What is an Adjunct Law Professor?
An Adjunct Law Professor is an individual who serves as a part-time professor at a law school (or several law schools) with a J.D. or LL.M. degree. This practice is commonly done to provide law students with experience in a certain area of the law.
Adjunct professors have flexibility in their teaching schedules, and may also teach traditional daytime courses and sometimes evening classes. With an adjunct professor appointment, a part-time professor of law teaches for a semester (or a year, depending upon the appointment). They are sometimes referred to as "clinical professors" or "coordinators." Professors prepare a syllabus, develop the curriculum for a course, and they give and evaluate examinations .
Periodically law schools offer several classes during the semester that an adjunct law professor may teach at the same time. And, like other professors, adjunct law professors are responsible for grading their students and providing feedback to them.
Law school adjuncts may teach once a semester, once a year, or include teaching more frequently in their professional career. Adjunct professors are typically not full-time law faculty members, and they are not expected to teach a full course-load.
If you would like to learn more about Adjunct Law Professors, or would like a free salary consultation, please visit our website, www.adjunctprofessors.org.
Adjunct Law Professor Salary Factors
Beyond geographic location and institutional budget, adjunct law professor salaries will vary based on years of experience and academic and professional credentials. While one may find very recent law school graduates teaching in clinics or low-income legal service projects, or additional coursework, at very low rates of compensation – generally the national average rates assume several years of experience and demonstration of a record of scholarship. In addition to academic credentials, other factors determining compensation may include the necessity of the subject matter to the institution’s overall programming, particularly in the case of popular advanced courses, and the timing of the course, with programs which require weekend or evening classes often attract higher compensation. Adjunct law professor salaries do not vary as a function of the prestige of the professor’s own credentials but rather the law school’s market position.
Adjunct Law Professor Average Salary
Adjunct law instructor remuneration often varies by region, academic institution type, and teaching load. Presently, the average wage for full-time, exempt-level adjunct law professors at law schools in the United States ranges from $42,000 to $62,000 per year, depending on experience, degree attainment, incumbency status, and location. With respect to part-time adjunct law instructors, the median national hourly wage across all types of institutions of higher education in the United States is $120.25, which translates to an annualized salary of $31,070. This figure is broken down by institution type as follows: $132.36/hour at public institutions, $111.11/hour at private, not-for-profit institutions, and $103.03/hour at private, for-profit institutions. Law schools affiliated with public institutions offer the highest compensation at $142.86/hour, followed by those affiliated with private, not-for-profit institutions ($117.39/hour) and private, for-profit institutions ($88.93/hour). Wage figures for law school adjuncts during the 2016-17 academic year are as follows (by course): $852.82 for first-year core courses (typically 3 credits), or $2,558.85; $687.64 for upper-level courses requiring legal research (2-5 credits), or $1,375.28; $1276.92 for electives or advanced courses (2-4 credits), or $2,553.84; and $1457.14 for clinics or simulation courses, or $2,914.28.
Adjunct Law Professor vs. Full-Time Law Professor Salary
When examining the differences between law professors, it’s essential to compare adjunct professors with full-time faculty. There are key differences in salaries between these two groups of educators, with adjuncts typically earning a significantly lower salary than their full-time colleagues. Yet these numbers can vary widely, depending on the law school in question. So which law schools pay adjunct professors the highest and lowest salaries? As a result of their status as part-time faculty, there are certain benefits that adjunct professors do not receive. A major one is health insurance. Full-time faculty members at law schools are classified as "employees" and therefore receive healthcare and other benefits through the law school. Adjunct faculty members, on the other hand, are classified as "independent contractors," and therefore do not receive any benefits from the university. This is an aspect of an adjunct instructor’s career that many educational institutions are currently reexamining. Another important difference is job security. While full-time faculty members are generally retained for long periods of time — some even having tenure — adjunct faculty members are contracted only for a semester at a time. They are not guaranteed to be rehired once their contract has expired. Furthermore, adjunct faculty does not have a stake in the development of the college or play a role in its governance. Overall, adjunct faculty members make less money each year than full-time faculty members. However, the main value adjunct professors receive is the opportunity to teach law students about their field of study. Adjuncts can use their experience as supplemental information on their résumé, which could help them land a position at a law firm or with a corporation.
How Much Can You Make as an Adjunct Law Professor
While the primary allure of teaching law may not lie in financial gain, adjunct law professors should consider strategies to increase their salary and the number of courses they teach based on limited apprehension of the legal education market. Some of these defensive pricing strategies are: Legal specialties. Those adjunct law professors who possess specialized law degrees or other legal credentials, but do not teach in their area of expertise have the option of branching out into closely aligned legal fields if a course in their primary field of expertise is unavailable. For example, an immigration law adjunct with a master’s in tax law could fulfill the need for a tax professor at the affiliated law school with a specialization in organizational tax law. Course diversity. An alternative for adjuncts with general primary fields of law is to expand their repertoire of teachable subjects. For example, if an adjunct professor specializing in intellectual property also has experience teaching technology law, he or she becomes more easily marketable . Summer courses. Those law professors with the financial flexibility to teach in the summer could increase their salary with multiple sessions of summer classes at one or more law schools. Multiple adjunct slots. An ideal way for adjunct law professors to increase their earnings is to build a multi-school adjunct portfolio. To some extent this is counterproductive to the goal of employment stability, the roadblock to most adjuncts. But if an adjunct teaches at two law schools in positions that are scalable, the adjunct will eventually be able to negotiate two, three, or even four course loads per semester. For example, schools that offer a specialized L.L.M. in taxation have a built-in need for adjuncts to teach the required courses. Both part-time and full-time adjuncts can use these strategies to maximize their upper salary potential. Furthermore, as the national trend toward the use of adjunct law professors continues, law schools and adjunct faculty will refine and elaborate on effective salary augmenting techniques.
