{"id":162127,"date":"2026-09-02T12:41:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/02\/want-to-become-a-law-professor-these-law-schools-offer-the-best-odds\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T12:41:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T20:41:07","slug":"want-to-become-a-law-professor-these-law-schools-offer-the-best-odds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2026\/09\/02\/want-to-become-a-law-professor-these-law-schools-offer-the-best-odds\/","title":{"rendered":"Want To Become A Law Professor? These Law Schools Offer The Best Odds"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you\u2019ve ever dreamed of becoming a law professor, where you earn your J.D. may play a significant role in whether you ultimately make it into the legal academy.<\/p>\n

Professor Derek Muller<\/a> of Notre Dame Law School recently took a look at which law schools produced the most professors over the past decade at his Substack, Law School Docket<\/a>. Using hiring data<\/a> compiled by Illinois Law professor Sarah Lawsky<\/a>, Muller examined where professors hired between 2017 and 2026 received their law degrees.<\/p>\n

Raw hiring totals don\u2019t tell the whole story here. Muller also compared those figures with each school\u2019s average graduating class size for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Twenty-nine law schools placed at least five graduates into academia during the decade studied.<\/p>\n

Which schools are most likely to produce future law professors? Here are the top 10, ranked by placements as a percentage of graduating class:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Yale University: 8.6% (182 professors)<\/li>\n
  2. Stanford University: 2.6% (48 professors)<\/li>\n
  3. Harvard University: 2.0% (119 professors)<\/li>\n
  4. University of Chicago: 1.9% (41 professors)<\/li>\n
  5. New York University: 1.5% (69 professors)<\/li>\n
  6. Vanderbilt University: 1.0% (19 professors)<\/li>\n
  7. University of Michigan: 0.9% (30 professors)<\/li>\n
  8. Northwestern University: 0.8% (22 professors)<\/li>\n
  9. Columbia University: 0.8% (35 professors)<\/li>\n
  10. University of California, Berkeley: 0.7% (25 professors)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Yale\u2019s performance is truly in a class of its own. About one out of every 12 graduates goes on to become a law professor. No other school even comes close. Stanford, which finishes in second place, clocks in at just 2.6%.<\/p>\n

    Harvard produced far more professors in raw numbers than Stanford or Chicago, but Stanford performed better when class size was taken into account, with Chicago close behind. Vanderbilt also punched above its weight, placing 19 graduates into academia for a rate of 1%.<\/p>\n

    To see the full list,\u00a0click here<\/a>\u2060.<\/p>\n

    And what about the schools at the bottom of the list? American, Fordham, and George Washington each placed five graduates into the legal academy, amounting to about 0.1% of their graduating classes. Texas also placed five professors, while UC Law San Francisco placed six, with both schools posting rates of 0.2%.<\/p>\n

    Congratulations to all of the law schools whose graduates made their way into academia. They\u2019re now helping to educate \u2014 and perhaps inspire \u2014 the next generation of lawyers and law professors.<\/p>\n

    Which law schools produce the most law professors?<\/a> [Law School Docket]<\/p>\n

    \n
    \"\"
    <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n

    The post Want To Become A Law Professor? These Law Schools Offer The Best Odds<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    \"\"
    \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image via Getty)\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    If you\u2019ve ever dreamed of becoming a law professor, where you earn your J.D. may play a significant role in whether you ultimately make it into the legal academy.<\/p>\n

    Professor Derek Muller<\/a> of Notre Dame Law School recently took a look at which law schools produced the most professors over the past decade at his Substack, Law School Docket<\/a>. Using hiring data<\/a> compiled by Illinois Law professor Sarah Lawsky<\/a>, Muller examined where professors hired between 2017 and 2026 received their law degrees.<\/p>\n

    Raw hiring totals don\u2019t tell the whole story here. Muller also compared those figures with each school\u2019s average graduating class size for 2020, 2021, and 2022. Twenty-nine law schools placed at least five graduates into academia during the decade studied.<\/p>\n

    Which schools are most likely to produce future law professors? Here are the top 10, ranked by placements as a percentage of graduating class:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Yale University: 8.6% (182 professors)<\/li>\n
    2. Stanford University: 2.6% (48 professors)<\/li>\n
    3. Harvard University: 2.0% (119 professors)<\/li>\n
    4. University of Chicago: 1.9% (41 professors)<\/li>\n
    5. New York University: 1.5% (69 professors)<\/li>\n
    6. Vanderbilt University: 1.0% (19 professors)<\/li>\n
    7. University of Michigan: 0.9% (30 professors)<\/li>\n
    8. Northwestern University: 0.8% (22 professors)<\/li>\n
    9. Columbia University: 0.8% (35 professors)<\/li>\n
    10. University of California, Berkeley: 0.7% (25 professors)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Yale\u2019s performance is truly in a class of its own. About one out of every 12 graduates goes on to become a law professor. No other school even comes close. Stanford, which finishes in second place, clocks in at just 2.6%.<\/p>\n

      Harvard produced far more professors in raw numbers than Stanford or Chicago, but Stanford performed better when class size was taken into account, with Chicago close behind. Vanderbilt also punched above its weight, placing 19 graduates into academia for a rate of 1%.<\/p>\n

      To see the full list,\u00a0click here<\/a>\u2060.<\/p>\n

      And what about the schools at the bottom of the list? American, Fordham, and George Washington each placed five graduates into the legal academy, amounting to about 0.1% of their graduating classes. Texas also placed five professors, while UC Law San Francisco placed six, with both schools posting rates of 0.2%.<\/p>\n

      Congratulations to all of the law schools whose graduates made their way into academia. They\u2019re now helping to educate \u2014 and perhaps inspire \u2014 the next generation of lawyers and law professors.<\/p>\n

      Which law schools produce the most law professors?<\/a> [Law School Docket]<\/p>\n

      \n
      \"\"
      <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

      Staci Zaretsky<\/a>\u00a0is the managing editor of Above the Law, where she\u2019s worked since 2011. She\u2019d love to hear from you, so please feel free to\u00a0email<\/a>\u00a0her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky<\/a>,\u00a0X\/Twitter<\/a>, and\u00a0Threads<\/a>, or connect with her on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      If you\u2019ve ever dreamed of becoming a law professor, where you earn your J.D. may play a significant role in whether you ultimately make it into the legal academy. Professor Derek Muller of Notre Dame Law School recently took a look at which law schools produced the most professors over the past decade at his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":162085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-162127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/xira.com\/p\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Staci-Zaretsky-TBanVi.jpg?fit=150%2C100&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}