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Law schools that produce the most law professors, 2017-2026 (both gross and “per capita” as it were)
Courtesy of Derek Muller. About what I would have expected, although Stanford’s recent performance is better than its historical performance (perhaps the change to USNEWS.com rankings several years ago which pushed Stanford to #1 and demoted Harvard to #5 have helped). I do expect Yale’s numbers to drop in the coming years.
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Chicago Alumni and Fellows on the law teaching market, 2026-27
MOVING TO FRONT FROM AUG 14 This post is strictly for schools that expect to do hiring this year. In order to protect the privacy of our candidates, please e-mail me to get a copy of the narrative profiles of our candidates who are on the entry-level market this year and participating in the FAR.…
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Lateral hires in law with tenure or on tenure-track, 2026-27
These are non-clinical/non-LRW appointments that will take effect in summer or fall 2027 (except where noted); (new additions will be in bold.) Last year’s list is here. *Yonathan Arbel (commercial law, consumer law, law & economics, AI & law) from the University of Alabama to the University of Miami. *Ryan Scoville (foreign relations law, international…
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In Memoriam: Randal C. Picker (1959-2026) (UPDATED)
I’m very sorry to have to report the sudden death yesterday of my esteemed colleague Randy Picker, who was well-known for his work on antitrust, bankruptcy, and intellectual property, among other topics. A triple Chicago grad (B.A., M.A. in economics, J.D.), he clerked for Richard Posner, and joined the Chicago faculty in 1989 after practicing…
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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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In Memoriam: Russell L. Weaver (1952-2026)
Professor Weaver, who spent his academic career at the Univeristy of Louisville (with some visiting stints elsewhere), was a scholar of administrative law, law & technology, and the First Amendment, but may have been best known for his work with S.E.A.L.S. over many years. The S.E.A.L.S. memorial notice is here.
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2003 survey of 150 leading legal academics evaluating faculty quality
Someone should really do this again, since U.S. News reputational surveys are done so poorly. The Survey and the MethodBetween March 3 and March 21, 2003, more than 150 leading legal scholars from around the nation completed the most thorough evaluation of American law faculty quality ever undertaken. Scholars were invited to participate in the…
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SCOTUS clerkship placement, 1991 through 2005 (from 1/16/2006)
A propos this, here is an old study of placement in SCOTUS clerkships for 15 terms. Because of the small number of clerks chosen in a given year; because clerks are only chosen from the very top of any law school’s class; because current clerks participate in the process of selecting new clerks; and because…
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I am no longer using Twitter, I am back on Bluesky
I will post links to the blog there, so if you followed me on Twitter, please follow me on Bluesky (if you are on Bluesky). I only returned to Twitter last year when the prior blog service provider shut down, and I moved to WordPress, and wanted to popularize the new location. That effort has…
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Illinois-Penn Seminar in Legal Theory on Zoom invites inquiries about attending
Leo Katz (Penn) and Michael Moore (Illinois, formerly Penn) shared this announcement: This year’s iteration of the annual Zoom-only Illinois/Penn Legal Theory Seminar taught by Leo Katz and Michael Moore will be devoted to a chapter-by-chapter examination of a new book by Heidi Hurd and Michael Moore, The Morality of the Criminal Law (Edward Elgar…
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2014 Scholarly Impact study: most cited faculty by area
A propos this, here’s another older scholarly impact study (from June 2014): The last scholarly impact study, from 2012, conducted by Prof. Greg Sisk and colleagues at St. Thomas, using the methodology I have used previously, did not include a breakdown of highly cited faculty in various areas of specialization (as we had done in…
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“The Collective: Women in Legal Philosophy”
Information about this organization and its events here. As legal philosopher Barbara Baum Levenbook (a member of the Executive Committee) wrote to me: The mission of The Collective is to promote and support women in legal philosophy and legal theory (broadly defined) who have a commitment to analytical methodology. The Collective began in 2022 as the brainchild of…
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10 lateral moves announced in 2025-26 that made law professors take notice
Based on my in-box and conversations with others, these were 10 moves that transpired this past year that were thought to be the biggest hiring coups: *Alejandro Camacho (environmental law, natural resources law) from the University of California, Irvine to the University of California, Los Angeles (effective January 2026). *Katherine Mims Crocker (constitutional law) from…
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Illinois Institute of Technology declares “financial exigency” and begins firing faculty, including tenured faculty
Up to one-third of the faculty may be terminated, although in the law school, Chicago-Kent, it appears the number is lower (maybe one-fifth by some accounts). If readers have more details, please email me. The main source of the budgetary crisis is the decline in the enrollment of international students, no doubt due to Trump…
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Law schools with placement in the “best” law teaching jobs (2006)
A propos this, another old study from 2006: This study examined which schools are most successful at placing their graduates in “top” law school teaching positions. “Top” law schools for this purpose meant schools that either (1) are ranked in the top 50 by U.S. News with some frequency, or (2) are ranked in the…
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The latest in scams targeting academics: Amy Bloom, the “art curator” in Monaco
