I think cell phones and Blackberrys have replaced cigarettes as our response to these sorts of unanticipated waits. One sign that talking and texting may be the new [...]]]> It is a commonplace to note the degree to which technology enables us to stay “connected” to family, work, etc. What I find fascinating is not only how common it is to see folks talking and texting, but how many people instinctively reach for their phone and begin talking, texting, or both when faced with any sort of enforced idleness. It reminds me a bit of Brian Doyle-Murray’s character in Christmas Vacation when he doesn’t want Clark Griswold in his office anymore. He picks up the phone and growls, “Get me somebody. Anybody.”

I think cell phones and Blackberrys have replaced cigarettes as our response to these sorts of unanticipated waits. One sign that talking and texting may be the new smoking: signs asking folks to turn off their cell phones before entering places like doctor’s offices.

Don has written a wonderful essay about the trial, and his role in it, entitled Ghosts of Alabama: The Prosecution of Bobby Frank Cherry for the Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 12 Mich. J. Race & L. 1 (2006) (I can’t [...]]]> Yesterday’s conviction of a former Klan member in the previously unsolved killings of two teens in the 1960s is the latest in what seems to be a series of attempts to crack cold cases from the civil rights era before even more witnesses and suspects die off. My colleague at Cumberland, Don Cochran, was part of the prosecution team that secured the conviction of Bobby Frank Cherry, who was involved in the bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church here in Birmingham.

Don has written a wonderful essay about the trial, and his role in it, entitled Ghosts of Alabama: The Prosecution of Bobby Frank Cherry for the Bombing of the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church, 12 Mich. J. Race & L. 1 (2006) (I can’t find a copy online). In the conclusion, Don posits that the Cherry trial, and civil rights trials in general can be understood as a form of “transitional justice,” a term taken from international law describing the processes (trials, lustration, truth commisssions, etc.) by which regimes transitioning from authoritarian to democratic governments attempt to expose, and come to terms with, the past. I think that the concept of transitional justice is a fascinating lens through which to view these trials, and I think it can help furnish an answer to the question Don says he frequently gets: “What is the use of trying and convicting these old men decades after these crimes have been committed?”

Many comments asked what the chances are for someone who attended a non-elite law school to break into the teaching market. Since that seemed to be a common theme, I thought I’d offer “Becoming a Law Professor: The Nutshell.”

The answer is: [...]]]> First, thanks so much to everyone who made comments to my previous post, which asked for things you’d like to see in a book about the faculty hiring process. I’m knee-deep in summer school, so while I can’t respond individually to each comment, please know that I appreciate each one and all will be helpful as we continue writing the book. I am pleased to see that we have, so far, anticipated many of the topics that you wanted to see covered.

Many comments asked what the chances are for someone who attended a non-elite law school to break into the teaching market. Since that seemed to be a common theme, I thought I’d offer “Becoming a Law Professor: The Nutshell.”

The answer is: write, write, and write some more.

I think you should write and publish something (maybe a couple of things) after graduation from law school, when no one is making you. This will do several things: (i) give you an opportunity to see whether you like writing; because, as Brad Wendel says, this is a writing job more than a teaching job; (ii) will make you competitive for the Ivy League LL.M. programs that will allow you to (as I did) launder your non-elite law school degree; (iii) finally, it will send a strong signal of commitment to prospective employers. Let me take these one at a time.

Can I “Do” Legal Scholarship?– If you don’t like writing, even if you get a job, it will feel like a prison sentence. You need to figure out whether this is something you could make yourself do day-in-day-out at least until you receive tenure. If you find that you would rather have dental surgery rather than write the introduction to your article or go to the library to research a topic, then a tenure-track academic job is not for you. If you really feel a call to teach, but not to write, you might think of teaching as an adjuct or in a clinical position (though the latter often have to write if they are tenure-track).

Writing to Gain LL.M. Admission–For non-elite J.D. laundering purposes, the most prestigious LL.M. programs are Yale, Harvard, and Columbia’s. All are extremely competitive for U.S. students; all claim to admit only those applicants who demonstrate a commitment to becoming a law professor and have good chance of succeeding on the job market. You can take a blood oath in your personal statement that you’re going to be the second coming of [insert name of prominent academic here], but, ultimately, talk is cheap. The best way to demonstrate a commitment to the business is to write articles and publish them, not merely talk about your intention to do so.

Writing to Gain Employment–The same is true for prospective employers. Jobs are scarce, and the effects of hiring someone who doesn’t meet potential can be devestating. Therefore, more and more schools are expecting to see proof of a commitment to scholarship on the front end.

