An academic teaching and researching labor law at a law school — covering the National Labor Relations Act, collective bargaining, unfair labor practices, and the legal frameworks governing union organizing, workplace law, and employer-employee relations.
Most days tend to balance teaching labor law and related courses (collective bargaining, employment law, ERISA, labor history), legal scholarship for law journals, student advising, and the service obligations of law faculty. You'll often prepare for case-method classes, work on articles addressing labor law doctrine or current NLRB cases, supervise student work in clinics or externships, and participate in faculty committee work.
The variance between institutions is significant — elite law schools expect high publication output in top journals; regional schools emphasize teaching and bar passage; some labor law professors also direct labor or employment law clinics; practitioner backgrounds (NLRB, union counsel, management-side firms) shape what professors emphasize. Practical engagement with current labor disputes (amicus briefs, expert testimony, NLRB consulting) is common.
People who tend to thrive here are comfortable with doctrinal depth and the political dimensions of labor relations, capable of teaching emotionally and politically charged material, and patient with the slow arc of labor law scholarship. JD plus relevant practice background anchors most tenure-track paths. The work tends to offer academic freedom, intellectual community, and engagement with consequential workplace policy, with the trade-off being modest pay relative to private legal practice and the political contestation of the field — for those committed to labor law academia, the role shapes a long-arc career.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
An academic teaching and researching labor law at a law school — covering the National Labor Relations Act, collective bargaining, unfair labor practices, and the legal frameworks governing union organizing, workplace law, and employer-employee relations.
Median pay for a Labor Law Professor is about $127K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $58K to $208K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Speaking, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Learning Strategies, and Instructing.
Most people in this role hold a doctoral degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 2.2% through 2034, with roughly 22,800 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Law Lecturer, Law Professor, and Law Instructor.
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