The saga continues: philosopher Warren Goldfarb (emeritus, Harvard) shared the email below with me, suspecting it too was a scam: From: Amy Bloom <amybloom1254@gmail.com> Subject: Reflections on Logic, Philosophy, and Cultural Narratives Date: March 13, 2026 at 4:29:11 PM EDT To: [omitted] Dear Professor Goldfarb, I’m Amy, an art curator from Monaco. I work with collectors…
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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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“What do you do when you do jurisprudence? Challenges and New Paths”
This upcoming roundtable at the UK chapter of the IVR (the international association for legal philosophy), organized by Daniel Murata (Surrey), will be online, for those who might be interested:
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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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Lateral hires in law with tenure or on tenure-track, 2025-26 (FINAL UPDATE)
These are non-clinical/non-LRW appointments that will take effect in summer or fall 2026 (except where noted); (new additions will be in bold.) Last year’s list is here. (Link fixed.) *Ted Afield (tax) from Georgia State University to Stetson University. *Yonathan Arbel (commercial law, consumer law, law & economics, AI & law) from the University of…
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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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“From a Realist Point of View” at NDPR
My thanks to Adrian Kreutz (Amsterdam) for this friendly review of my latest book, about which he writes: Leiter’s new volume…is both a fantastic foray into, and recapitulation of, the many forms realism has taken in philosophy and jurisprudence. It builds on the American tradition, but goes beyond that—or, in any case, presents perhaps the…
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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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2026 Tang Prize in the “Rule of Law” awarded to…
…Professor Bruce Ackerman at Yale–an appropriate choice!
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“Law professors as plaintiffs”
A compilation, although it omits some well-known cases (such as Mullenix v. Texas, and Carson v. Texas).
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First the “book club” scam, now the scam of fake editors seeking to learn about your work (UPDATED with another example targeting a philosopher)
AI clearly generates many of the fake “book club” solicitations to authors of new books, and now there’s a new scam: fake editors of actual publishing houses (or impersonating actual academics) soliciting information about an author’s work. One giveaway in the cases noted: the “editors” used gmail and outlook email addresses, rather than university or…
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Lawyers behaving badly…with AI…
…on both sides of a case! All were sanctioned by the court. And one of them is a repeat offender who has been sanctioned before for this in another court. Oy veh.
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Congratulations to the University of Chicago Law School Class of 2026
It was a pleasure and privilege to teach such talented young men and women. I join all my colleagues in wishing you much happiness and success in the years ahead!
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The end of SSRN
Professor Bainbridge comments.
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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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“The Wit and Wisdom of Douglas Laycock”
A nice tribute by his (and my) former student, Christopher Lund, who has established himself as a major scholar in the law & religion field. (Laycock was a member of the legendary Class of 1973 from the University of Chicago Law School [which also included Frank Easterbrook, Douglas Ginsburg, and the late George Priest, among…
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In Memoriam: Ran Hirschl (1963-2026)
A leading scholar of comparative constitutional law, Professor Hirschl spent much of his academic career at the University of Toronto. The Toronto memorial notice is here.
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For Class of 2025, total jobs and BigLaw jobs both declined
Lawprof Derek Muller (Notre Dame) looks at the latest ABA data.
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The American Bar Association needs to investigate Texas Tech Law School for violating the First Amendment rights of a student
A Texas Tech Law alum writes: Texas Tech, as you might know, is in the forefront of demolishing any semblance of academic freedom. Their new system Chancellor (Brandon Creighton) is the former state legislator who authored SB17, the legislation that outlawed DEI, requires Regent review of syllabi, and loosens tenure protections. A Texas Tech School…
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AI prefers to hire resumes written by AI
Oy veh. Pretty pathetic.
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Most cited legal philosophers by D-Index according to research.com (CORRECTED & UPDATED)
We’ve noted the “D-index” (an h-index for discipline-specific journals) calculated by research.com previously. (Their rankings of universities in law are pretty silly, since the faculty lists include deceasd faculty, retired faculty, and faculty who are not law professors.) They clearly don’t count law reviews for D-index, only faculty-edited journals, which is appropriate for legal philosophy.…
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In Memoriam: G. Robert Blakey (1936-2026)
Professor Blakey, emeritus at Notre Dame (where he spent most of his academic career), was perhaps best-known for his work on (and scholarship about) RICO. The Notre Dame memorial notice is here. (Thanks to Sean Seymore for the pointer.)
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Reduced summer blogging schedule
Although most Northern Hemisphere readers are already done with the academic year, at Chicago (on the quarter system) we still have teaching and grading, the latter into early June. I’ll be reducing the frequency of posting starting now, to help me have the time for the latter obligations. But I will continue to post through…
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