Now you might be thinking that this advice–”Write!”–is like the joke about the shipwrecked economist (”First, assume the existence of a can opener.”). Well, it is, in a way, but next week, I’ll post a couple of hints to help you get started on that first writing project.

We have several chapters written, but I thought I’d take this month’s opportunity to ask readers who are interested in becoming law professors and law professors who care [...]]]> Okay, I’m back. [You were gone?--ed] I had to run home for the weekend to dogsit, while the rest of my family was out of town. One of my projects this summer is to keep working on a book that my colleague, Marcia McCormick, and I are writing together: a guide for those who want to be law professors. Our intent is to write a soup-to-nuts guide, covering what law professors do, describing the job search process, the call-back, negotiating the offer, down to what to do if you don’t succeed at first.

We have several chapters written, but I thought I’d take this month’s opportunity to ask readers who are interested in becoming law professors and law professors who care to give the matter some thought, “What would you like to see in a book like this?” What information do you have now that you wish you had when you starting thinking about jumping into this business? Feel free to leave suggestions in the comments, or e-mail me directly bpdennin at samford.edu.

1. Prepare for Classes Early and Often—Here’s something they don’t talk about much at the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference: teaching is hard and class preparation is time consuming. Much of [...]]]> Last summer, I had fun offering a few pieces of advice to incoming law students. I thought that I’d give some thought to advice for new law professors. As I look back, there really wasn’t much to go on; my first job was teaching in a school that had not made a new hire in several years. Consequently, I had to learn by making mistakes, and I made a lot of them! So, here are a few things I thought of; I may add to the list throughout the month.

1. Prepare for Classes Early and Often—Here’s something they don’t talk about much at the AALS Faculty Recruitment Conference: teaching is hard and class preparation is time consuming. Much of the discussion about being a law professor concerns the publication side of our business. What are you working on? Where is it being published? Have you had luck trading up? Compared to preparing for and teaching those first classes, though, researching and writing is a breeze. I had no idea how much time it would take simply to prepare for class each day, nor was I prepared for how miserably I felt I was failing during those first few weeks—and in the subject (con law) that I knew well and couldn’t wait to teach! Knowing that I had two additional classes to prepare for and teach that I didn’t know as well made for a decidedly Un-Merry Christmas. Spend lots of time preparing for class this summer, but know that you will still that it wasn’t enough.

2. Remember that your first year teaching is like a first draft—But I don’t mean to be a downer. You should allow yourself to experiment, to make mistakes, to change things up mid-semester if things aren’t working. After all, the first draft of the first article you ever wrote wasn’t perfect, was it? Of course not. So you should regard your first year teaching—your first couple of years, in fact—as rough drafts. Moreover, involve your students in the process. Ask them what is working, and what is not. My experience is that students are very understanding, and will do what they can to aid new professors adjust to the classroom and to the experience. By year three, as J.B. Ruhl told me, you will see why being a law professor is a “loophole in life.”

3. Try to get the first article done quickly—Many new professors will already come with publications, but there’s something a little intimidating about writing that first article as a professor. You feel like it has to be a little better, a little more insightful, place a little better than the articles you sent out six months ago. Sometimes this reticence can turn into paralysis or panic as pre-tenure review (or tenure) approaches. Try to get a draft of something done this summer—even a small piece, an essay or a book review, something. While if you follow my class preparation advice, above, you’ll have plenty to fill your days, you (and your colleagues) will breathe a sigh of relief if you get that first piece out as a member of the faculty.

4. Avoid Entangling Alliances—As my colleague Marcia McCormick has observed, joining a faculty is a lot like joining or marrying into a family. It will take you a while to sort out personalities. What you do not want to do during your first few months, is to allow yourself to be enlisted by senior faculty on either side of any contentious faculty issue. Even senior faculty who ought to know better sometimes cannot help themselves when it comes to faculty politics. Enlist on the wrong side, offend the wrong faculty member, and grudges might be held, friendship withdrawn, etc. You have so much to worry about with classes, making up with the offended gray eminence who no longer says hello to you in the hall is a stressor that you’re better off without. There is definitely a time (even as a junior faculty member) for speaking your mind and offering your opinion, even at the risk of offending your colleagues, but your first year on the job is usually not that time.

5. Memorize Students’ Names—It means so much to students for their professors to acknowledge them by name. I cut out pictures of students from our facebook and paste them on an index card that has their name on the other side. When I have a few moments, I practice memorizing their names. For whatever reason, memorizing names is not a strength of mine, so I have to spend time on this. It often takes me until the second semester for names to stick. I think the students appreciate the extra effort, though.