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What kind of prospects does a Columbia Law grad have for a career in legal academia?

This data should be helpful: http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2008 ... hing.shtml

Short of it: My sense is that on average, not as good a shot as a YLS or HLS grad (or arguably a Chicago grad), but still a good shot if you do all the right things (publish, publish, publish; great grades, recs, law review, clerk, publish some more), and a lot better shot than a lot of other places. I'd guess it probably depends on field too - CorpLaw? Odds go up. ConLaw? Not so much.

I also got into UChicago- should I be considering Chicago more strongly over CLS for legal academia? The problem I have with the above data is that a higher proportion of Chicago grads may be self-selecting to become law professors, while Columbia may be more corporate oriented...

I also tend to believe that some of the lower numbers at Columbia could be self selection, just because of its reputation for Biglaw instead of PI/Academia.

Either way, you have to rock the hell out of law school to get into academia. Go where you're happiest so you can focus on grades instead of how miserable you are (or at least how much more miserable you are than you would have been if you had gone elsewhere).