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Signing Bonuses for Junior Faculty?

Brian Leiter

A colleague elsewhere writes:

I’ve just heard from my Dean that at least one law school is offering signing bonuses ($25,000) to entry-level candidates. I’ve never heard of this before. Is it becoming common? And, whether it is or not, should it? It is a way to attract candidates without distorting the pay scale. Certainly other blandishments — reduced teaching loads, sabbaticals, higher travel/RA allowances, book budgets, and so forth — are by now unexceptionable. I can imagine that a school might prefer a one-time payment to a long-term commitment, and a rookie teacher might like the extra cash for travel or a downpayment on a house or something of that sort. But it feels a bit odd, and I’m not sure law schools want to go the path of major firms. Any reaction?

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One response to “Signing Bonuses for Junior Faculty?”

  1. Fred Moss

    If competition among the schools for “hot” young law profs is tight, like pro teams hiring draft prospects, signing bonuses are a natural consequence. In fact, many firms in effect give signing bonuses to new hires who defer their first year to clerk for a federal judge.
    And if the competition gets even hotter, then we can expect other inducements to arise, such as, “performance incentive clauses” like, oh,
    > an additional $30,000 for the first law review article placed in a top 20 law review within the first 12 months; $50,000 if it is in a top 10 review;
    > an additional $50,000 for the second top 20 article;
    > an addtional $25,000 if, after the prof’s first year, the law school rises in the USNWR rankings (sorry Brian); $35,000 if it gets into the next plateau (e.g., from the 20’s to the teens);
    > etc.

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