Slow Down in Hiring?

Like a lot of people in the academy, I've been mighty worried of late about the effect of the economy on schools.  We never do really well and in tough economic times, we're hit particularly hard.  So this news (also here) from Williamsburg that the College of William and Mary has frozen hiring doesn't surprise me.  Sounds like a responsible move.  (By the way, belated congratulations to Taylor Reveley, William and Mary's new president--and former dean of the law school.  They've very lucky to have him as president.) 

I'm expecting freezes on hiring at many universities.  I asked a friend at a major law school a few weeks back what he thought the effect of the economy would be on law school hiring.  His response was -- characteristically -- insightful.  First, fewer people are going to be retiring; second, schools will be reluctant to fill vacancies.  A handful of elite schools will be insulated from the downturn, I suppose.  For all the rest of us, get ready for some more belt-tightening, which may include increased teaching loads.  Maybe the real crunch will be felt next year; that's hard to know.  You may recall that I mentioned these issues of slowing down on (at least lateral) hires and increasing teaching loads last spring in a post on trend spotting in the legal academy (points four and five).  That was before our nation's financial crisis become so severe.  Finances will just accelerate those trends.

Alfred Brophy

Comments

[Michael Froomkin]

Miami is hiring. See http://www.discourse.net/archives/2008/09/ten_reasons_why_you_should_teach_here_and_three_why_you_shouldnt_v_20.html

[Roger Dennis]

There is a good article in today's Philadelphia Inky about this topic, reporting on an upcoming meeting of the Association of American Universities on the financial crisis.

[Hark]

The hiring freeze does not affect the Law School at W&M.

[anon]

Connecticut and South Carolina have also apparently cancelled their AALS interviews. A number of schools are continuing to interview, but rumors have it that many schools will be cutting hiring in half or freezing hiring later this year. How many of these schools will actually be making offers? Candidates interviewing with schools should not be optmistic at all that most schools will be making offers. In light of the unprecedented cuts that seem to be occuring, it would be helpful if someone would start a blog post on hiring freezes and how many offers each law school expects to actually make.

The message to entry level candidates is unmistakable -- if you receive an offer for employment, accept it before it is revoked and make sure that you get it in writing!!!!!!!

[anon]

Is it acceptable to call/email a school and just ask them about this? I mean, if the school is not going to be hiring, isnt it fair to know as the candidate?

[hiringvet]

Someone needs to start a blog reporting the maximum number of slots various schools wuill fill this year. If a school doesn't have any slots, or if it is uncertain whether it will do any hiring at all, it is unfair to interview candidates and to ask them to give up other interviews. If course, it still is early in the year and things change, but many state schools may now think they have lines but may lose them by January or February of next year.

As to whether it is appropriate to ask, I think it is if you have a good reason such as a) an offer of a tenure-track position from another school which you might accept, b) a full dance card for interviews that would require you to cancel other interviews to interview with the school in question, or c) have read in a newspaper about hiring freezes at that university. Already, it is looking to me as if this will be one of the worse markets for candidates (translation, one of the best markets for those law schools hiring) in my 15 year career. There simply are not goiong to me as many offers going around as there usually are -- I'd anticipate it will be in the range of 2/3 of the ordinary hiring we see by law schools.

Candidates will need to recognize that the game has changed from recent years and old strategies of interviewing with as many schools as possible without thinking about the likelihood of an offer may not work as well.

[anon]

It's unclear how this translates to the law school, but Arizona is also announcing a campus-wide hiring freeze: http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/byauthor/262292

Some schools limit such freezes to positions that are not "essential", and maybe some law teaching jobs are, but it doesn't look good for those of use who have signed up to interview with Arizona.

[anon]

BU has also called for a hiring freeze -

http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2008/10/01/bu_head_calls_for_a_hiring_freeze/

The University of Washington has implemented a hiring freeze too --

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/383471_uw16.html

Definitely don't count on offers from these places!!!!

