Who Could Be Hired Today? News & Analysis

Please note that this post is from 2009. Evaluate with care and in light of later events.

Who Could Be Hired Today? (Concurring Opinions):

The trend in hiring law professors with graduate training in other disciplines as well as law degrees is not new; it’s been underway at least since I was a student (1988-1991). Some of the best classes I took were with individuals who had such backgrounds. But the emphasis has become even more intense in recent years. It is no longer considered obligatory to put in a few years doing actual legal work, before signing up for the AALS faculty recruitment conference.

An interesting discussion of the shift in law school hiring away from those with just law degrees towards those trained in other disciplines as well. As a soon-to-be-graduating law student about to go into a PhD program with a possible future goal in academia, this is of interest to me. I intend to get legal experience as well, but likely not the law firm path of many current law school professors. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the next few years.