Careers in Law Teaching Program | Columbia Law School
2010 Workshops
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Wednesday January 20, 12:10: "Introductory Session" (Room: JGH 105)
Speakers: Gillian Metzger, Carol Sanger, and Peter Strauss
The Introductory Session is intended to introduce Columbia students to the ins and outs, ups and downs, and whys and wherefores of an academic career. It is the first of a series of weekly lunch workshops held throughout the semester on the subject of academic careers. At this session, Professors Metzger, Sanger and Strauss will provide an overview of the mechanics of going on the market as well as a discussion of what teaching is like, why we do it, and why you might want to consider it too. All students who are interested in teaching, or students who think they might be in the future, are encouraged to attend. There will be plenty of time for questions.
Wednesday January 27, 12:10: "From Public Interest Practice to Teaching" (Room: JGH 807)
Speakers: Suzanne Goldberg and Olati Johnson
Learn from people who have made the transition from public interest law to law teaching for a discussion of questions such as these: How does practice differ from teaching? Why might one prefer to teach? What steps should one think about and begin to take to get ready to go on the teaching market while still in practice? How does one plan a scholarly agenda from the trenches of practice?
Wednesday February 3, 12:10 Writing Opportunities in Law School (Room: JGH 807)
Speakers: Bert Huang & Robert Ferguson
This will be a very informal discussion about what you can do in law school to lay the groundwork, or at least leave the door open, for an academic career. We'll focus mainly on opportunities for scholarly writing. The speakers at this session include a former President of the Harvard Law Review and a Professor in Law, Literature, and Criticism. You can gain much from law school writing without publishing, but for some written work on how to publish legal writing as a student, you might also see http://www.law.ucla.edu/faculty/volokh/writing.htm, or 48 J. Legal Educ. 247 (1998) available here, which may be useful background to the discussion.
Wednesday, February 10, 12:10: Developing a Research Agenda (Room JGH 807)
Speakers: Elizabeth Emens & Jamal Greene
Long ago, law schools filled entry-level faculty positions based on credentials such as law school grades, journal experience, and other badges of accomplishment. Although formal credentials remain important, increasingly in recent years appointments committees have sought candidates with a scholarly track record that shows promise of blossoming into a full-scale set of research projects. If and when you try to obtain a law teaching job, you will be expected to have a "scholarly agenda," i.e., a set of themes or topics that connects your initial and future projects in a way that will, if all goes according to plan, establish you as a legal scholar with a distinctive voice and something to say. This session will focus on how you develop a scholarly agenda—or at least how to think about having one—before you have had a sustained opportunity to work as a legal scholar.
Wednesday, February 17, 12:10: From Private Practice to Teaching (Room: JGH 807)
Speakers: Jeff Gordon and Alex Raskolnikov
Learn from people who have made the transition from private practice to law teaching for a discussion of questions such as these: How does practice differ from teaching? Why might one prefer to teach? What steps should one think about and begin to take to get ready to go on the teaching market while still in practice? How does one plan a scholarly agenda from the trenches of practice?
Wednesday February 24, 12:10: Getting into Clinical Law Teaching (Room: JGH 807)
Speakers: Mary Zulack & Alexandra Carter
The discussion will focus on the ways one might prepare for a career in clinical teaching and how this is similar to and different from other types of teaching careers. We will also talk about the various types of clinical teaching positions that are available.
**Tuesday, March 2, 12:10: Exploring Law Librarianship: An Alternative Academic Career (Room 940)
Speakers: Jody Armstrong, Kent McKeever and Jennifer Wertkin
Do you enjoy legal research, teaching students, and working with faculty? Come learn how law librarianship can be a fulfilling and challenging career. Law librarians who enter the profession come from a wide variety of law-related backgrounds. Join Columbia’s Law Library Director Kent McKeever, Associate Director Jody Armstrong ’83, and newest Reference Librarian Jennifer Wertkin in a discussion about what librarianship entails and its benefits as a career option.
Wednesday March 3, 12:10: Beyond Law School: Clerkships and Ph.D.'s (Room: JGH 807)
Speakers: Ariela Dubler, Scott Hemphill, Bert Huang, Ed Morrison, and Nate Persily
Are clerkships the ticket to a teaching job? Can getting a Ph.D. before, during, or after Law School help? Other graduate degrees? Come learn about these things and more.
Wednesday, March 10, 12:10: Careers in Government and the Legal Academy: Can You Get There from Here? (Room JGH 940)
Speakers: Abbe Gluck, James Liebman & Matthew Waxman
Members of the panel will discuss their work in federal, state and local government and the prospects and process for moving from there to careers in the legal academy (and back).
Wednesday, March 24, 12:10: Why You Should (or Shouldn't) Become a Law Professor (Room: JGH 940)
Speakers: Bob Scott & Susan Sturm
Professors Scott and Sturm believe that they have the best jobs in the entire world. But at the same time, they recognize that not everyone has the quirks of personality that make for fulfilled life in legal academia. Figuring out if you are such a person requires both self-knowledge and an accurate picture of what law professors spend their time doing, including realistic understanding of the adversities as well as the rewards. Professors Scott and Sturm will speak about the need for passion about the material with which one works, the need for self-motivation and the ability to work mostly alone for long periods of time, and the need to appreciate powerful criticism without losing sight of the value of one's own project.
Wednesday, March 31, 12:10: Newbies Speak: What I Wished I Had Known or Thought Harder About Before I Went on the Market (Room JGH 940)
Speakers: Khiara Bridges, Saira Mohamed & Bertrall Ross
Join three current CLS fellows who have recently been through the teaching market for an informal discussion of steps aspiring professors should take while in law school, practice, or fellowships, such as: developing a research agenda, forming relationships with recommenders, developing contacts with schools, and mentally preparing for what can be an exhausting process.
Wednesday, April 7, 12:10: Teaching at Law Schools Other Than Full-time Faculty Positions (Room: JGH 940)
Speakers: Ellen Chapnick, Rick Jones, Susan Kraham, William Savitt & James Tierney
Want to teach at law school while practicing law? Don't want to write law review articles? Want to teach outside of the formal classroom? Then come hear from Columbia Law School faculty and staff who have taken creative paths to law school teaching.
Wednesday, April 14, 12:10: Paths to Legal Academia: VAPs, Fellowships, PhDs and Publishing!
(Room JGH 940)
Speakers: Erin Delaney, Anthony O’Rourke & Jessica Roberts
Are clerkships the ticket to a teaching job? Can getting a Ph.D. before, during, or after law school help? Other graduate degrees? What about post-law school opportunities to write in fellowship programs and in legal writing programs? Come to this session to learn about the many ways to prepare for the academic job market.
Wednesday, April 21, 12:10: Teaching Abroad Or in the U.S. With a Foreign Law Degree (Room: JGH 940)
Speakers: Katharina Pistor & Klaus Hopt
This session will focus on the academic teaching market abroad, as well as on the teaching possibilities in the U.S. for those who received their legal training abroad.