Law Professor Overview
Working as a Law Professor
There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a law professor. For example, did you know that they make an average of $71.75 an hour? That's $149,246 a year!
Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 11% and produce 155,000 job opportunities across the U.S.
What Does a Law Professor Do
There are certain skills that many law professors have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed interpersonal skills, speaking skills and writing skills.
When it comes to the most important skills required to be a law professor, we found that a lot of resumes listed 46.5% of law professors included legal advice, while 12.6% of resumes included property law, and 7.5% of resumes included legal studies. Hard skills like these are helpful to have when it comes to performing essential job responsibilities.
How To Become a Law Professor
If you're interested in becoming a law professor, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 14.1% of law professors have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 22.1% of law professors have master's degrees. Even though most law professors have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.
Choosing the right major is always an important step when researching how to become a law professor. When we researched the most common majors for a law professor, we found that they most commonly earn doctoral degree degrees or master's degree degrees. Other degrees that we often see on law professor resumes include bachelor's degree degrees or diploma degrees.
You may find that experience in other jobs will help you become a law professor. In fact, many law professor jobs require experience in a role such as law clerk. Meanwhile, many law professors also have previous career experience in roles such as attorney or legal extern.
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Law Professor Career Paths
As you move along in your career, you may start taking on more responsibilities or notice that you've taken on a leadership role. Using our career map, a law professor can determine their career goals through the career progression. For example, they could start out with a role such as law clerk, progress to a title such as attorney and then eventually end up with the title partner.
What is the right job for my career path?
Tell us your goals and we'll match you with the rights job to get there.
Average Salary for a Law Professor
Best Paying Cities
Recently Added Salaries
Job TitleCompany  | Company | Start Date | Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
University of San Diego Professor of Law Professor of Law | University of San Diego University of San Diego | 07/29/2019 07/29/2019 | $149,53407/29/2019 $149,534 |
University of Virginia Professor of Law Professor of Law | University of Virginia University of Virginia | 07/29/2019 07/29/2019 | $150,09707/29/2019 $150,097 |
University of Virginia Professor of Law Professor of Law | University of Virginia University of Virginia | 07/11/2019 07/11/2019 | $150,09707/11/2019 $150,097 |
The Administrators of The Tulane Educational Fund Professor of Law Professor of Law | The Administrators of The Tulane Educational Fund The Administrators of The Tulane Educational Fund | 06/27/2019 06/27/2019 | $225,47906/27/2019 $225,479 |
Columbia University Professor of Law Professor of Law | Columbia University Columbia University | 05/31/2019 05/31/2019 | $216,38405/31/2019 $216,384 |
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Top Colleges for Law Professors
1. Pennsylvania State University
University Park, PA • Public
2. University of Georgia
Athens, GA • Public
3. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
4. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
5. Florida International University
Miami, FL • Public
6. George Washington University, The
Washington, DC • Private
7. Northeastern University
Boston, MA • Private
8. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Public
10. Temple University
Philadelphia, PA • Public
Top Skills For a Law Professor
The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 46.5% of law professors listed legal advice on their resume, but soft skills such as interpersonal skills and speaking skills are important as well.
- Legal Advice, 46.5%
- Property Law, 12.6%
- Legal Studies, 7.5%
- Constitutional Law, 7.0%
- Law Firm, 5.6%
- Other Skills, 20.8% See All Law Professor Skills
Best States For a Law Professor
Some places are better than others when it comes to starting a career as a law professor. The best states for people in this position are Alaska, Hawaii, New Jersey, and New Hampshire. Law professors make the most in Alaska with an average salary of $169,190. Whereas in Hawaii and New Jersey, they would average $163,397 and $131,961, respectively. While law professors would only make an average of $128,969 in New Hampshire, you would still make more there than in the rest of the country. We determined these as the best states based on job availability and pay. By finding the median salary, cost of living, and using the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Location Quotient, we narrowed down our list of states to these four.
1. Alaska
$169,191
Avg. Salary
2. Vermont
$126,346
Avg. Salary
3. Iowa
$121,930
Avg. Salary