Posted by Randy Barnett: Getting a Law Teaching Job: Lots has been posted lately about getting a law teaching job and I won�t try to link to it all. (For a starter set of links click [1]here.) I thought I would add my 2 cents. First as to credentials. These consist of law school, law review, grades and honors, clerkships, and practice experience. As someone who may be interested in teaching, you should think of these as �pluses� rather than absolute requirements. The more of these pluses you have, the better your chances. Why? Each is a different form of vetting. Put yourself in the position of an appointments committee member charged with filling 20 interview slots from the 700-900 one page resumes you leaf through. How do you choose? Each of these qualifications is an indication that other people have vetted the candidate already. After the law school admissions process vets you, there comes grades by each professor, law review competition (grades and, in some schools, writing), vetting by judges hiring clerks, vetting by law firms. The more competitive is each vetting and the more vettings a candidate passes, the more attractive he or she looks to a committee member with very limited information about each applicant. And at each stage of vetting, you develop references who can vouch for your character and your talents. What is being vetted? Good question. Largely smarts and willingness to apply one�s smarts to demanding tasks. The ambition and ability to make pursue a scholarly agenda is largely gleaned from publications. (see below) Can someone be an excellent professor without some or all of these credentials? Of course. I lacked most of the items on this list myself, which partially explains why I went through the AALS job market twice before getting any job offers (from Chicago-Kent and the University of Florida � I chose Kent). In my case, the vetting process almost led to my exclusion from academia. Nevertheless, I think, while highly imperfect, it is rational given very limited information. For example, how many excellent legal scholars have emerged from the Cook County State�s Attorney�s office? None that I know of. To some extend you can compensate for the absence of some of these pluses by publishing. I had an article published in Ethics�a premier peer-reviewed philosophy journal that I wrote while in law school. (To read it click [2]here.) This undoubtedly contributed to my being hired but it was not enough to get me many interviews the first time around. The only difference between my first time through the AALS and my second was my move from the Cook County State�s Attorney�s Office to the University of Chicago as a research fellow. And I had yet to do any research. The downside of publishing is that it may reveal vulnerabilities in your candidacy. In my case, my article revealed my libertarian inclinations which could have hurt me with some appointments committee members. I will never know. Others may simply not think well of your article. The pitfall for appointments committees is to judge pre-appointment writings by tenure standards. On the other hand, since tenure is so easily obtained at most schools, it may make sense to screen for tenure quality work before hiring an entry level candidate. I hesitated to post anything on this subject because there is so much to say. Far more than I have said here. But I wanted to make the point that, while no one credential is essential, the more you have the better are your chances (though there are still no guarantees). The best ways to increase your odds is (a) do very well in your first year (b) consider transferring to a higher status law school, (c) compete for law review and if you don�t make it join an alternative journal, (d) write a publishable piece while on the journal (the failure to do so is taken as a negative sign), (e) apply for a federal clerkship, (f) take a more prestigious job after graduation, (g) specialize in a field that is always in demand and is considered less political�like corporations or tax (h) WRITE A PUBLISHED SCHOLARLY ARTICLE in your field, (i) consider getting an SJD or LLM from a higher status school than your JD, (j) consider applying for Visiting Assistant Professor programs that give you the opportunity to teach and write. Oh yes, you should TALK IN CLASS and see your professors outside of class so they get to know you and can be knowledgeable references for you. Strongly consider identifying the more successful scholars on your law school�s faculty and apply to be their research assistant for the summer between your first and second year. This will enable them to advise you and go to bat for you when the time comes. And you will get to observe first hand how a productive scholar works, which will give you something to emulate. If you really want a teaching job, then you should be willing to extend yourself to get it. Last words of advice. I really enjoy teaching. Given that teaching occupies so much of our energies as professors, you should love teaching and try hard to be good at it. But if you do not also have a passion for writing and publishing, then you are dooming yourself to a frustrating teaching career. For better or worse, most of the external rewards of academia go to those who are successful scholars. The job has two parts, teaching and scholarship (plus committee work), so if you do not love and excel at both, you should strongly consider becoming a clinical professor, a highly valuable and rewarding career for those who enjoy teaching without the pressure to publish. And the credentials to get this type of position are often less demanding given that scholarship is not ordinarily expected of clinical professors�though you can always write and publish if you want to. Finally, if you are interested in legal education but do not want either to write OR teach, you should consider a career in legal administration. Being a dean of students or admissions or placement can be a terrific job�and it is a career path that is largely overlooked by law students.
References 1. http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2005_03_06-2005_03_12.shtml#1110176668 2. http://www.randybarnett.com/restitution.html _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://highsorcery.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
