Who Has the Best Constitutional Law Program to Later Teach???

[RockinJay]

I would like to teach/consult con law someday and was wondering which schools, besides the obvious T-14 programs, might have a respectable program?  Thank you.

[Lampshade Punk]

Have you taken Con Law yet?  Can you actually hire a Con Law consultant?  are you even a real person? 

[nealric]

There are no schools outside the T-14 that give you a good chance of getting into legal academia. Frankly, the only schools that give you a solid chance are HYS and maybe Chicago.

That's not to say it can't be done, but the odds are very slim.

[dactylion]

Why do you say that the rest of the T-14 won't give you a solid chance?

[Lampshade Punk]

Why do you say that the rest of the T-14 won't give you a solid chance?

toting the company line.

[kilroy55]

I think you are painting too broad of a brush.  Harvard, Yale and Stanford obviously place quite well, but many of the other T14s place well as do several outside the T14.  Also, you have to take other factors into account.  I think what most people on this board assume is that you, of course, want to teach at the most prestigious school possible.  But, if you are only interested in the teaching aspect, many T3s and T4s have professors from all ranges of schools.  Plus, if for whatever reason you can't get into a top school, you can always go the LLM route and see how it works.  Additionally, if you go to a lower ranked school but do extremely well, you may be able to land a federal clerkship which can open some academic doors especially if you manage a Circuit Court clerkship. But, as everyone else has said, going to a T14 will help your cause tremondously.  So, if you get into one, I suggest you go if academics is what you are aiming for. 

[nealric]

Why do you say that the rest of the T-14 won't give you a solid chance?

toting the company line.

Check this out:

http://www.leiterrankings.com/jobs/2008job_teaching.shtml

I think you are painting too broad of a brush.  Harvard, Yale and Standford obviously place quite well, but many of the other T14s place well as do several outside the T14.  Also, you have to take other factors into account.  I think what most people on this board assume is that you, of course, want to teach at the most prestigious school possible.  But, if you are only interested in the teaching aspect, many T3s and T4s have professors from all ranges of schools.  Plus, if for whatever reason you can't get into a top school, you can always go the LLM route and see how it works.  Additionally, if you go to a lower ranked school but do extremely well, you may be able to land a federal clerkship which can open some academic doors especially if you manage a Circuit Court clerkship. But, as everyone else has said, going to a T14 will help your cause tremondously.  So, if you get into one, I suggest you go if academics is what you are aiming for. 

Never said it couldn't be done. There are plenty of fine law professors that did not go to elite law schools. However, the odds are so slim beyond a select few schools that it would be silly to chose one school over another based on teaching placement. Wanting to be a law professor is a great reason to chose Yale over Harvard (43% v 18% placement) . It is a silly reason to chose Washington & Lee over Cornell (3% v 2%).

[Stuart]

Well, you might check out W&M's Institute for Bill of Rights Law. I'm not sure that it's great for getting into teaching (that's somewhat hard to gauge anyway in the 20s, since the frequency is pretty low), but at least it would maybe be an opportunity to write and think about a lot o fissues that somebody with your interests should be writing and thinking about.

Also, Texas has a really good Con Law faculty I believe.

[huhwhat]

I still want to know what the hell a Constitutional Law Consultant is/does.