A tenure-track or tenured law school faculty member — teaching doctrinal or seminar courses, producing legal scholarship for law reviews, advising students, and engaging with the broader legal academy and profession through service, public commentary, and consulting.
Most days tend to balance teaching law school courses (typically 2-4 per year, depending on institution), legal scholarship in progress, student advising, and the service obligations that come with faculty appointments. You'll often work on articles or books, comment on legal developments, supervise student research, and participate in committees on faculty hiring, curriculum, and law school governance.
The variance between institutions is significant — elite law schools (T14) expect high-volume publication in top law reviews and selective faculty hiring; regional law schools emphasize teaching outcomes and bar passage; specialty law schools focus on specific areas (IP, tax, public interest); religiously-affiliated law schools blend mission with academic work. Tenure track is typically a six-to-seven-year evaluation period with high stakes around publication.
People who tend to thrive here are comfortable with the dual identity of teacher and scholar, intellectually rigorous, and patient with the slow arc of legal scholarship. JD plus elite credentials (top clerkships, fellowships, prior publications) anchor tenure-track entry. The work tends to offer academic freedom, intellectual community, and engagement with consequential legal questions, with the trade-off being modest pay relative to private legal practice and the political dynamics of law faculty — for those committed to legal 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.
A tenure-track or tenured law school faculty member — teaching doctrinal or seminar courses, producing legal scholarship for law reviews, advising students, and engaging with the broader legal academy and profession through service, public commentary, and consulting.
Median pay for a 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, Active Listening, Learning Strategies, Reading Comprehension, 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 Instructor, and Labor Law Professor.
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