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Wednesday, August 18, 2021
Number of FAR Forms in First Distribution Over Time - 2021
The first distribution of the FAR AALS forms came out this week. Here are the number of FAR forms in the first distribution for each year since 2009.
2009: 637; 2010: 662; 2011: 592; 2012: 588; 2013: 592; 2014: 492; 2015: 410; 2016: 382; 2017: 403; 2018: 344; 2019: 334; 2020: 297; 2021: 328
(All information obtained from various blog posts, blog comments, Tweets, and Facebook postings over the years and not independently verified. If you have more accurate information, please post it in the comments and I will update accordingly.)
First posted August 18, 2021.
Posted by Sarah Lawsky on August 18, 2021 at 10:15 AM in Getting a Job on the Law Teaching Market | Permalink
Comments
"Of course if you're hot or your field is in demand you might get an expedited process with certain schools, so its also about reading the tea leaves of your particular set of circumstances."
This bodes well, then: I'm extremely good looking.
Posted by: A non | Aug 23, 2021 8:59:08 AM
@Candidate -- Law Schools are only starting the Fall term now. At my school we only officially announced our hiring committee membership and goals this week (!). Expect screeners season to really kick in throughout September with actual job talks across the Fall. Of course if you're hot or your field is in demand you might get an expedited process with certain schools, so its also about reading the tea leaves of your particular set of circumstances.
Posted by: ScreenersSched | Aug 22, 2021 8:13:33 AM
@curiousanon Sarah has done the thankless work of putting together the stats on successful candidates vs. clerkship, fellowships, and the like. We don’t have these stats right now as the entry-level hiring report is based on self/reported data after. If someone *ahem AALS* would release more data, we could all have bette eknowlegxe on hiring and make better recommendations for our committees.
Posted by: Other Prof | Aug 21, 2021 10:20:13 AM
When are screener interviews expected to begin in full force? I take it that schools received the FAR forms on Aug. 18?
Posted by: Candidate | Aug 20, 2021 2:03:22 PM
Thanks for correcting yourself. I'm sure there are people whose applications are without hope from the start, such as practicing lawyers looking for a way out of their firm, who toss in an application with no scholarship written and no real sense of what law schools are looking for. But I don't want to believe that a serious applicant who did the work but did not graduate from a fancy school falls into that category.
Posted by: Anon | Aug 20, 2021 7:25:11 AM
Graduate of T100 who is now a prof,
I stand corrected; graduates from every school deserve a chance to be a prawf. I actually think the current system is too quick to reward T14 graduates with gilded CVs who have not shown much specific promise as scholars or teachers. As it stands, graduates from lower ranked law schools can make it, but they have to work far, far harder to get to "yes" from a hiring committee. I certainly wouldn't say that someone putting in that work is making an idle gesture by applying.
What I should have said is simpler: how many people are applying on a lark or without doing the work of building a serious portfolio of scholarship, teaching, etc.? There may be people entering the FAR under the mistaken belief that a distinguished career in practice and one publication or a good writing sample is enough to be competitive these days.
Posted by: curiousanon | Aug 19, 2021 11:44:13 PM
Pretty gross to hear that some think graduates of second and third tier schools are merely tossing coins in a wishing well as they attempt to become law professors. I’d take them any day over someone who felt they’re entitled to a position by virtue of where they graduated.
Posted by: Graduate of T100 who is now a prof | Aug 19, 2021 9:03:33 PM
Does anyone have a sense of how many of these applicants are just tossing coins in a wishing well, i.e., how many of these folks graduated from a second or third tier law school?
And then, how many of the 328 are strong candidates, i.e., candidates with at least three of the following?
(1) At least one law review publication
(2) Federal appellate clerkship
(3) VAP or fellowship
(4) PhD
(5) URM status
Lastly, it would be great to see some informed estimates of how many of the 328 fall into each category, particularly just how many VAPs and fellows are out there each year.
Posted by: curiousanon | Aug 19, 2021 8:53:14 PM
This number is surprisingly low, isn't it?
Posted by: Anon | Aug 19, 2021 8:16:30 PM
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