[rockymountainhigh]

Add Colorado to your list:

http://www.dailycamera.com/news/2008/sep/25/gov-orders-hiring-freeze-halts-new-construction/

[anon]

How do/should all of these cuts and hiring freezes change the strategies for a candidate? Will things get better or worse as the year goes on???

[anon]

Does/will the W&M hiring freeze extend to the University of Virginia as well?

[matt]

I don't know if anything has changed or not, but when the news of a BU hiring freeze first came out the head of the hiring committee there said that it did not effect the law school this year and that their search was going on as planned. This is obviously something to take very seriously but also not something to jump to conclusions about based on partial reports. (The Colorado article also seems to fall into that category.)

[Alfred]

Thanks for joining the conversation, everyone--and sharing this additional information.

Matt--The report I saw about BU said that its hiring freeze did not affect approved searches.

As I noted in the initial post, the real crunch may come next year. That's when administrations may refuse to approve new searches. As to this year, one guess is that there will be a rush by schools to fill slots shortly after the AALS conference (and thus avoid mid-year freezes).

I also guess that next year will be a worse year than this one. Some people have speculated that because more students will be applying to law school, instead of heading into the job market right after college, that law schools may have increased revenue next year. I think that's counter-balanced by a couple of things. First, adminstrations may look even more hungrily on the law schools' budgets than they have in the past; second, schools may be reluctant to fill slots even if there is a temporary up-tick in students, because they fear longer-term financial problems. I think we're entering a prolonged period of belt-tightening in the academy, which may include increased teaching loads for tenured and tenure-track faculty and increased reliance on visitors and part-time faculty.

[anon]

There's an interesting article in today'sw Chronicle of Higher Education on misplaced optimism in the current job market -- http://chronicle.com/free/v55/i09/09a00103.htm

To put it bluntly, "But with the economy in a tailspin, new sources of anxiety have surfaced for job seekers. Steep budget cuts, either anticipated or in place, threaten many colleges. So do hiring freezes or slowdowns. Some institutions are already couching their job ads in timid terms: Two tenure-track appointments in history at Auburn University are "contingent on funding," according to a Chronicle advertisement that is among several that include such cautionary words."

The article embraces what it calls "cautious optimism", but I think that the budget forecast for many colleges is quite clear and to pretend otherwise is to ignore the reality.

[anon2]

Can we expect private schools to be similarly affected in their ability to hire?

[Kurt Strasser]

Connecticut is interviewing a full schedule of 25 people. However, there is some risk that budget pressures may require that we curtail our hiring, as we have told all our interviewees.

[anon]

Anon of 11:37: I just read the Chronicle piece, which deals with the arts and sciences (not law), and I think it's a mischaracterization to say that it's about "misplaced optimism in the current job market." It actually presents a cautiously optimistic picture, based on the assessments of neutral parties (i.e., not job candidates).

You may disagree with that assessment (based on information you have not shared), but I agree with Matt: it's not yet clear to me that we need to be so darkly pessimistic about law school hiring. Certainly the Chronicle piece does not support that position.

[anon]

There were hiring freezxes at law schools in the early 1990's (when offers were revoked by many schools), and the economic forecast then was nowhere near as dim as it is now. If it is not already here, the time of hiring freezes is coming. I have heard that candidates are getting messages from many school similar to that Connecticut is sending.

[Eric Kades, Vice Dean, William & Mary School of Law]

Hi. Just wanted to affirm from the administration that the hiring freeze at the College of William & Mary does not apply to Law School faculty positions. We are actively seeking entry level and lateral candidates.

- Eric Kades, Vice Dean, W&M Law

[Kurt Strasser]

Connecticut is interviewing a full schedule of 25 people. However, there is some risk that budget pressures may require that we curtail our hiring, as we have told all our interviewees.

-- Kurt Strasser, Chair, Faculty Appointments Committee, UConn Law