Upward Mobility - Stories to Keep in Mind

Read the earlier sections of this article:

I. Paths to Law Teaching
II. Chicago Alumni in Academia
III. The Mechanics of the Academic Job Market in Law
IV. Ranking Law Schools

V. Upward Mobility - Stories to Keep in Mind

Where you start your academic career may not be where you spend it. Even if you begin teaching at a second- or third-choice school, from your standpoint, it's worth keeping in mind that, through scholarly productivity, you may have other professional options later on. Some examples:

Kenneth Abraham (Virginia) started his career at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.
Barry Adler (NYU) started his career at George Mason University.
Ronald Allen (Northwestern) started his career at the State University of New York, Buffalo.
C. Edwin Baker (Penn) started his career at the University of Toledo.
Jack Balkin (Yale) started his career at the University of Missouri, Kansas City.
Lillian BeVier (Virginia) started her career at Santa Clara University.
Paul Carrington (Duke) started his career at the University of Wyoming.
Michael Dorf (Cornell, formerly Columbia) started his career at Rutgers University, Camden.
Katherine Franke (Columbia) started her career at the University of Arizona.
Lawrence Friedman (Stanford) started his career at Saint Louis University.
Richard Friedman (Michigan) started his career at Cardozo Law School.
George Fletcher (Columbia) started his career at the University of Florida, Gainesville.
Mary Ann Glendon (Harvard) started her career at Boston College.
Robert Gordon (Yale) started his career at the State University of New York, Buffalo.
Jason Johnston (Penn) started his career at Vermont Law School.
Brian Leiter (Chicago) started his career at the University of San Diego.
Jerry Mashaw (Yale) started his career at Tulane University.
William Ian Miller (Michigan) started his career at the University of Houston.
George Priest (Yale) started his career at the University of Puget Sound (now Seattle University).
Margaret Jane Radin (Michigan; emerita, Stanford) started her career at the University of Oregon.
Mark Roe (Harvard) started his career at Rutgers University, Newark.
Frederick Schauer (Virginia) started his career at West Virginia University.
Robert Scott (Columbia) started his career at the College of William & Mary.
Scott Shapiro (Yale) started his career at Cardozo Law School.
Katherine Strandburg (NYU) started her career at DePaul University.
Robert Summers (Cornell) started his career at the University of Oregon.
Gerald Torres (Texas) started his career at the University of Pittsburgh.
Elizabeth Warren (Harvard) started her career at the University of Houston.
Robin West (Georgetown) started her career at Cleveland State University.
Patricia Williams (Columbia) started her career at Golden Gate University.

In recent years, several schools that are more “regional” in terms of where they draw their students from and where graduates practice, have proven unusually adept at identifying faculty talent, as evidenced by the national schools that then raid their faculty for the junior scholars they have developed and tenured; schools in this category would include Florida State University; Cardozo Law School/Yeshiva University; and University of San Diego, among others.

Appendix A: University of Chicago Law School Alumni in Academia

Appendix B: Model Resume for On-Campus Interviews (PDF)