Orin Kerr blogged yesterday about a new Visiting Assistant Professor program in the works at Harvard Law School and attracted a pretty predictable chorus of critics (of Harvard, not Orin).  The post is hard on the heels of this post by Rick Swedloff at Concurring Opinions about law teaching fellowships, and Paul Caron’s roundup of fellowships, VAP programs, and advice for aspiring law teachers.  (Shameless self-promotion:  Paul doesn’t link to my own contribution to the advice literature:  Part I, Part II, and Part III.)

At CoOp, Rick offers the standard, best defense of fellowships and VAP programs.  So long as they really do offer time to read and write, they help would-be faculty find their academic feet before diving into the job market.  That’s consistent with my core advice to academic job-seekers:  To become a professor, be a professor.  Be the ball, Danny.

The chorus at volokh.com (and some of the commentary at CoOp) offers the standard cynical view:  The programs exploit cheap labor, undervalue the practitioner credentials of the candidates that they purport to promote, and reward candidates who are already likely to get teaching jobs, regardless of a fellowship or VAP appointment.

Let me offer a different view.  The real problem with law teaching fellowships and VAP programs is what I’ll call scope creep.  Read More »The Real Problem with Law Teaching Fellowships