Babson College (near Boston, MA), well-known for their entrepreneurship program, recently posted a tenure track assistant or associate professor of business law position.
University of Wisconsin – Madison has posted two Clinical Assistant Professor positions in their Law & Entrepreneurship Clinic: Systems and Operations.
The New York Times ran two articles this week about administrator and executive pay that struck a chord with me. One piece was about a new report linking student debt and highly paid university leaders. The article discusses a study, “The One Percent at State U: How University Presidents Profit from Rising Student Debt and Low-Wage Faculty Labor.” The study reviewed “the relationship between executive pay, student debt and low-wage faculty labor at the 25 top-paying public universities.”
Then-Ohio State President E. Gordon Gee was the highest-paid public university president for the time period review. The study found that
Ohio State was No. 1 on the list of what it called the most unequal public universities. The report found that from fiscal 2010 to fiscal 2012, Ohio State paid Mr. Gee a total of $5.9 million. [$2.95 million per year.] During the same period, it said, the university hired 670 new administrators, 498 contingent and part-time faculty — and 45 permanent faculty members. Student debt at Ohio State grew 23 percent faster than the national average during that time, the report found.
[In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that President Gee is the president of my institution, for
Before I went to law school, I worked in the video game industry, first for the industry trade association, the Interactive Digital Software Association (now known as the Entertainment Software Association). From there I moved to public relations for the public relations firm Golin/Harris in Los Angeles where my work was focused on product launches for Nintendo. (This was from 1998-2000.) In those jobs, I had the chance to work with some amazing people (and clients), and the experience has served me well, even as I went on to become a lawyer and professor.
One of those people was the managing director of the Los Angeles Golin/Harris office when I was hired, Fred Cook, who is now the CEO of Golin/Harris. Fred recently wrote a book that has caught the attention of the business world and is a top-25 book for corporate customers according to 800-CEO-READ. His book is Improvise: Unconventional Career Advice from an Unlikely CEO, and it’s worth a look.
Here’s an excerpt:
People entering the business world today are a commodity. They’ve gone to the same schools, taken the same courses, read the same books, and watched the same movies. Every summer they’ve
Regular readers know of my view that energy and energy law are closely related to business and business law. Further to that point: Last week, a group of 20 organizations, including those representing the interests of business, oil, coal, aggregate, farm, and power sent an open letter to Pennsylvania state legislators stating their concerns about the state supreme court’s decision in Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. That decision overturned Act 13, which largely eliminated local government’s ability to prevent oil and gas operations in their jurisdictions through zoning. The letter explains:
The opinion undermines the traditional and long-recognized authority of the Legislature to balance environmental and economic interests on a statewide basis, leading to the spectra of multiple levels of government and a myriad of agencies second guessing each other in deciding whether to approve particular developments and how to manage natural resources. This expansive, broad and vaguely case-by-case application of the Environmental Rights Amendment threatens to reestablish the very uncertainty and ambiguity that Act 13 and many other statutes were originally intended to address through adoption of a holistic, comprehensive regulatory program that carefully balances the Commonwealth twin interests in economic progress and environmental stewardship.
The plurality opinion opens the door to a myriad of litigation, at all levels of government, attempting to thwart virtually any type of industrial, agricultural, commercial or residential facility and development. The affects of this ruling will be felt by employers in all industries and will certainly adversely impact efforts to promote job creation throughout the state.
I agree with these organizations on a number of issues here. First, I think they are right the state legislature had the power to pass Act 13, or at least something similar. I also agree that the plurality opinion unnecessarily invites litigation in a variety of contexts that could negatively impact both business and the environment. On the other hand, I think that the legislature took an unnecessarily heavy-handed approach to the legislation when a more modest version of the act could have been similarly effective.
As I have explained previously, though there are very real risks related to hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas, much of the public, many politicians, and (in this case) judges are too easily distracted by risks that seem like they could be associated with the process, but aren’t. When judges assume facts, bad law (and bad policies) are very likely to follow. Building on that assessment, I have posted my article, Facts, Fiction, and Perception in Hydraulic Fracturing: Illuminating Act 13 and Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on here on SSRN. Please click below to continue reading.
