TOP PRODUCERS OF LAW TEACHERS AT THE LEADING LAW SCHOOLS SINCE 1995
January 31, 2011

This study identifies the law school alma mater (J.D. only) of tenure-stream academic faculty at 43 leading law faculties who graduated since 1995.  Faculty lists are current for 2010-11.    “Leading” law faculties were defined as those that are either in the top 35 in the academic reputation surveys conducted by U.S. News & World Report and/or in the top 35 in the scholarly impact studies I have produced.   The study was limited to graduates since 1995 in order to try to capture a current picture of where leading law faculties are looking for their new talent.  (A broader picture, both temporally and in terms of the range of schools considered, is given here.)  The study was limited to the “leading” law faculties on the theory that these schools were (1) likely to be the best judges of scholarly talent, and (2) likely to be able to hire the best scholarly talent.

The law faculties included in the study were:

The ranking, below, includes all schools with at least three graduates on the faculties at these 43 schools.  The “per capita” [sic] rate is really the total number of graduates in law teaching at these schools divided by average recent class size (rounded to the nearest 25); it is thus not a true per capita measure, but a useful tool for comparing the success rate of different school graduates.  It, of course, confirms what one would have expected:  Yale graduates have roughly three times the rate of success as graduates of Harvard, Stanford, and Chicago; while graduates of those latter three schools have at least three times the rate of success of graduates of Berkeley, Columbia, Michigan et al.  The groupings are meant to reflect roughly ‘peer’ schools in terms of placement success; students thinking of law teaching careers should choose among “peer” schools in terms of their special strengths in the student’s areas of interest.

Top Producers of Law Teachers at 43 Leading Law Faculties

A ranking based on just the 18 leading law faculties--Yale, Harvard, Chicago, Stanford, Columbia, NYU, Berkeley, Michigan, Virginia, Penn, Duke, Georgetown, Texas, Cornell, Northwestern, UCLA, Vanderbilt, Southern California—yields similar results; this ranking is confined to schools with at least two graduates on the faculties of these 18 schools. Note that five of UVA’s seven alumni at these schools are teaching at UVA itself. Schools hiring their own graduates accounted for a smaller portion of the numbers at other schools, but still was non-trivial: 3 of Stanford’s 16 are at Stanford; 3 of Chicago’s 15 are at Chicago; 2 of Columbia’s 7 are at Columbia; 2 of NYU’s 5 are at NYU; 1 of Michigan’s 4 is at Michigan.

Top Producers of Law Teachers at 18 Leading Law Faculties.

Yale Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Yale (6), Harvard (6), Chicago (2), Stanford (4), Columbia (7), NYU (7), Michigan (5), Virginia (7), Penn (7), Berkeley (7), Northwestern (3), Duke (2), Georgetown (5), UCLA (5), Texas (3), Cornell (4), USC (3), Minnesota (4), George Washington (3), Illinois (4), Emory (3), Wisconsin (2), Wash U/St. Louis (1), BU (2), Notre Dame (3), William & Mary (1), Fordham (2), Hastings (3), George Mason (1), UC Irvine (2), UC Davis (4), Indiana (1), North Carolina (2), Boston College (2), Cardozo (4), Arizona (1).

Harvard Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Yale (1), Harvard (8), Chicago (5), Stanford (1), Columbia (4), NYU (2), Michigan (5), Virginia (1), Penn (3), Berkeley (4), Northwestern (1), Duke (2), Georgetown (2), UCLA (7), Texas (5), Cornell (1), Vanderbilt (2), Minnesota (2), George Washington (7), Illinois (1), Emory (4), Iowa (2), Wash U/St. Louis (3), BU (1), Notre Dame (3), Florida State (3), Fordham (5), William & Mary (4), Hastings (3), George Mason (2), UC Irvine (1), UC Davis (2), San Diego (1), Washington & Lee (2), Indiana (2), Ohio State (3), Boston College (2), Colorado (7), Cardozo (1), Arizona (1).

Stanford Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Stanford (3), Columbia (3), Michigan (1), Penn (1), Northwestern (2), Duke (1), Georgetown (3), Texas (1), Cornell (1), Wisconsin (1), BU (1), William & Mary (1), Hastings (2), George Mason (1), UC Irvine (1), UC Davis (2), San Diego (2), North Carolina (1), Boston College (1), Colorado (3).

University of Chicago Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Yale (1), Harvard (1), Chicago (3), Columbia (1), NYU (1), Michigan (1), Virginia (3), Northwestern (2), Texas (2), Illinois (2), Emory (1), BU (1), Wash U/St. Louis (1), Fordham (2), Florida State (2), George Mason (6), Washington & Lee (1), Indiana (1), North Carolina (1), Boston College (1), Colorado (1).

University of California, Berkeley Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Chicago (1), Virginia (1), Berkeley (1), Duke (1), Vanderbilt (1), Minnesota (1), Wisconsin (2), Wash U/St. Louis (1), William & Mary (1), Florida State (2), UC Irvine (1), UC Davis (2), Cardozo (1).

Columbia Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Chicago (1), Columbia (2), Virginia (1), Berkeley (1), Georgetown (1), Cornell (1), Wisconsin (1), Wash U/St. Louis (1), William & Mary (1), Fordham (1), Hastings (1), George Mason (1), UC Davis (1), North Carolina (1), Colorado (3), Cardozo (1).

University of Michigan Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Harvard (1), Chicago (1), Michigan (1), Vanderbilt (1), George Washington (1), Emory (1), Iowa (1), Wash U/St. Louis (1), BU (1), George Mason (1), Washington & Lee (1), Indiana (3), Ohio State (1), Cardozo (1), Arizona (2).

University of Virginia School of Law graduates since 1995 are teaching at Harvard (1), NYU (1), Virginia (5), Illinois (1), Wash U/St. Louis (1), Notre Dame (2), William & Mary (2), Washington & Lee (1).

New York University School of Law graduates since 1995 are teaching at NYU (2), Michigan (2), Virginia (1), Vanderbilt (1), Minnesota (1), BU (1), Notre Dame (1), UC Davis (2), North Carolina (1), Cardozo (2), Arizona (1).

Northwestern University School of Law graduates since 1995 are teaching at Stanford (1), Penn (1), Minnesota (1), Colorado (1), North Carolina (1).

Duke University School of Law graduates since 1995 are teaching at Vanderbilt (1), Minnesota (1), Wisconsin (1), William & Mary (1), Fordham (1), George Mason (1), North Carolina (1).

Georgetown University Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Illinois (1), Wisconsin (1), Wash U/St. Louis (1), Notre Dame (1), Fordham (2), Ohio State (1).

University of Pennsylvania Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Penn (1), Florida State (1), Indiana (1).

Cornell Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Northwestern (1), Wisconsin (1).

University of California, Los Angeles School of Law graduates since 1995 are teaching at George Mason (1), San Diego (1), Ohio State (1), Colorado (1).

University of Minnesota Law School graduates since 1995 are teaching at Washington & Lee (2), Indiana (1), North Carolina (1), Colorado (1).