Advice for the New Legal Studies Professor

• Date: 01 June 2012
• Author: Robert C. Bird
• Published date: 01 June 2012
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1744-1722.2012.01106.x

Journal of Legal Studies Education

Volume 29, Issue 2, 239–262, Summer/Fall 2012

Advice for the New Legal Studies

Professor

Robert C. Bird*

The transition into academia from law school or legal practice is a signifi-

cant and exciting shift in one’s legal career. This transition, however, can

also be one that presents numerous challenges. Preparing a syllabus and

drafting lecture material can seem like a daunting task. Writing an academic

article for the first time involves learning a new academic language. A new

professor must learn how active to be in the operation of her university and

profession. A new professor must also learn how to navigate university bu-

reaucracy, balance demands upon time, and prioritize obligations. Junior

legal studies faculty have a strong interest in learning quickly how to suc-

ceed. Senior faculty, for their part, have an interest in mentoring their new

hires.

While learning how to navigate academic employment is an important

issue for new faculty, the topic has largely been overlooked in published

works. Authors have helpfully written on the importance of service for busi-

ness law faculty1and the concept of tenure.2An article in the Journal of Legal

Studies Education (JLSE) from the 1980s discussed career advancement, with a

focus mainly on the preparation of one’s tenure file.3While books exist that

∗Associate Professor of Legal Studies and Northeast Utilities Chair in Business Ethics, School of

Business, University of Connecticut.

1Sally Gunz, Service: An Overlooked Aspect of the Academic Career?,17J. Legal Stud. Educ. 151

(1999).

2Robert B. Conrad & Louis A. Trosch, The True Application of Tenure,17J. Legal Stud. Educ.

133 (1999).

3E. Elizabeth Arnold, Retention, Promotion, Tenure: Persuading Your Review Committee,4J. Legal

Stud. Educ. 93 (1986).

C2012 The Author

Journal of Legal Studies Education C2012 Academy of Legal Studies in Business

239

240 Vol. 29 / The Journal of Legal Studies Education

explore the challenges of new faculty generally,4recent published advice to

new legal studies faculty remains sparse.

This article serves to fill that gap by delivering a concise and broad

introduction to academic life in the legal studies discipline. While other

articles thoughtfully explore in-depth important aspects of academic life,5

this article is geared toward the reader who has a tenure-track job teaching

business law but has limited familiarity with the obligations and challenges of

academic employment. As a result, the topics and terminology in this article

are deliberately made accessible to the new professor.

Although applicable to many legal studies faculty, the advice offered

in this article may not be universal. The article provides one perspective on

how new legal studies faculty may successfully navigate their new employ-

ment. The advice provided is based upon one person’s experience teaching

for fourteen years at five different institutions, including two on a full-time

basis. This author also writes as someone who has acquired tenure, received

the Outstanding Junior Faculty Member award from the Academy of Legal

Studies in Business, published over forty articles, chaired two search commit-

tees in legal studies, and served as a staff editor of the Journal of Legal Studies

Education and as a board member of the American Business Law Journal.

In order to succeed, most new faculty must be proficient in four ar-

eas: research, teaching, service, and networking.6The parts of this article

follow these four criteria. Part I explores how aspiring faculty can build or

improve their research agenda, thus making their curriculum vitae attractive

to academic employers. Part II examines the importance of teaching. Part

III discusses the role of service to an institution of higher education and the

academy. Part IV explains the importance of networking as a facilitator of

4See, e.g., Christopher J. Lucas &John W. Murry,Jr.,New Faculty: A Practical Guide for

Academic Beginners (2002).

5E.g., Carol M. Bast & Linda B. Samuels, Legal Studies Scholarship: Setting the Standard for Excellence,

26 J. Legal Stud. Educ. 263 (2009).

6Research, teaching, and service are relevant to business school accreditation, as indicated by

accreditation standards, most notably those of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools

of Business (AACSB). See AACSB, Int’l Business Accreditation Standards, Standard 10.

http://www.aacsb.edu/accreditation/business/standards/participants/standard10.asp (last vis-

ited Jan. 3, 2012). (“To be considered academically qualified, an individual meeting this condi-

tion must have completed additional coursework or personal study sufficient to provide a base

for participation in the mix of teaching, intellectual contribution, and service sought by the

school.”) Networking, while not explicitly required through accreditation, helps facilitate these

goals.