Washburn University has posted an opening for an Assistant Professor of Legal Studies.
I know not everyone can move to Kansas, but when I was first on the market, I even applied to jobs like this one in Kuwait. If you really want to be a professor, you can’t let location get in your way. Granted, I know I would have had to use my best negotiating skills to convince my wife to move to Kuwait (or Kansas).
The details of the Washburn University position can be found after the break.
The business schools of Georgia Institute of Technology, University of Louisiana (Lafayette), and Indiana University (South Bend) have posted openings for legal studies positions.
I have ties to two of the schools. Wade Chumney (Georgia Tech) was in my position at Belmont University before I arrived and he provided me with great advice. Wade seems like he would be a wonderful legal studies colleague. University of Louisiana (Lafayette) was one of the (very few) schools to make me a tenure track offer when I was first on the market. The faculty at UL-L were wonderfully hospitable, and I was a big fan of the Cajun food, music, and culture. Plus, how many schools have a lake/swamp with (small) alligators in the middle of campus? Proximity to family was the deciding factor in my decision, and I highly recommend the school.
I don’t have any personal information about Indiana University (South Bend), but I think there is a lot of be said for the public education system.
All three of these positions are solid opportunities that our readers on the market may be interested in pursuing. Given the well-publicized challenges facing many law schools, it would not be surprising if many current law professors were among those looking at legal studies positions in business schools.
The information on these positions is after the break. Business school legal studies positions tend to be more poorly publicized than law school professor positions, and while I will try to post good positions to this website, if you are interested in teaching law in a business school, it might be worth the $30 (new member price) to join the Academy of Legal Studies in Business, view their job postings, and receive the e-mails.
Previously, I wrote about some of the differences I see in teaching at a business school and teaching at a law school.
[Position Details After the Break]
From Michelle Meyer over at the Faculty Lounge. Sounds like an interesting position:
In connection with our work on a sponsored research project with the National Football League Players Association, the Petrie-Flom Center seeks to hire a Senior Law and Ethics Associate immediately. (Please note that this is a distinct position from the one we recently advertised working with Harvard Catalyst on clinical and translational research.)
We are seeking a full-time doctoral-level hire (J.D., M.D., Ph.D., etc. in law, ethics, public health, social science, or other relevant discipline) with extensive knowledge of and interest in legal and ethical issues related to the health and welfare of professional athletes. The position will be funded for at least two years, with renewal likely for an additional year or more.
View the full job description and apply here.
For questions, contact petrie-flom@law.harvard.edu or 617-496-4662.
Last night I attended a forum organized by the Ladies Empowerment and Action Program (LEAP). The panel featured female entrepreneurs from the culinary industry. Some were chefs, some owned restarurnts, some sold products, and others blogged and educated the public, but their stories were remarkably similar. They told the audience of business students and budding entrepreneurs that they generally didn’t like partners, were wary of investors because they tended to exert too much control over their vision, and that they wished that they had better financial advisors who cared about them and understood their business.
One panelist, who had received $500,000 in capital from an investor, indicated that she was glad that she had been advised to enter into her contract as though she may end up in litigation. As a former litigator who now teaches both civil procedure and business associations, I both agree and disagree with that advice. As a naïve newbie litigator in a large New York firm, I used to joke with the corporate associates that the only reason I needed to understand how their deals were done was so that I could understand how to defend them went they fell apart and
As I have mentioned before, there appears to be no official “meat market” for legal studies positions in business schools. I found my current job through Higher Ed Jobs, and thought Higher Ed Jobs was the best source during my search. Also, the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Vitae recently launched (though they have had a jobs board for quite some time) and is likely worth frequenting.
For those still on the market, I wanted to highlight two recent business law postings: Southeast Missouri State University and University of Alaska (Fairbanks). Both positions appear to be tenure-track legal studies positions in business schools. Also, both schools are AACSB-accredited. (There are multiple accrediting bodies for business schools, and AACSB is the gold standard).
I maintain that being a professor is the best job in the world (especially given that my childhood dream of becoming an NFL quarterback is looking less glamorous in light of all the talk about concussions and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE)).
Wishing success for our readers who are on the professor market.
