When the love of law and the passion of teaching crosses each other it makes a law professor.
Not to be mentioned one of the toughest jobs to get and excel at.
But becoming a law professor has its own pros and cons. You may have done your fair share of research and now finally have come to a conclusion that you are going to become a law professor in the USA.
But the question remains how to become a law professor in the USA?
In this article, I am going to talk about the same.
How To Become A Law Professor?
These are just the steps of becoming a law professor, the hard work and determination have to be produced by you.
Becoming a law professor doesn’t mean that you need to master all the laws of the land, just pick one or two subjects in which you are good at and find joy in teaching them.
Steps To Becoming a Law Professor
I) Get a Bachelor’s Degree
The first step of your journey starts with getting a bachelor’s degree. Aspiring law professors need to enroll themselves in a prelaw program, the duration of this program is usually 3 to 4 years.
However, it is not important for all aspirants to obtain a pre-law degree. It is helpful so that you can start learning advanced legal concepts early.
II) Enroll in a Law School
As aesthetically pleasing it may look, a law school is a tough place to hold.
After completing your bachelor’s you can apply to top law schools, a law program usually takes 3 years to complete.
Here you will learn all the concepts related to law, also you will be taught how to argue in courts.
Everything from how to make a law to how to end a law will be taught in a law school.
Here are some law school tips that can assist you in becoming a law professor.
- Earn good grades at the law school.
The better your grades are higher will be the chances of you getting smoothly through a law college and not to mention your grades will be used as a parameter to judge your knowledge in the future.
- Take part in moot courts and other co-curricular activities which force you to speak in front of a wide audience, trust me it helps a lot.
When you will be a law professor you have to speak or teach a wide audience. And public speaking may seem like a nightmare to many people even law professor aspirants.
Taking part in public speaking activities will help you to get through that uncomfortable nervousness at an early stage and your journey as a professor will be a little smoother.
- Choose some subjects and master them
Master 2 or 3 subjects that you enjoy teaching and learning, learning law is a neverending phenomenon, there will be amendments and you have to learn those amendments even at the later stage.
Hence, it is very important to choose subjects that you enjoy so that you can never get bored learning them (forever).
- Make Good Connections
Having good connections at a law school helps a lot.
You can practice teaching your fellow classmates, and in return, they will tell you what you lack.
Isn’t it a great deal?
- Build up your CV
Law school is a perfect place to build your CV, take part in a variety of stuff and build a strong and impactful CV and you will be good to go.
- Get a Mentor Professor
Getting a professor mentor is a very good way to find a path, it’s better to follow a predefined path than beat around the bush.
III) Pursue A Clerkship
It is a good way to build your resume and to gain some valuable experience. Clerkship means working under judges, you get to experience a lot of things like filing legal paperwork, conducting legal research, and on top of that, you get to work under an established judge.
Clerkship lasts a few years and is concluded when you graduate from your law school and now you have earned legal credentials.
IV) Publish Legal Articles
This step needs to be followed during and after the ned of law school. You have worked under a judge now how about you publish a legal article.
It boosts your resume and shows how deeply you know about the law. Plus it is mandatory to get at least one legal article published if you want to become a professor.
V) Practice Law As A Career
It is not a necessary step but surely a useful one. If you practice law at a law firm for 3 to 4 years you not only boost your knowledge and skills but you also get a deeper and more practical application of the knowledge that you earned.
This can help you excel as a law professor.
VI) Apply to a University or Law School
Now you are ready to teach!
Apply to a variety of law schools and universities across the country. You can also get a master’s degree in a specific subject if you want to be an actual master of a particular subject.
It is a good way to separate yourself from the crowd.
VIII) Never Stop Learning
At last, never ever stop learning.
You may start small but a continuous urge to learn will take you to greater heights and all the efforts will be worth it.
Continue publishing your research and continue learning new interpretations. Open yourself to constructive criticism and you will go far ahead.
Parting Words
So that was it.
This was how you can become a law professor at a law college.
All the efforts and sleepless nights will be worth it in the end.
Best of luck!
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