Advice for Academic Job Seekers
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First FAR distribution has 380 candidates…
…which is down slightly from last year. There were about the same number of jobs advertised in the first placement bulletin as last year. For amusement, I looked at the CVs of the 16 candidates who listed “Jurisprudence” as one of their preferred subjects. Of these, I would say two were qualified to teach legal…
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Top Producers of Law Teachers at the Leading Law Schools Since 1995 (published originally January 31, 2011)
This study identifies the law school alma mater (J.D. only) of tenure-stream academic faculty at 43 leading law faculties who graduated since 1995. Faculty lists are current for 2010-11. “Leading” law faculties were defined as those that are either in the top 35 in the academic reputation surveys conducted by U.S. News & World Report…
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Where U.S. law professors earned their law degree (2008)
The old Leiter Law Rankings site is going offline August 20, so readers who want any of the material there should copy it before then. I am going to post here some of the data that strike me as particularly useful, starting with data on placement in law teaching. =========== This study is based on…
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Hiring committees can announce themselves and their priorities…
…via Professor Lawsky’s spreadsheet at Prawfs.
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Dear AALS: a suggestion for the FAR form
In the choices of positions for those currently in law teaching positions (e.g., “Professor,” “Lecturer” etc.), there is no provision for those who are “teaching” professors or “professors from practice” (or “professor of the practice”), which are increasingly common titles. Please think about adding those! Currently, I advise candidates to choose the closest title (e.g.,…
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Warwick “mentoring” scheme for “early career researchers” from the Global South, with a focus this year on scholars from India
An interesting initiative from moral, political and legal philosophers at the University of Warwick: “The Centre for Ethics, Law and Public Affairs (CELPA) at the University of Warwick is pleased to announce the CELPA Mentoring Scheme. The Scheme aims to support academics from groups underrepresented in moral, legal, and political philosophy, particularly researchers without established…
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Lawsky’s Entry-Level Hiring Report for 25-26
So the final results are in, and since my earlier post, there have (happily) been many more reports of rookie hires that came in, and the total this year is over 100, but still down from last year. (There have also been additions to my laterals list, but the total is still half of what…
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Collapse of academic freedom in the U.S.
The 2026 Academic Freedom Index documents it clearly: Of course, there are differences between private and public universities in the U.S. in terms of the collapse of academic freedom, and also differences among public schools depending on whether they are in “blue” or “red” states. One might quibble with aspects of how the report characterizes…
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Law school applicants up 10.6% this year (and the season is almost over)
That compares to early on when applicants were up more than 33%. The applicant pool has a significant impact on law school hiring, since almost all law schools are almost entirely dependent on tuition. That bodes well for next year’s job market for new law teachers, but even more important will be how things look…
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What do you need to find out now that you’ve gotten a tenure-track offer?
MOVING TO FRONT, SINCE SCHOOLS ARE MAKING OFFERS (ORIGINALLY POSTED NOVEMBER 24, 2009–I HAVE UPDATED CERTAIN NUMBERS)–SEE ALSO THE COMMENTS, WHICH HAVE HELPFUL ADDITIONAL SUGGESTIONS With luck, some of you seeking law teaching jobs will have gotten offers of tenure-track positions. What then? Here’s roughly what I tell the Chicago job candidates we work with…
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Lawsky’s Law School Hiring Information
Professor Lawksy has created a website with all the information she has been helpfully collecting over a number of years now. Definitely bookmark it if you’re an aspiring legal academic.
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This is a more plausible “ranking” of law reviews…
…based on an aggregation of various metrics. I would disregard the ordinal order entirely, and think solely in terms of "clusters." This is certainly more sensible than the bizarre Washington & Lee ranking of law reviews (which is part of this aggregation, but whose weirdness is neutralized by some of the other metrics used here).
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406 candidates in the first FAR distribution for 2025-26…
…which is the highest number since before the pandemic, and an increase of almost 15% since last year.
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18% decline in jobs in first AALS jobs bulletin compared to last year
These are individual postings for entry-level, tenure-track law teaching jobs: 143 to 118. I had expected a "tightening" last March due to the Trump war on the universities, but it looks like the countervailing force (strong applicant pools and law school enrollments) may have helped avert a total collapse. One unknown is how many, if…
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Faculty hiring freezes?
At my philosophy blog, I'm collecting information, please contribute there.
In addition to many interesting points above, I wonder if welcoming AI into the research process turns off many academics…