Professor of Practice

Emory University School of Law seeks applicants for full-time faculty positions teaching legal writing.  

The successful applicants for this faculty position will teach legal research and writing in Emory Law’s required LRW curriculum.  The required LRW curriculum currently consists of a two-semester 1L legal writing course. During the fall semester, legal writing faculty introduce legal analysis, research, and citation skills through objective legal writing assignments.  During the spring semester, faculty introduce persuasive writing and oral argument skills. Faculty also spend significant time conducting written evaluations of student work and conferencing with students individually.    

Emory Law School’s legal research and writing curriculum has been modified over time to ensure that the law school is always striving for best practices in pedagogy. The legal writing faculty work independently but collaboratively. A member of the legal research and writing faculty serves as administrative coordinator to facilitate collaboration.  The faculty members have substantial autonomy to plan their own syllabi and classes, but they work together on key aspects of the first-year writing curriculum, such as assignments, due dates, course coverage, and learning objectives.  

Legal writing faculty are encouraged and expected to be active participants in the Emory Law School community.  Legal writing faculty serve on faculty committees and those with three-year or longer contracts can vote on all faculty issues except those related to tenure or tenure-track hiring.  They also participate in community activities such as faculty colloquia; alumni and student events; and meetings of the legal writing faculty, faculty committees, and the faculty as a whole.  In addition, legal writing faculty may at times teach other law school classes, typically on an overload basis, to the extent such classes fit into the curricular needs of the law school. Legal research and writing faculty members play significant roles within the Emory Law community and currently occupy two of the five major academic leadership positions within the law school.   

This is a non-tenure-track, contract position that begins on July 1, 2024, and is subject to Emory Law School’s policies for LRW contract faculty. These policies provide for a series of one-year and three-year contracts, leading to a presumptively renewable five-year contract.

The incoming faculty member’s teaching package will be developed as part of the offer process but can consist of:

• one legal writing section of approximately 30-35 students with the opportunity to teach an additional upper-level legal writing course or another course that fulfills a curricular need; or
• two legal writing sections with a total of approximately 40-45 students and no expectations of additional teaching.

We offer these flexible options to allow the successful candidate the opportunity to thoughtfully craft their teaching package to best reflect their pedagogical and professional goals.

Compensation is commensurate with the position, teaching load, and with the experience and qualifications of the successful candidate(s).  

Qualifications  

Applicants must have a J.D. from an ABA-accredited law school and a strong writing background.  Preferred qualifications include experience teaching legal writing at an ABA-accredited law school, three or more years of legal practice, and clerkship experience.