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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Enjoyment.
Some people, like myself (though I am not pursing academia), enjoy teaching.
Some people, like myself (though I am not pursing academia), enjoy teaching.
- TommyK
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
comp is pretty darn good, work/life balance, publish stuff you're interested in as opposed to doing ridiculous research and writing stuff nobody will ever see for the first 3 years, twead jackets with patches on the elbows, the ability to grow a handsome neckbeard
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Teaching is about 10% of what legal academia is about. Charitably.LawSchoolChampion wrote:Enjoyment.
Some people, like myself (though I am not pursing academia), enjoy teaching.
As opposed to stuff no one will ever see (i.e., the stuff academics spew out).TommyK wrote: publish stuff you're interested in as opposed to doing ridiculous research and writing stuff nobody will ever see for the first 3 years,
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
You wouldn't be okay with someone paying you $150k to write bs all day?
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
bk187 wrote:You wouldn't be okay with someone paying you $150k to write bs all day?
I won't say that you couldn't pay me enough to do that job, because that isn't true, but suffice to say I am not even putting feelers out for the academic market. I can't think of a more useless job.
- DCDuck
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
The pay is quite good for the work, you can live wherever there is a law school (as opposed to only the big markets for biglaw), once you get tenure you have incredible job security, the hours are much, much less than biglaw, and generally lower than a 9-5 job, and you get to spend most of your time researching and writing on stuff that interests you. Sounds pretty great to me. That's why it is so hard to become a prof.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Also, I just want to add: Producing legitimately good legal academic writing is actually quite hard. Most things that are worth writing about are preempted to death, etc. Writing about corporate law stuff requires a knowledge of economics and finance that most people getting law degrees don't command. Many articles these days involve knowing high-level math. And coming up with novel topics is hard.
This is not to say that I think the actual work that is produced is useful. There are exceptions - basically, some of the empirical articles are helpful and can even be transformative - but man, most of it is godawful.
This is not to say that I think the actual work that is produced is useful. There are exceptions - basically, some of the empirical articles are helpful and can even be transformative - but man, most of it is godawful.
- TommyK
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Regardless of its utility, the author is probably much more interested in the topic. This would drive significant enjoyment for a lot of people.ToTransferOrNot wrote:As opposed to stuff no one will ever see (i.e., the stuff academics spew out).TommyK wrote: publish stuff you're interested in as opposed to doing ridiculous research and writing stuff nobody will ever see for the first 3 years,
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Oh I'm sure it does. I honestly wish that I could force myself to enjoy coming up with/writing articles. But I just.. yeah. Ugh.TommyK wrote:Regardless of its utility, the author is probably much more interested in the topic. This would drive significant enjoyment for a lot of people.ToTransferOrNot wrote:As opposed to stuff no one will ever see (i.e., the stuff academics spew out).TommyK wrote: publish stuff you're interested in as opposed to doing ridiculous research and writing stuff nobody will ever see for the first 3 years,
- romothesavior
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
It probably offers the best blend of work/life balance, compensation, job security, and interesting work of any job in the legal field, other than maybe judge (its a toss up).
- NinerFan
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Tenured professors at top law schools make a comfortable 6-figure salary (Like, 200-300k or more). At other law schools, they still usually make a hefty sum. And, they're tenured, so there's that job security. They can research and write papers on obscure stuff no one really cares about but them and get a research budget so they can pay law students to do the boring things for them (this is coming from someone who has RA'd). They work comparatively lax hours so on a per hour basis, I'm sure they make far more than an associate at a big law firm, and don't hate themselves. They get to see their children, who actually know their names and acknowledge them as an important figure in their lives. They receive heartwarming and sentimental gifts from these children and they are aware of their children's likes, dislikes, and daily activities.
In exchange for this, they toss exams down a staircase twice a year and randomly assign grades, and teach a handful of obscure courses where they pontificate about their latest research interest. Some are unlucky enough to be assigned to teach 1L core classes like Contracts or Torts, and they so do begrudgingly.
A bit cynical, but academia is probably one of few avenues for happiness as a JD. A professor's idea of a bad day is not getting their usual parking spot and having to walk an extra minute.
In exchange for this, they toss exams down a staircase twice a year and randomly assign grades, and teach a handful of obscure courses where they pontificate about their latest research interest. Some are unlucky enough to be assigned to teach 1L core classes like Contracts or Torts, and they so do begrudgingly.
