one. (See US News and World Report and Brian Leiter's law school rankings.)
I have no idea if I will end up working in a law school, a college of liberal arts and sciences, a business school, a school of public policy, or something else, but my impression is that having both a JD and PhD will expand my potential opportunity set. Regardless of where I end up, I aim to make the field of law and economics a significant focus of my future research and teaching.
Some of my initial thoughts for law school are to try to take advantage of both my economics and engineering background and combine them with GMU's comparative advantage in law and economics and intellectual property. I am aware this plan may change significantly as I progress through the program and continue to learn, but it seems like a good direction to aim towards as I set out on this journey. Above all, I need to focus on making good grades and getting some articles published over the next few years.
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