Why do Lawyers Hate Law Professors?

I don't know that lawyers do hate law professors, but if I had to guess, I'd say that most practicing lawyers don't think too highly of legal academics as a group.  Earlier this year in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Professor William Pannapacker (English, Wake Forest) asked of the general public's attitude towards higher-education faculty members,"Why Do They Hate Us?" (pay site, sorry; day passes available).  He senses an anti-academic sentiment directed at professors "particularly in the humanities and social sciences—already the survivors of a 40-year depression in the academic job market." Academics, Pannapacker says, are “under siege,” caught in a perfect storm of anti-intellectualism, economic constriction and self-defeating practices.   

Two of the exogenous factors that Pannapacker identifies at the root of anti-academic sentiment -- the rising cost of higher education and what he calls the “changing job market” --  are familiar to most law professors.  We’ve been watching the cost of legal education go rapidly in one direction for years.  In 2005, former AALS President N. William Hines identified (here) the increasing cost of legal education as one of the ten “most important changes in the law school world in the last 25 years.” And employment prospects for law school graduates are especially grim (as the NY Times noted here, for example).  The bad news doesn’t seem to stop.

At least in the legal academy, why might economic constriction lead to anti-faculty sentiment?  The answer to that question lies, I suspect, in what Pannapacker calls an inability to “articulate a coherent vision of why others should value what we teach.”  Does the legal academy have a shared vision of what it is that law professors are doing (or should be doing)?  I suspect not.  More likely, if you ask 30 law professors why practicing lawyers should value what we do, you'd get 30 different answers.  I don't even think you could get a consensus -- among legal academics, at least -- on the question of whether law professors are (or should be) teaching students to practice law.  

Comments

[Eric Muller]

I would be very interested to know whether doctors are as skeptical of what medical school faculty do, or journalists of what J-school faculty do. Are we looking at a phenomenon that is unique to legal education?

[Doug Richmond]

I was a partner in a large law firm for many years and am now a senior corporate executive with legal responsibilities. I do not think that practicing lawyers "hate" law professors by any stretch of the imagination. I would not even go so far as to say that practitioners "do not think too highly of legal academics as a group." I do think that practicing senior lawyers think that law schools could do a better job of teaching practical skills (especially writing) and that much of the scholarship produced by law professors is of no material assistance to practitioners, but those are old laments.

[Steven Lubet]

"Are we looking at a phenomenon that is unique to legal education?"

Yes, we are.

[John William Nelson]

"Are we looking at a phenomenon that is unique to legal education?"

No. My friends in Med School had as much disdain for non-practicing professors as my friends in law school have had for law professors.

The general idea is the old phrase "Those who do, do; those who can't, teach."

As for J-School; journalism is an undegrad degree and doesn't carry with it the 'professionalism' tag of law or medicine. I think undergrads tend to be a bit more in awe at their professors and a bit less in awe with themselves.

Masters in Business would be a better place to look for comparisons. I always had a feeling those folks tended to be a bit more mercenary; loved their professors if it helped them get good leads and jobs; loathed them as much or more than Docs and Lawyers if they didn't provide leads for jobs.

[Bridget Crawford]

Professor Pannapacker's article in the Chron, which inspired my initial post, was focused mostly on faculty members in the humanities and social sciences. His sense was that those profs are "under siege" like never before. So Pannapacker, at least, would suggest that is is not a phenomenon unique to legal education.

[Steven Lubet]

"My friends in Med School had as much disdain for non-practicing professors as my friends in law school have had for law professors."

Maybe so, but what percentage of medical school faculty have never practiced medicine, as compared to the number of law school professors who have never much practiced law? (Also, non-practicing med school professors tend to be in basic sciences and, in my experience, are held in pretty high regard by practicing physicians).

[Michael Lewyn]

My sense is that practitioners may envy law professors, but certainly don't "hate" them. But maybe I'm just out of touch.

[Tung Yin]

John Nelson writes: "As for J-School; journalism is an undegrad degree and doesn't carry with it the 'professionalism' tag of law or medicine. I think undergrads tend to be a bit more in awe at their professors and a bit less in awe with themselves."

* * *

Journalism is also a master's degree at some institutions, like UC Berkeley, where I got my MJ before law school.

I don't think journalism makes for a good comparison, though, because -- unlike medicine or law -- one does not need a journalism degree in order to be a journalist. Indeed, back in the 1990s, when I was in grad school, I think more than a few practicing journalists looked down on the idea of J-school itself, the idea being that instead of sitting in a classroom, you should just go out and actually write for papers (as a stringer or freelance, etc.).

That said, most of my J-school professors had a LOT of actual experience. It would be the equivalent of being taught law school by former managing partners, senior litigators, etc. with 10-20 years of law practice. My profs included the former NYT bureau chief in Albuquerque, as well as the NYT's chief congressional correspondent. So in that sense, I doubt that practicing journalists would have disdain for J-school teachers.

[anon]

Too many professors in the humanities and social sciences do little more than peddle ideology. English departments don't bother with literature except as a device to explore whatever may be the professor's favorite brand of post-modern nonsense or flog the "critical" movement du jour. The social sciences, which are not very scientific at their best, have been reduced to platforms for ideological cheerleading. No wonder the general public has begun to rebel. A parent spends $50K/year at a private institution for four years of drinking, drugs, partying, and leftist ideological instruction. This is a bad deal unless junior gets a good brand name on the old sheepskin.

[Orin Kerr]

Two quick thoughts:

1) It strikes me as problematic to simply assume that Professor Pannapacker's theory is correct. Based on the description in the post, it seems like a weak theory.

2) There are reasons to think that the attitudes of lawyers towards law professors would be different: Among them, our experiences as law professors who meet a lot of lawyers and see their reactions.

[John Nelson]

@ Steven Lubet:
"Maybe so, but what percentage of medical school faculty have never practiced medicine, as compared to the number of law school professors who have never much practiced law?"

I think this might be a case-by-case thing. My experiences have been different than yours. The med school folks I talk to talk about how a number of their professors don't practice and, to a slightly less extend, never practiced.

Also, working as an IT guy for doctors and hearing the jokes made at the expense of research folks colored my perception of how these folks are viewed. (That and many of my med school friends look down on those folks, too.)

As for the implicit comparison to law -- all of my law school professors had practiced a minimum of 4 years prior to teaching.

So perhaps in both our mileages may vary.

[Alfred Brophy]

The link to William's Chronicle piece is: http://chronicle.com/article/Why-Do-They-Hate-Us-/124608

[JRL]

I am a practicing lawyer a few years out of law school. I don't think much of my law professors. I loved law school at the time, and I like most of my professors. But now that I practice law, I realize that they didn't teach me much that was practical. I had to learn how to write a complaint from a senior associate. I had to learn how to answer a complaint from a partner. I had to learn how to write proper legal writing from the judge I clerked for and other attorneys. As long as law schools are as disconnected from reality as they currently are, lawyers will continue to feel this way.