Law School

As thousands of law professors prepare to descend on San Diego this coming weekend for the annual meeting of the American Association of Law Schools (AALS), the lawprof blogosphere is again gurgling with advice for junior scholars.  Gordon Smith framed the conversation with a great post about scholarship from the point of view of someone who writes tenure review letters.  Dan Solove endorsed Gordon’s comments, and one in particular, as did Paul Caron – though Paul’s emphasis differed from Dan’s. 

I like most of Gordon’s points, but I differ in places.  Most important, as someone who has written my own share of letters recently (and read my share as well), it’s important to recognize out loud that tenure letters, like almost anything that academics write about the academy, reflect as much on the interests, ego, character, and background of the writer as they comment on the person and work under review.  As a Research Dean, I find myself giving lots of both formal and informal advice to junior colleagues, and necessarily what I say reflects my own tastes as well as my read of the academic environment.  Of course, law professors don’t have a monopoly on any of this;  wannabe law profs and appointments committees could learn a thing or two about attitude over at Rate Your Students, which Ann was generous enough to point me to below.  But junior scholars of any stripe need to walk a line between carving a scholarly identity on their own terms — and carving an identity on terms that are given by their seniors.

To the details, then; Gordon’s tips and some brief reactions:Read More »How to Scholar