Law schools do students a disservice

Law schools do students a disservice by treating legal-research & writing (LRW) professors like third-class citizens.

It’s been like this since I went to law school in the 1990s, and it’s largely still like this today.

—LRW professors typically make less than $100,000/year—less than clinical professors, and a lot less than doctrinal professors.

—LRW professors rarely get tenure as an option.

—LRW professors often have no vote.

—Some schools don’t even call LRW “professors.” They get an “Instructor” or “Lecturer” title.

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It was—in part—because of this law-school hierarchy that I did not appropriately respect my own LRW professor.

And it was in part because of my lack of respect for her that I failed to learn from her.

👉 Current 1Ls: Please don’t make my mistake. Respect, revere your LRW professor. They work SO hard, and they really do want to see you succeed.

🔷 We all need our entering first-year lawyers to have had every chance at learning legal writing. Many lawyers say legal writing is what they use most every day!!

Fondly,
💌 Amanda

🗳️ I’m sure it’s complicated, but if law schools treated LRW and other lawyer-skills professors with greater respect, perhaps law students would leave law school with more respectable lawyer skills?

I welcome your thoughts.

#Dear1L
#LawSchool
#LawStudents
#LegalWriting
#DearLegalWriter