Law Prof. Interview Forum

[Anonymous User]

I'm a junior biglaw bro. I got a call today to interview for a tenure-track law prof. job in a pretty cool, non-major city. Pay is like 1/3 biglaw. Do I want this job? I just applied for prof. positions because I had a shitty day at work, but it sounds kinda rad.

[Anonymous User]

Yes. No need to make the final decision now - go interview.

[Anonymous User]

I'm a junior biglaw bro. I got a call today to interview for a tenure-track law prof. job in a pretty cool, non-major city. Pay is like 1/3 biglaw. Do I want this job? I just applied for prof. positions because I had a shitty day at work, but it sounds kinda rad.

You don't need to accept it, even if you go. Also the lifestyle of a law prof is sooo relaxed. They legitimately don't need to work 5 days a week, let alone 60+ hours a week. Give it a shot, would be cool to check it out.

[patogordo]

also how did you do this

[Anonymous User]

also how did you do this

My post is a little whimsical to stay anonymous, but there's a set system and an oci type set up where all the candidates that get bids and schools go to dc.

[patogordo]

also how did you do this

My post is a little whimsical to stay anonymous, but there's a set system and an oci type set up where all the candidates that get bids and schools go to dc.

oh the meat market. lol it sounded like you just called up a random school like "yo can i be a prof" and they said sure np

still congrats

[A. Nony Mouse]

Do you want to teach and write law review articles? That's basically what you'd be doing. Oh, and eventually committee work (where you try to get faculty to agree on things, ha). There are very few boundaries between work life/personal life in academia (but after biglaw I doubt that would be so bad). You'd also probably have to believe that LR articles are worth something, or you'd find academia really frustrating.

[jbagelboy]

looks like a DF thread

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to teach and write law review articles? That's basically what you'd be doing. Oh, and eventually committee work (where you try to get faculty to agree on things, ha). There are very few boundaries between work life/personal life in academia (but after biglaw I doubt that would be so bad). You'd also probably have to believe that LR articles are worth something, or you'd find academia really frustrating.

I get where you're coming from, but law reviews are at least as important as the paper shuffling I do for 12 hours a day now.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Do you want to teach and write law review articles? That's basically what you'd be doing. Oh, and eventually committee work (where you try to get faculty to agree on things, ha). There are very few boundaries between work life/personal life in academia (but after biglaw I doubt that would be so bad). You'd also probably have to believe that LR articles are worth something, or you'd find academia really frustrating.

I get where you're coming from, but Law reviews are at least as important as the paper shuffling I do for 12 hours a day now.

Sure, but it doesn't sound like shuffling those papers is really fulfilling you right now. (I mean, if you do think LR articles are worth sometime that's cool too, profs generally do.)

[Anonymous User]

also how did you do this

My post is a little whimsical to stay anonymous, but there's a set system and an oci type set up where all the candidates that get bids and schools go to dc.

oh the meat market. lol it sounded like you just called up a random school like "yo can i be a prof" and they said sure np

still congrats

Sounds like I'm up against 3-4 others from the call. I've never done the meat market before. Just fell into it.

[Anonymous User]

Do you want to teach and write law review articles? That's basically what you'd be doing. Oh, and eventually committee work (where you try to get faculty to agree on things, ha). There are very few boundaries between work life/personal life in academia (but after biglaw I doubt that would be so bad). You'd also probably have to believe that LR articles are worth something, or you'd find academia really frustrating.

I get where you're coming from, but Law reviews are at least as important as the paper shuffling I do for 12 hours a day now.

Sure, but it doesn't sound like shuffling those papers is really fulfilling you right now.

It's not bad. I have bad days where I come home take some shots and start applying to jobs, but all in all it's fine. Nothing great, nothing too fulfilling. I doubt I could make as much as I do with my skillset doing anything else, and if I could it would be a similarly intense job.

[Anonymous User]

Also, anyone have intel on what schools want to hear in a prof. interview? Do ties matter?

[Anonymous User]

Also, if I get it, TLS should help write my syllabus.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Also, anyone have intel on what schools want to hear in a prof. interview? Do ties matter?

I suspect a great deal will be about your research agenda - what you want to write about, how you plan to do it. Maybe also what courses you want to teach and how you'd go about teaching them. (At least, extrapolating from general academic interviews.)

[Anonymous User]

I think this would be helpful to review before interviews: http://prawfsblawg.blogs.com/prawfsblaw ... t-asu.html

Also, you should reach out to professors you had good relationships with in law school. A few of my professors encouraged me to pursue academia and said to make sure I got back in touch with them if I headed down that path. Apparently, they are able to be very helpful down the road. Good luck!

[XxSpyKEx]

I'm a junior biglaw bro. I got a call today to interview for a tenure-track law prof. job in a pretty cool, non-major city. Pay is like 1/3 biglaw. Do I want this job? I just applied for prof. positions because I had a shitty day at work, but it sounds kinda rad.

Surprised that the pay is only 1/3 of biglaw pay. I was under the impression that law profs made around $300k /year to work like 5 hours per week

[Anonymous User]

I'm a junior biglaw bro. I got a call today to interview for a tenure-track law prof. job in a pretty cool, non-major city. Pay is like 1/3 biglaw. Do I want this job? I just applied for prof. positions because I had a shitty day at work, but it sounds kinda rad.

