A forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy by Douglas Richmond (Aon Risk Services) and Ethan Burger (American University, School of International Service) argues that law school hiring practices are vulnerable to age discrimination lawsuits. From the Virginia press release:
The issue, Richmond summed up, is that “If you’ve practiced for longer than five years, you are regarded as an undesirable law school faculty candidate.” In researching for their article, he said they “heard the same story over and over again” from practicing attorneys who were interested in law teaching and presumed their years of experience in practice was valuable for the classroom. Not so, say Richmond and Burger, who pointed out that two or three years of experience is typical among the nation’s law faculty members and that a more respected qualification is a judicial clerkship.
“Many law faculty do not have significant practical experience,” Richmond said. Statistics complied for the article, drawn from data on law schools in Massachusetts, Ohio, and Texas, show that half of new faculty hires had less than five years of practice experience…. Richmond and Burger contend that law firms are doing less training than before, thus placing a greater burden on law schools to prepare students in practical matters, and that hiring older lawyers interested in retiring from successful careers to go into the classroom could address the need.
Update: Kristin Hickman has more here.
5 responses to “Law Schools Could Face Age Discrimination Lawsuits Over Faculty Hiring”
I’ve been arguing this point for years, and it falls on mostly deft ears. What practitioners think law school faculty are or should be doing and what law school faculty are doing or trying to do aren’t necessarily the same. In all fairness, though, consider that schools, like sports teams, need to maintain continuity, and as people retire or die, it makes sense to fill the roster with young(er) draft picks and the occasional free agent (lateral) signing.
“Many law faculty do not have significant practical experience”
This is a bug, not a feature.
Law School Faculty Hiring, Age Discrimination, and Disparate Impact
Is there an employment discrimination law professor in the house? Over at the Prawfs Blawg, and through our Brother Caron over at the Tax Prof Blog, Kristin Hickman writes about a forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy
Law School Faculty Hiring, Age Discrimination, and Disparate Impact
Is there an employment discrimination law professor in the house? Over at the Prawfs Blawg, and through our Brother Caron over at the Tax Prof Blog, Kristin Hickman writes about a forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy
Law School Faculty Hiring, Age Discrimination, and Disparate Impact
Is there an employment discrimination law professor in the house? Over at the Prawfs Blawg, and through our Brother Caron over at the Tax Prof Blog, Kristin Hickman writes about a forthcoming article in the Virginia Journal of Social Policy