<p>Is there a "typical" path to becoming a law professor? I'd like to consider the possibility of teaching somewhere down the road, so is there anything that would give me an upper hand?</p>
<p>A typical path would include graduating in the top 10% (preferably even higher) from a T14 school (preferably Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, though Michigan, Columbia, and Chicago do well too). Law professors were overwhelmingly on law review and had notes published there.</p>
<p>A good clerkship is very valuable; in general federal circuit courts are the best (other than the Supreme Court, of course) but that depends on what you’d like to teach–Supreme Court would obviously be best for con law, but state courts might be better for family law, and there are specialized courts for bankruptcy, tax, etc.</p>
<p>Some profs have experience practicing law (at big firms, nonprofits, government agencies, and corporations). Some have worked overseas and do comparative work. Others have graduate degrees (common ones include economics, political science, psychology, and library science–the last one if you want to teach legal research). Clinical professors and folks who teach legal writing may have different paths. </p>
<p>It is extremely hard to get a job as a law professor, and even harder to get a tenure track job and/or something at a well-ranked school. In fact, the odds of it are so small (even if you get into a great school, the grades/journal/clerkship/job are even more selective) that while it’s a nice goal to have, it should probably not be a main reason to go to law school. You should be happy to do the more common things people do with a law degree, since there are probably only a few thousand full-time law professors in the country.</p>
<p>if you google “tax prof blog” or “law prof blogs” you’ll find some interesting writing by people actually in the field (I’m an attorney but not a professor; several of my friends are clerking/working now and hoping to teach in the future).</p>
<p>(Where I say “You must,” I actually mean “It is almost totally necessary for you to…”)</p>
<p>Harvard or Yale:
You must go to either Harvard or, much preferably, Yale. Any other school in the country – even Stanford or Columbia – and you’re basically done.</p>
<p>Clerkship:
You must get absolutely stunning grades; you must impress at least one very influential professor. At Harvard, you absolutely must be on law review.</p>
<p>The intermediate goal of these things is to get a very prestigious clerkship. SCOTUS if possible, but at the absolute minimum one of the feeder appellate judges.</p>
<p>Publish while a law student:
At the bare, bare minimum, you need to publish a major piece of scholarship. A second one is VERY helpful. Of course, anything beyond that helps too. But really, you should have two. One in a quality journal – ideally as a student note in HLR or YLJ, respectively.</p>
<p>Optional: Get a PhD
Getting a PhD will help a great deal. Depending on what you want to do, the popular fields are history, economics, or philosophy. This, unlike the others, is not really necessary – but combined with the others it would make you quite nearly a shoo-in.</p>
<p>Thank you both for your help. I plan to go to law school because I’m very interested in law and want to become an attorney. I only ask because I would love the chance to teach toward the end of my career because I think it would be very rewarding. I’m not expecting to teach at a top school by any means.</p>
<p>Also-- At what point do you apply for law review? Pardon my ignorance.</p>
<p>It’s not just top schools that require these things – it’s really brutal. With that said, I can imagine that you could become like an adjunct professor or a clinical professor or something like that without the qualifications mentioned above. Just teaching students the practical, day-to-day skills.</p>
<p>If you wanted to do this as a living, to do it full-time, that’s brutal and difficult. But the part-time professors (volunteer?) who help guide young students into being better lawyers, that’s a less selective position.</p>
<p>Law review decisions are generally made during the summer after 1L year. They’re often based very heavily on 1L grades.</p>
<p>Excuse me if this sounds ignorant, but why is becoming a law school professor so hard? I feel like there is more to it than just because there are few positions available.</p>
<p>It has to do with the scarcity of legal jobs in general. And this is one of the best ones – total control over your schedule, no bosses, and it pays on the BIGLAW associate scale.</p>
<p>Bludedevilmike exagerates (but only a little) when he says “you must go to either Harvard or, much preferably, Yale. Any other school in the country – even Stanford or Columbia – and you’re basically done.” </p>
<p>I checked the Faculty Profiles section of Berkeley’s website. For people with the title of Assistant Professor of Law (untenured, but tenure track - recent hires), excluding anyone who was also on the faculty of another academic department, there were five with J.D.s from Yale, 4 with J.D.s from Harvard, and one each with J.D.s from Berkeley, Stanford, and Columbia.</p>
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<p>I don’t think your findings contradict BDM’s post, especially since he stated that “must” means “it is almost totally necessary for you to…”</p>
<p>And he’s right. You are basically done at any other school in the country, because you pretty much have to be in the top 1%-5% of your law school class, which is almost entirely out of your hands.</p>
<p>I suspect you also need to be close to the top of your class at Harvard or Yale.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I was a guest lecturer at a law school for several years (while employed by a corporation). I’ve run many training sessions for my corporate employer, and I’m a mentor in a structured mentoring program. I’ve given a few classes on legal issues for a high school, and I’ve been asked to teach a community college class. There are lots of opportunities to satisfy that urge to teach that fall short of being a tenured, full-time law professor.</p>
<p>Neonzeus, were you asked to be a guest lecturer or did you pursue the opportunity yourself?</p>
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<p>I was asked. Networking is hugely important in the legal field. </p>
<p>As one goes through a legal career, your profile may increase among peers. A lawyer can have opportunities to work on cutting-edge, interesting or high-profile cases that are reported in law journals. A lawyer will also have opportunities to be active in professional organizations, that can lead to increasing recognition in an area of practice. Many attorneys develop an expertise in a field, and then teach CLE or write articles in that field. </p>
<p>You will meet many peers in professional organizations or while attending CLE classes, including law professors and deans. In my experience, many of them are eager to bring guest lecturers with real-world experience into their classrooms. (It may be harder to actually get practicing lawyers to agree, though – I think that only the lawyers with the urge to teach are willing to carve time out of their heavy workloads for the “honor” of teaching LOL).</p>
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<p>Probably top 10% at HLS? At Yale, I’d say the margin of error is significantly higher.</p>
<p>A lot of this depends on where you’re willing to go, too. Are you willing to move to Lubbock or Topeka for a tenure-track job at a third or fourth tier school? If you’re not, your odds get even longer.</p>
<p>I’ve checked the faculty rosters at other law schools:</p>
<p>Santa Clara University: Assistant or Associate Professor: 2 from Berkeley, 3 from Yale, 3 from Stanford, 1 from Harvard, 1 from UCLA.</p>
<p>Washington University in St. Louis - Associate Prof. (no Assistant Professors listed): 1 each from Berkeley, Columbia, Georgetown, Michigan, and Harvard.</p>
<p>Northwestern: Associate Prof. : 1 Harvard, 1 Texas; Assistant Prof.: 1 Harvard, 1 Cornell, 1 Yale.</p>
<p>Perhaps Leitner’s table might be of interest:</p>
<p>[Where</a> Current Law Faculty Went to Law School](<a href=“http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2009job_teaching.shtml]Where”>Where Current Law Faculty Went to Law School)</p>
<p>Leitner’s comment on SJD programs may be relevant as well:</p>
<p>“An SJD is a bit like a PhD in law, but these days it is aimed almost entirely at foreign lawyers. The strong interdisciplinary turn of law schools over the past thirty years means that the credential of real value to an American lawyer is a PhD in a cognate discipline, not a ‘PhD’ in law.”</p>