Pros and Cons of Being an Adjunct Law Professor
As with any job, the compensation levels tied to an affiliate faculty position vary widely among law schools, but non-tenured professors tend to make significantly less than their tenured counterparts. As stated in a previous blog post, "[p]rofessors at law schools have been at the forefront of the academic protest against the increasing use of adjuncts, and they have offered strong evidence that the law school adjunct faculty are paid much less than their tenured and tenure-track colleagues, that they typically have received no fringe benefits, and that many of them receive no benefits at all." Hart Azalea, Law School Trapdoor – An Optional Practice Card, ABA Journal, Dec. 2014. Employers should be aware, however, that the income produced in these positions is not necessarily as lucrative as it may appear to be. Because many of these positions are adjunct or affiliate positions, the professors are typically only responsible for teaching a class, and receive compensation on a per class basis. As such, they are not eligible for any additional compensation tied to faculty research, scholarly publishing, grants or other sources common to a full-time faculty position. As a result, many law school adjuncts face a myriad of different salary concerns. William D. Beckett, Law Profits: Are Law Professors Undercompensated?, National Jurist, Aug. 2360-61 (2015). Many professors are thus forced to work multiple adjunct assignments or hold outside employment in order to make ends meet. Id. In fact, "new data from the Association of American Law Schools show that nearly 20 percent of law professors worked 56 hours or more per week in 2013 — and that number is likely understated. As the number of tenure-track positions dwindles, adjunct positions outnumber full-timers." Id. (internal citations omitted). As such, the crux of the issue of being an adjunct law professor rests squarely on the definition of "professor" itself. Id. "Adjunct professors are governed by a different set of rules, but if those rules continue to be moral rather than legal, the profession is doing itself a disservice if it passes off adjuncts as professors." Id. Additionally, while the position carries with it the prestige associated with the academic environment, it is not always conducive to maintaining other outside work commitments. With his background in employment law, Professor Richard Reibstein "recalls one instance in which he recommended a litigation associate for an elite position—an adjunct professorship at a prestigious law school—that would be held at night. But the law firm with which the young lawyer had trained—also prestigious—was not happy with his departure from the firm at 5 p.m., even for one night each week." Richard Reibstein, Law School Adjunct Teaching, The American Lawyer, Aug. 11, 2014. However, these positions do allow professors to build their reputation within their industry, as well as to gain teaching experience, pursue a second career or to earn additional money supporting their passions and extracurriculars. "The rewards for teaching, however, are real: professors earn respect, get to further their passions, and have the chance to shape the minds of tomorrow’s lawyers…." Id. In fact, some, such as Griffin Gilchrist, who is pursuing his MBA, have been able to use the position to gain invaluable training. Professor Gilchrist, "who teaches Introduction to Legal Research, Legal Drafting and Writing I at the University of Tennessee College of Law, in Knoxville, said he taught students to conduct research and draft appellate briefs, civil motions and legal memorandums, and he introduced them to e-discovery and attorney-client privilege. He had never written legal documents before he took on the teaching position but learned by researching articles and listening to law school professors nationwide. ‘I learned more from my students and the other professors than I did in law school and my internships,’ Gilchrist said." Hart Azalea, Law School Trapdoor – An Optional Practice Card, ABA Journal, Dec. 2014.
Is the Adjunct Law Professor Career Right for You?
We have now discussed the range of average adjunct professor salary and factors that affect compensation. We have also considered where these numbers stand comparatively among several different disciplines and professions.
So, is the position of law school adjunct right for you?
The bottom line is that aside from the few full-time positions that are available (that is, faculty who do not practice law and do not have to work on the side to make ends meet), being a part-time "adjunct" law school professor is just that – part-time.
Many adjunct faculty teach law school courses because it is emotionally or professionally satisfying. They have a passion for teaching and beaumont children’s clinic are able to find the time to do so even though they also maintain a separate, full-time legal practice. The money, while nice for what it is, is incidental.
For example, in fiscal year 2019, Florida coastal waste predictor we received $5,500 for teaching a three-credit course. The compensation plan provided that we would receive about $92 per hour of "classroom time". Since a typical nine-week course meets for nine hours and comes out to about 27 to 35 class room hours in total, our fee per course was between $4,750 and $5,500, depending on the number of classes.
This compensation was generous, especially compared to adjunct compensation in some law schools. In fact, the compensation at CUA was better than in D.C. area law schools , where adjuncts earned between $250 and $900 per credit hour in 2018.
Adjunct law professors often enjoy informal benefits. For example, adjuncts are invited to attend and participate in both formal and informal faculty meetings. Most law schools offer their adjuncts free lunch on the days they teach, as well as free WiFi.
Some adjunct professors have used their compensation to pay for their legal education; others have used it to pay for expensive home repairs or towards their children’s tuition. Regardless, where law schools are financially healthy, the adjunct faculty do enjoy "perks".
That said, the compensation is not enough to make teaching law school full-time an option, at least in the metropolitan D.C. area (where dollar consideration is everything). As per Board Game Geek, here are typical salaries for full-time law professors at area law schools in 2019:
The risk of hiring full-time faculty is that schools are usually not given complete authority to terminate the faculty’s employment. As a result, tenure can limit schools and universities flexibility in downsizing or reducing overall faculty expenses.
So, there you have it.
While being an adjunct law school professor may be a good fit for some, the compensation is too low to be a primary occupation.
In order to be an adjunct law school professor, it is necessary to fit it in during down time in the context of private practice or otherwise.