Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit Forum

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Adjudicator

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by Adjudicator » Sat Sep 04, 2010 1:53 am

merc280 wrote:Question

Is it that big of a deal for me to try and go to as high of a ranked school as possible to get ahead career
Wise or do you think that non ivy leagues teach the material in pretty much a similar Manner. I ask this because in my mind I can learn so much more from teachers at a high ranked school than one like university of Houston. Or something similarly ranked.
Most law professors went to top schools. Legal academia is competitive.

To use your example, University of Houston, I went to their faculty page and, out of the first 5 teachers, 2 went to Yale and 2 went to Harvard.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:42 am

summerstar wrote:Thanks for your time...whatever time it is!

Just curious about blind grading...my profs hand around our sign- in/attendance sheet which have our names next to our student I.D.'s. How can they NOT know who we are at exam time?
Theoretically, your exam ID number should be different from your student ID number. If that's not the case, then, yes, it's hard to believe the school is doing everything it can to ensure blind grading.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:43 am

whymeohgodno wrote:Do you have any students that you absolutely detest?
No, although I'm sure I will at some point.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:45 am

merc280 wrote:Question

Is it that big of a deal for me to try and go to as high of a ranked school as possible to get ahead career
Wise or do you think that non ivy leagues teach the material in pretty much a similar Manner. I ask this because in my mind I can learn so much more from teachers at a high ranked school than one like university of Houston. Or something similarly ranked.
If you are going to go to law school, go to the best one you can, absent unusual factors (e.g. full scholarship). I'm sure one can get an excellent education at Houston, but employers will look first at the name of your school.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by Adjudicator » Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:49 am

LawProfessor123 wrote:
whymeohgodno wrote:Do you have any students that you absolutely detest?
No, although I'm sure I will at some point.
No? Now I'm starting to doubt your identity. :)

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LawProfessor123

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sat Sep 04, 2010 4:54 am

Adjudicator wrote:OP, what is the snarkiest thing you can remember saying to a student?

What is the most annoying or disrespectful thing you can remember a student saying to you? I know you must have some stories.

I've received some fairly crass emails from students upset with their exams. The most amusing (but frustrating) emails come from students who go off on a rant about how a particular question was poorly worded, when it turns out they got the particular question correct and botched other questions. Usually, when I meet with a student to discuss the allegedly ambiguous question, it comes out that the student didn't study the legal principles being tested and hence found the question confusing.

I nearly lost my cool during a review session when a particular student kept asking, over and over, "will this be on the exam" etc. I gave something along the lines of a curt, annoyed response, but nothing more sensational than that.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sun Sep 05, 2010 5:04 pm

1. Definitely at least one post-law school publication, but preferably 2 or 3. The standards to get a VAP these days are about the same as the standard to get an entry level gig 10 or 15 years ago. Of course, VAP programs vary, and some have a very narrow focus (e.g., a focus on gender law). For these narrower fellowship, the candidate pool will be much smaller and it may be possible to stand out with only 1 publication or only 1 really good work in progress. But as a general rule, you'll need a couple publications to be a strong VAP candidate.

2. The VAP program is more about developing a research agenda, so committees won't necessarily expect you to have one. It's far more common for the applications to ask you to simply describe the work that you will undertake during the VAP. There will be time to connect your paper to a broad theme later on. For a VAP application, though, even a single paragraph describing your general approach should be enough. Of course, a candidate with a well-developed agenda may stand out against her peers.

3. A few years would be a good thing to most school. Just make sure to publish an article or two during your tenure in biglaw. If you work for 4 years and then all of a sudden decide you want to be a prof, it may seem like you just burnt out of legal practice and want to do something different.

You have a good academic background, although that background is important only insofar as it allows you to do the things that really matter -- develop polished publications and obtain opportunities to establish expertise in your field.

Good luck.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Fri Sep 10, 2010 9:36 pm

Here again.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by tgedamu » Fri Sep 10, 2010 11:47 pm

Do you think it would be possible to pursue other academic fields after a law degree? Say if one goes into your kinda field (professorship), is there time to pursue other academic interests?

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sat Sep 11, 2010 1:48 am

tgedamu wrote:Do you think it would be possible to pursue other academic fields after a law degree? Say if one goes into your kinda field (professorship), is there time to pursue other academic interests?
If one becomes a law professor, yes, there is plenty of time to pursue other academic interests. Pursuing academic interests is the primary job of a professor, after all.

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by FlanAl » Sat Sep 11, 2010 2:11 am

0L here so sorry if this is a really dumb question.

Is the main reason for academia being so hard to get into for people outside the T6 or whatever due to bias in legal journals of who they want to publish or connections or something? Just seems like someone from a really low ranked school could maybe write good articles and get them published which seems to be the major hurdle.

Thanks again for coming on and answering questions

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Re: Law Prof, will answer Q's for a bit

Post by LawProfessor123 » Sat Sep 11, 2010 5:44 am

It's of course possible that someone from a lower ranked school will write good articles, but as you perhaps hint, law journals are biased against those without top 10 degrees. On top of that, the top 100 law schools or so will also be biased against those without top 10 degrees. To see how to break into academia from the third tier, check out the leading article by David W Case.
FlanAl wrote:0L here so sorry if this is a really dumb question.

Is the main reason for academia being so hard to get into for people outside the T6 or whatever due to bias in legal journals of who they want to publish or connections or something? Just seems like someone from a really low ranked school could maybe write good articles and get them published which seems to be the major hurdle.

Thanks again for coming on and answering questions

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