Surprised that the pay is only 1/3 of biglaw pay. I was under the impression that law profs made around $300k /year to work like 5 hours per week

No. This school seems to have lower prof. salaries than the school I graduated from.

Another question: how sure do I need to be that this is my path before I accept? One thing about biglaw is that it keeps a fair number of post-biglaw doors open. Who would hire someone that taught for a few years and then wanted to go back to practice? Probably no one, right? While I'm pretty excited, the idea of closing doors always gives me the chills.

[MarkRenton]

Hey, I made the jump from lawyer to academia. Feel free to message me if you have questions. I would HIGHLY recommend academia, fwiw

[Anonymous User]

I'm a junior biglaw bro. I got a call today to interview for a tenure-track law prof. job in a pretty cool, non-major city. Pay is like 1/3 biglaw. Do I want this job? I just applied for prof. positions because I had a shitty day at work, but it sounds kinda rad.

Surprised that the pay is only 1/3 of biglaw pay. I was under the impression that law profs made around $300k /year to work like 5 hours per week

No. This school seems to have lower prof. salaries than the school I graduated from.

Another question: how sure do I need to be that this is my path before I accept? One thing about biglaw is that it keeps a fair number of post-biglaw doors open. Who would hire someone that taught for a few years and then wanted to go back to practice? Probably no one, right? While I'm pretty excited, the idea of closing doors always gives me the chills.

Depends on who you are. If you were some SCOTUS litigator who did some bad ass shit before becoming a prof, then a lot of firms will scoop you up in a heartbeat. If you were a nobody 3rd year biglaw associate with no substantive experience in anything, then it might be harder to get back into practicing. Although, as a practical matter, no tenure track profs ever leave academia to practice. Being a law prof is likely the easiest and chillest job you will find in this profession, so it's not difficult to figure out why virtually no tenure track law profs ever go back to practicing. Personally, I'd jump on the opportunity and never look back.

[Anonymous User]

Depends on who you are. If you were some SCOTUS litigator who did some bad ass shit before becoming a prof, then a lot of firms will scoop you up in a heartbeat. If you were a nobody 3rd year biglaw associate with no substantive experience in anything, then it might be harder to get back into practicing. Although, as a practical matter, no tenure track profs ever leave academia to practice. Being a law prof is likely the easiest and chillest job you will find in this profession, so it's not difficult to figure out why virtually no tenure track law profs ever go back to practicing. Personally, I'd jump on the opportunity and never look back.

I'm just a nobody man. The job does sound sweet. I'm just nervous that I get there and I realize that I'd rather have money.

[MarkRenton]

I'm a junior biglaw bro. I got a call today to interview for a tenure-track law prof. job in a pretty cool, non-major city. Pay is like 1/3 biglaw. Do I want this job? I just applied for prof. positions because I had a shitty day at work, but it sounds kinda rad.

Surprised that the pay is only 1/3 of biglaw pay. I was under the impression that law profs made around $300k /year to work like 5 hours per week

No. This school seems to have lower prof. salaries than the school I graduated from.

Another question: how sure do I need to be that this is my path before I accept? One thing about biglaw is that it keeps a fair number of post-biglaw doors open. Who would hire someone that taught for a few years and then wanted to go back to practice? Probably no one, right? While I'm pretty excited, the idea of closing doors always gives me the chills.

Depends on who you are. If you were some SCOTUS litigator who did some bad ass shit before becoming a prof, then a lot of firms will scoop you up in a heartbeat. If you were a nobody 3rd year biglaw associate with no substantive experience in anything, then it might be harder to get back into practicing. Although, as a practical matter, no tenure track profs ever leave academia to practice. Being a law prof is likely the easiest and chillest job you will find in this profession, so it's not difficult to figure out why virtually no tenure track law profs ever go back to practicing. Personally, I'd jump on the opportunity and never look back.

That's 100% it. It's also a lot more secure of a position than at any big law firm.

[XxSpyKEx]

Depends on who you are. If you were some SCOTUS litigator who did some bad ass shit before becoming a prof, then a lot of firms will scoop you up in a heartbeat. If you were a nobody 3rd year biglaw associate with no substantive experience in anything, then it might be harder to get back into practicing. Although, as a practical matter, no tenure track profs ever leave academia to practice. Being a law prof is likely the easiest and chillest job you will find in this profession, so it's not difficult to figure out why virtually no tenure track law profs ever go back to practicing. Personally, I'd jump on the opportunity and never look back.

I'm just a nobody man. The job does sound sweet. I'm just nervous that I get there and I realize that I'd rather have money.

You could always try to lateral to another school that pays more with a few years of teaching experience (and publications). Most law profs are pretty well paid, for the amount of work they do. I mean it will never pay biglaw partner salaries, but odds you'll ever see that are pretty low anyways.

It's also a lot more secure of a position than at any big law firm.

Especially once you're tenured. I've definitely heard of numerous profs who just stop doing anything except teaching their classes after getting tenure (so like 5 hours of work per week at a law school lol).