Thanks to Paul Caron and the BLPB editors for allowing me to join the blog as a contributing editor. 

I will post from time to time on my scholarly interests,
which include legal issues involved in corporate governance, mergers &
acquisitions, entrepreneurship, and social enterprise.  Currently, as Stefan mentioned in his kind introduction, most of my
time has been devoted to social enterprise law, especially
benefit corporation law. 

For my first few posts, however, I am going to write about
landing a job teaching law in a business school and how working at a business
school differs from working at a law school. 
This fall, I moved from a law professor position at Regent University
School of Law to a business school position at Belmont University.  The move has been a good one, and though my
appointment is in the business school, I will also be teaching Business
Associations in Belmont’s law school, starting next year. 

With the entry and lateral markets so weak at
law schools across the country, given
the 45% drop in LSAT test takers since 2009
, I imagine some readers are
considering business school positions. 

Finding a legal studies position in a business school can be
a bit more work than finding a law professor position.  There doesn’t seem to be anything similar to
the Faculty Recruitment Conference (a/k/a "the meat market") for legal studies positions in business schools.  If there is, I never uncovered it, and would
welcome information in the comments. 

David Zaring (Wharton)  does us all a great service over at The Conglomerate by posting some of
these business school legal studies positions. 
For example, this semester he has posted about openings at Wharton,
UNLV,
Kansas,
Texas State, Richard Stockton,
UConn,
Penn State, Georgia, Texas A&M, Indiana, and Northeastern Illinois
.  Occasionally, these business school legal
studies positions will require (or at least strongly prefer) a PHD, but for
most a JD is sufficient. 

Higher Ed Jobs
and the Chronicle’s
Vitae
are two other places to look, though you will have to sort through
quite a few adjunct position postings if you are looking for a tenure-track
job.  As an addition to David’s helpful
list above, on November 1, 2013, George
Mason University posted an Assistant/Associate Professor in Business Legal
Studies opening

Business schools
tend to hire a bit later in the year than law schools, but you see postings
year-round.  That said, I think business
schools are starting to realize that they need to hire earlier if they want to
compete with law schools for the top legal talent.

I absolutely love being a professor; it
is a loophole on life
.  For many,
however, it is difficult to find a position in your geographic area of
preference.  If location is important to
you, as it was (and is) to me, broadening your search to include business
schools could increase your options.    

 

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Photo of Haskell Murray Haskell Murray

Professor Murray teaches business law, business ethics, and alternative dispute resolution courses to undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, his research focuses on corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, sports law, and social entrepreneurship law issues.

Professor Murray is the 2018-19 President of the Southeastern…

Professor Murray teaches business law, business ethics, and alternative dispute resolution courses to undergraduate and graduate students. Currently, his research focuses on corporate governance, mergers & acquisitions, sports law, and social entrepreneurship law issues.

Professor Murray is the 2018-19 President of the Southeastern Academy of Legal Studies in Business (“SEALSB”) and is a co-editor of the Business Law Professor Blog. His articles have been published in a variety of journals, including the American Business Law Journal, the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, the Harvard Business Law Review, and the Maryland Law Review. Read More