A law school faculty member focused on legal writing instruction — teaching first-year legal research, writing, and analysis courses (often called Legal Writing, LRW, or LARW), supervising student writing, and developing the foundational legal communication skills that define lawyering.
Most days tend to involve intensive student feedback work on writing assignments, class preparation and delivery, individual student conferences, and the curriculum development that supports legal writing programs. You'll often grade memos, briefs, and other legal writing assignments with detailed comments, conduct one-on-one conferences with students, and design assignments and rubrics that build foundational skills.
The variance between schools is real — legal writing positions range from non-tenure-track contract positions (sometimes precarious) to permanent or tenure-track faculty roles at schools that have professionalized legal writing; senior legal writing positions (directors, longstanding faculty) offer significant security and governance roles; visiting positions and adjunct legal writing work supplement at many schools. The Legal Writing Institute and similar professional organizations have advocated for improved status and security for legal writing faculty.
People who tend to thrive here are passionate about writing craft, patient with intensive student feedback work, and committed to the foundational skills work that anchors legal education. JD plus practice or judicial clerkship experience anchors most paths. The work tends to offer deep student mentoring relationships and the satisfaction of building lawyering skills, with the trade-off being modest pay and historically lower status than tenure-track positions — for those drawn to teaching legal writing, the role offers durable craft.
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 law school faculty member focused on legal writing instruction — teaching first-year legal research, writing, and analysis courses (often called Legal Writing, LRW, or LARW), supervising student writing, and developing the foundational legal communication skills that define lawyering.
Median pay for a Legal Writing 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, Learning Strategies, Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, 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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