Visiting Assistant or Associate Professors of Lawyering Skills

Seattle University School of Law is inviting applications for three Visiting Assistant or Associate Professors of Lawyering Skills to teach in our Legal Writing Program for the 2024-25 academic year, beginning July 1, 2024.  Two positions will be full-time and one position will be half-time in our hybrid online “FLEX” program.  Visiting faculty will have an opportunity to apply for and be considered for future permanent positions in the School of Law. Rank will be determined based on experience.

Seattle University has a nationally ranked Legal Writing program with a collegial and collaborative faculty. Our Legal Writing program consists of three required semesters over two years. The first-year course, Legal Writing, Skills, and Values, focuses on the traditional skills of legal research, predictive legal analysis, and legal writing (memos and one client letter), and it also introduces the lawyering skills of client interviewing and counseling, fact development, and negotiation. In addition, it explores the values of reflection as both a lawyering and academic skill, cultural competence, and development of professional identity. In the second-year course, students learn persuasive writing and oral advocacy. Faculty teaching in the program rotate through the two courses, but in the 2024-25 academic year, the visiting appointees would be responsible for teaching Legal Writing, Skills, and Values only. Full-time appointees will teach two sections of the course in person, and the halftime appointee will teach one section of the course in our hybrid FLEX program.

Qualifications

Juris Doctorate from an ABA-accredited institution and at least five years’ experience in legal practice. 

Founded in 1891, Seattle University is a Jesuit Catholic university located on a beautiful campus of more than 50 acres in the dynamic heart of Seattle. Our diverse and driven population is made up of more than 7,200 students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs within eight schools and colleges. Seattle University is an equal opportunity employer.

In support of its pursuit of academic and scholarly excellence, Seattle University is committed to creating a diverse community of students, faculty and staff that is dedicated to the fundamental principles of equal opportunity and treatment in education and employment regardless of age, color, disability, gender identity, national origin, political ideology, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or veteran status. The university encourages applications from, and nominations of, individuals who will further enrich the diversity of our educational community.

Application Instructions and submission portal are at this link:  https://seattleu.csod.com/ats/careersite/JobDetails.aspx?id=2483&site=2

If you have any questions about these positions or the program’s larger aspirations for legal writing hiring, please feel free to contact our current Legal Writing Director (Professor Mimi Samuel, msamuel@seattleu.edu), or me as the incoming Director starting in July (kboling@seattleu.edu).

LWI Legal Research & Writing Faculty Teaching Position Job Posting Disclosure Form 

Check here _x__ if the law school posting this job announcement complies with LWI’s non-discrimination policy. That policy provides: “The Legal Writing Institute is committed to a policy against discrimination and in favor of equal opportunity for all of its members regardless of race, religion, national origin, sex, age, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other characteristic protected by law.”  

At least one option must be checked for each of the remaining four items below; but all options for any item may not be checked to avoid giving a specific answer, or in an effort to avoid specifying a legitimate range. Space is provided for additional textual explanations after each item. 

1. The position advertised: 

 ___ is a tenure-track appointment. 

 ___ may lead to successive long-term contracts of five or more years. 

 _X__ may lead only to successive short-term contracts of one to four years. 

 _X__ has an upper-limit on the number of years a teacher may be appointed. 

 ___ is part of a fellowship program for one or two years. 

 ___ is a part-time appointment, or a year-to-year adjunct appointment. 

Additional information about job security or terms of employment, any applicable term limits, and whether the position complies with ABA Standard 405(c): 

This is a one year (two semester) visiting appointment.  

2. The professor hired: 

 ___ will be permitted to vote in faculty meetings. 

 __X_ will not be permitted to vote in faculty meetings. 

Additional information about the extent of the professor’s voting rights: n/a

3. The school anticipates paying an annual academic year base salary in the range checked below. (A base salary does not include stipends for coaching moot court teams, teaching other courses, or teaching in summer school; a base salary does not include conference travel or other professional development funds.) 

__X_ $110,000 - $119,999

__X_ $100,000 - $109,999

__X_ $90,000 - $99,999

__X_ $80,000 - $89,999

__X_ $70,000 - $79,999 

Additional information about base salary or other compensation:  The numbers checked represent full-time salaries, which would be halved for a half-time appointee.  Salary is based on the qualifications of the selected candidate. 

4. The number of students enrolled in each semester of the courses taught by the legal research & writing professor will be: 

__X__ 18-20

Additional information about teaching load, including required or permitted teaching outside of the legal research and writing program:  This selection represents the teaching load for the full-time position, which is two sections of the year-long first-year Legal Writing, Skills, and Values class.  The halftime appointee would teach only one section.  Each section caps at 20 students.