A bit cynical, but academia is probably one of few avenues for happiness as a JD. A professor's idea of a bad day is not getting their usual parking spot and having to walk an extra minute.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
20 hour "work" week.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Money for nothin'
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
But again... you have to churn out fucking terrible legal articles (after coming up with 'novel' ideas), and that's really, really awful.
Give me a DIP order any day over that.
Give me a DIP order any day over that.
- NinerFan
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
See, a lot of them actually like writing about arcane things that no one else cares about. No one reads the articles other than the poor kids on journals, so who cares what they write about?ToTransferOrNot wrote:But again... you have to churn out fucking terrible legal articles (after coming up with 'novel' ideas), and that's really, really awful.
Give me a DIP order any day over that.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Yeah, to each their own. I get the jist, but I just become ill whenever I think of trying to write an article (or whenever I even try to think of a topic, for that matter).NinerFan wrote:See, a lot of them actually like writing about arcane things that no one else cares about. No one reads the articles other than the poor kids on journals, so who cares what they write about?ToTransferOrNot wrote:But again... you have to churn out fucking terrible legal articles (after coming up with 'novel' ideas), and that's really, really awful.
Give me a DIP order any day over that.
I guess part of it is that i don't have the skills/knowledge in finance, empirics/stats, or math, to write anything I'd actually be interested in.
Last edited by ToTransferOrNot on Tue Dec 06, 2011 3:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- NinerFan
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Well, picture that instead of having to write that paper for a class for a grade that will be determined subjectively, you're being paid a handsome 6 figure salary to do it, and you can make law students do all the b**** work for you. And, you can write it on anything that you want as long as it remotely relates to the law. Does that make it sound better?ToTransferOrNot wrote:Yeah, to each their own. I get the jist, but I just become ill whenever I think of trying to write an article (or whenever I even try to think of a topic, for that matter).NinerFan wrote:See, a lot of them actually like writing about arcane things that no one else cares about. No one reads the articles other than the poor kids on journals, so who cares what they write about?ToTransferOrNot wrote:But again... you have to churn out fucking terrible legal articles (after coming up with 'novel' ideas), and that's really, really awful.
Give me a DIP order any day over that.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
No I have enough downtime in my current job that I could write an article if I wanted to - and I have a non-note published as it stands - but I troll TLS instead because the idea of writing an article makes me illNinerFan wrote:Well, picture that instead of having to write that paper for a class for a grade that will be determined subjectively, you're being paid a handsome 6 figure salary to do it, and you can make law students do all the b**** work for you. And, you can write it on anything that you want as long as it remotely relates to the law. Does that make it sound better?ToTransferOrNot wrote:Yeah, to each their own. I get the jist, but I just become ill whenever I think of trying to write an article (or whenever I even try to think of a topic, for that matter).NinerFan wrote:See, a lot of them actually like writing about arcane things that no one else cares about. No one reads the articles other than the poor kids on journals, so who cares what they write about?ToTransferOrNot wrote:But again... you have to churn out fucking terrible legal articles (after coming up with 'novel' ideas), and that's really, really awful.
Give me a DIP order any day over that.
Anyway, not trying to detract from the thread or anything. I just think a lot of people think "I can write whatever BS I want!!" without realizing that writing about rando LR BS stuff sucks.
- FUBAR
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
It's all about the chicks man.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
Here is a question, why wouldn't they? You seem to imply that there is something inferior about the career path, correct me if I'm wrong.hotdogseller wrote:Hey guys, I was just wondering why exactly kids from top schools would choose to go into academia instead of big law. Is the compensation that great, or what other factors are at play?
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
the real question is, how would you sleep at night.
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
The money isn't as good. And, you know, some people who went to law school actually want to practice law.Eliyahu7 wrote:Here is a question, why wouldn't they? You seem to imply that there is something inferior about the career path, correct me if I'm wrong.hotdogseller wrote:Hey guys, I was just wondering why exactly kids from top schools would choose to go into academia instead of big law. Is the compensation that great, or what other factors are at play?
- Grizz
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Re: What's the draw of academia?
You get to write intellectually masturbatory articles and get paid.
Seriously? What are you waiting for?
Now there's a charge.
Just kidding ... it's still FREE!
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