At Michigan Law, we produce more than just superbly trained lawyers to work in private practice, government, and public service. We also produce superbly trained scholars to work in the legal academy. In fact, Michigan Law has a group of faculty members specifically dedicated to advising those seeking academic careers. Historically, we’re among the top five institutions supplying law faculty both in the United States and abroad. For those eager to learn the path to an academic career, the key is laying the right groundwork. Today more than ever, candidates for teaching positions are judged on their ability to make important contributions to legal scholarship. Fine-tuning this ability requires lots of interaction with your law professors, mastering the relevant literature, writing as much as possible, and immersing yourself in the network of intellectuals working in your fields of interest.
To begin this process, and to help students interested in academia find kindred spirits and connect with their law professors, the Law School offers the Student Research Roundtable. The roundtable meets approximately 10 times per year and provides students with the opportunity to present their own original research to each other and to their professor-advisers. Students learn to discuss and defend their ideas in an academic setting, and they develop the ability to engage with and constructively critique the work of others. Michigan Law also is home to one of the most robust and prestigious communities of law journals in the world. Student editors collaborate with professors to produce scholarship in disciplines ranging from international law, to race and the law, to legal reform. Membership on one of Michigan’s eight law journals gives students the opportunity to become published authors before they graduate and provides them with early exposure to the fundamentals of legal scholarship.
