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Career and Professional Development Center


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Academic Careers

Professor Dorianne Coleman teaching

Visiting Assistant Professor Program

Attn: Sharon Nash
Duke University School of Law
Office of the Dean
Box 90362
Durham, NC 27708-0362

The Law School's Academic Careers Committee offers alumni practice job talks, helps schedule them for workshops at other schools, organizes faculty recommenders, and centralizes the Law School's marketing of the candidate to other schools. The giving of advice is not limited to members of the committee: Other faculty provide advice to applicants (and applicants have discussions with their references on the faculty), but the committee is available as a resource and helps to make sure that applicants receive the advice they need. The contact person for the committee is Sharon Nash (nash@law.duke.edu).

In addition to this personalized guidance, there are a number of websites that offer general advice to prospective legal academics about the law teaching market. They include:

Brad Wendel’s site: http://ww3.lawschool.cornell.edu/faculty-pages/wendel/teaching.htm

Eric Goldman’s Resource List: http://eric_goldman.tripod.com/resources/becomingalawprofessor.htm

Teachlaw: http://www.law.arizona.edu/depts/chin/teachlaw/index.html

Association of American Law Schools Faculty Recruitment Page:http://www.aals.org/frs/

School websites on teaching:
http://www.law.columbia.edu/careers/law_teaching
http://www.utexas.edu/law/faculty/bleiter/GUIDE.HTM
http://www.law.upenn.edu/cpp/alumni/jobseekers/careersacademia.html


The Visiting Assistant Professorship Program

The Visiting Assistant Professorship Program at Duke Law School supports aspiring law faculty. Visiting assistant professors spend two academic years at the Law School, with the expectation that they will enter the law school teaching market in the fall of their second year. A visiting assistant professor teaches one course per academic year and has no administrative responsibilities. He or she is provided with a regular faculty office and receives administrative and secretarial support, and is invited to participate in all faculty activities open to visiting professors, including faculty workshops and conferences.

Compensation

The salary for each visiting assistant professor is $50,000 per year plus benefits (including health insurance).

The Selection Process

We invite applications from graduates of any law school and any year of graduation. We encourage applications from those with experience in law practice. Candidates will be selected based on their potential to obtain a tenure-track position at a leading law school.

Applications should include:

  1. a curriculum vita that includes academic references;
  2. a law school transcript;
  3. copies of any scholarly legal articles that the candidate has written and would like to have considered, whether published, unpublished, or in draft form;
  4. a list of law school courses the candidate would be willing to teach (listed in order of preference); and
  5. a scholarly agenda outline, with particular emphasis on the scholarship contemplated during the professorship period.

All applications must be received by January 12, 2007. Candidates should send applications to:

Visiting Assistant Professor Program
Attn: Sharon Nash
Duke University School of Law
Office of the Dean
Box 90362
Durham, NC 27708-0362

Please direct any questions to Sharon Nash at (919) 613-7004 or nash@law.duke.edu.

Alumni and Students in the Teaching Market

The following alumni are available to offer advice to individuals interested in learning more about academic careers: