Guest Post by Claudia Flores, Director of the International Human Rights Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School.
Clinical law professor is a relatively new position in legal academia. Though clinics have existed in law schools since the 1950s (UChicago’s clinic was established in 1957), clinical legal education really became a component of law school curriculums in the ‘90s. Since then, clinical programs have dramatically expanded from 314 clinics at 119 law schools in 1990, to 1,433 clinics at 187 law schools in 2016-17. Today, the majority of U.S. law schools have clinical programs, with an average of seven clinics in each program. In 2014, the ABA made experiential education a requirement for all accredited law schools which has institutionalized clinical legal education.
The “first wave” of clinical faculty were primarily public interest lawyers approached by law schools to establish clinics in their field. Today, clinical faculty are hired and recruited much the same way as “podium” law faculty (for lack of a better distinguishing term) through job and recruitment fairs and national postings.
So how do you become a clinical law professor, or at least position yourself for that possibility? This advice is geared towards public interest oriented clinics, which continue to be the majority of clinics in law schools. The short answer is become an experienced lawyer with some recognition and success in your field and a demonstrated talent and interest in teaching. Below is the longer answer, which I’ve broken down into a set of decisions to consider as you advance through law school and your legal career.
What to do during law school:
Take a clinic in law school (hopefully, this is obvious). There are many reasons to take clinics: improve your lawyering skills in an educational setting; gain exposure to a particular area of law; strengthen your writing and/or oral advocacy skills through the feedback and revision process; learn to be a professional; benefit from faculty mentorship; and have the opportunity to work on cutting edge and, often inspiring, legal work. All that aside, if you think you might want to teach in a clinic someday, you should definitely take one or more clinics. Clinical education employs the experiential learning model – the idea that important learning happens through acquisition of knowledge, application through practice and reflection on that practice. To know what this means and what it does for students, you simply need to take a clinic.
Do a public interest internship at least one of your summers in law school. Many of the top law schools, including ours, provide funding for students who want to work at a public interest organization over the summer. This is an incredibly easy and accessible way to supplement your clinical experience. Just as important, you will be much better situated to find a sponsoring organization for a post-graduate public interest fellowship (see below). Some students manage to split their summers between a public interest organization and a firm.
Develop relationships with faculty in your field and areas of interest. Make the most of the opportunity to develop any and all faculty relationships through clinics, research assistantships and other law school activities. Find mentors who have followed career paths that appeal to you.
Be active in student organizations working on issues that matter to you: This is important to developing and maintaining your network and demonstrating a commitment and focus to the impact of law on the public interest. Hiring committees for clinical faculty will look for this consistency and depth of experience, even during your time in law school.
Develop a student community. You will work with, hire, be hired by, and refer clients to your law school peers for the rest of your professional life. Trust me.
What to do after law school:
Clerk if you can: A clerkship is not a requirement for a clinical faculty position but it definitely helps, especially if you wish to end up in a litigation-based clinic.
Become a good lawyer and gain experience that makes you an even better lawyer. Law schools will look for flagship work and/or a successful practice of some kind. Clinical law professors are hired as experts in areas of practice. No law school is going to hire a director for a public defender clinic if that person hasn’t actually been a public defender. That said, you may also consider diversifying your skills and areas of expertise to widen the scope of your marketability. There is legal work that takes place at the intersection of clinics commonly found in most law school clinical programs. For example, if you’ve worked representing immigrant farm workers in Fair Labor Standards Act cases, you may be a good fit for an immigration or an employment law clinic.
Limit your time in the private sector, unless your private sector employment is relevant to your field of interest for clinical teaching. The reality is that clinical teaching jobs are highly competitive and spending too much time in an unrelated private sector position will weaken your candidacy. Certainly, some private sector lawyers make names for themselves by taking on relevant probono work and so find the transition an easier one. For everyone else, remember you will be in competition with many lawyers who will have spent their careers in the relevant public interest field. If you do spend time in the private sector, remain active in professional organizations and take on related probono cases.
Write in your field. Writing requirements vary by law school and how and whether clinical faculty are tenured under unified or parallel tenure systems. However, most clinical faculty at top law schools publish in their field. If you have written in your field, whether it is for a public, practitioner or academic audience, you will be a more attractive candidate.
Consider applying for post-graduate public interest fellowships: Fellowships like the Skadden Fellowship, the Soros Justice Fellowship or the Equal Justice Works Fellowships, among others, have name recognition and connect you to a community of fellows that will be very helpful in your career generally. These fellows also tend to be highly represented in clinical faculty. Moreover, these fellowships also provide an entry way into a first public interest job, a position that can be difficult to land. As an alternative, many law schools have their own fellowships for graduates. These are also worth considering.
Consider a clinical teaching fellowship. Many top law schools offer clinical teaching fellowships aimed at early career lawyers interested in clinical teaching. UChicago Law has one in the clinic I direct - the International Human Rights Clinic. American University, Georgetown, Harvard, Berkeley, Columbia and NYU also all have clinical teaching fellowships. Generally, these fellowships require some experience (2-5 years), impressive academic qualifications and a demonstrated interest in teaching in a clinic. Fellows work closely with students, provide support to the director and often supplement student research and writing. Some law schools prefer hiring directly from these fellowships because of the training fellows receive in clinical teaching. Others prefer to hire practitioners from the field. Generally, my opinion is that it is preferable to spend time practicing outside of the academy before transitioning into a clinical faculty position but reasonable minds differ.
Stay connected to your clinic and collaborate with clinics. Clinics source cases and projects in different ways but many co-counsel and collaborate with former alumni. Bringing interesting cases to your alma matter clinic or other clinics supports clinical programs and will provide you the opportunity to work with students in that context.
Try to acquire some teaching experience. Hiring committees will often prefer that you are not learning to teach on the job. A great lawyer is not necessarily a great clinical professor. Teach a course in a local law school or CLEs. Not only will you improve your teaching skills but you will be a more attractive candidate.
Don’t pursue the career if you want to be “podium” faculty or as a way of moving in that direction. There is certainly some overlap in clinical faculty and “podium” faculty positions, and some crossover between the two faculty populations, but they are not the same jobs. The approach to legal education is complementary but distinct. Moreover, a clinician is a practicing lawyer, a not-insignificant component of the position.
Do pursue the career because you enjoy and are committed to your area of legal practice, would like to contribute to its evolution in an academic setting, and want to train the next generation of lawyers.