Lawyers how to become an Adjunct Professor
Psst! Lawyers ! Want to know a good way to boost your professional standing while also giving back to the Legal community? Become an Adjunct Professor! In addition to helping you keep at the top of developments in your specialty, it gives lawyers opportunities to convince non-lawyers as to the benefits of a system of laws. Being an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Florida Institute of Technology (“FIT”, known affectionately by its students as Astronaut U) teaching Law 1, Law 2, and Health Care Law, has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my career. It’s also helped keep me anchored in the US while travelling in Asia.
What is an Adjunct Professor?
To break it down to its legal terms, an adjunct (sometimes also called a Guest Lecturer) is an independent contract worker in academia. The contract could be for the period of a term, a year, or longer. The position could be full time, but is usually part time. There is usually (but not always) a payment made either through the University’s payroll system or less often as 1099 MISC non-employee income. The contract covers teaching responsibilities (the courses, number of students, length of term, amount of time expected, etc.) but could also be for research. Sometimes the adjunct has benefits, such as library and parking privileges, even on campus health care. But an adjunct never ever has a tenured position and is not part of the “tenure track” at the University. At FIT, I get a contract for each 8 week term. I get paid through their payroll system for each 15 student online class that I teach. There were also additional contracts for designing the Law 1 and Healthcare Law classes.
What are the benefits of being an Adjunct?
The position is perfect for the in house lawyer willing to share knowledge because there are going to be students who will want to learn. Some believe that teaching can make us better lawyers and retool the old saying to say, “Those who can, do. Those who understand, teach.” That understanding, finely honed by contact with questioning students, can bring breadth and depth to your practice. Moreover, classes tend to keep teachers up to speed on the latest developments, including putting you in an expansive network of thinking practitioners. And best of all, an adjunct faculty position bolsters the teacher’s professional reputation. For example, through a referral from the FIT gig, I’ve been invited to give a seminar on UCC Sales Agreements at the prestigious Fudan University for their Executive MBA program.
Who can be Adjuncts?
Basically, any qualified lawyer can teach. All it requires is a curious and open mind, and a willingness to engage with students over the law. Most Universities do not require Adjunct faculty to “publish or perish”, although FIT requires course designers (me included) to list all articles (such as this), panels presented, and other classes taught. This is primarily to help me qualify for CLE credits.
What are the Adjunct’s time commitments?
Less than you would think. Probably six hours per week for a typical 3 unit class. This includes class room time, office hours, administrative time, and time for grading papers. In person classes, typically taught at nights or on weekends, should probably factor in time for “out of class” activities (like field trips), too. For online courses like FIT, lectures are pre-recorded (usually by the course designer), so the time is spent mostly answering questions, conducting office hours, and grading assignments and tests.
How does one get an Adjunct gig?
There are adjunct gigs at all levels from Community College courses to PhD seminars. Probably the least productive (but most competitive) way is through job listings. A better way is to pick a school, look through its curriculum, look for gaps that might be interesting that is not on the curriculum, and then pitch a course directly to the Chairman and Dean of the School. Ediscovery is currently a hot topic, for example. Consider upper division courses that are more specialized rather than first year or large survey classes – which tend to taught by full time faculty. The best way is through referrals. I landed the FIT gig because I took a class offered by my Department Chair and we got along great in his class.
What an Adjunct is not:
While there is some prestige in the legal community, there is very little for Adjunct Professors in the academic community. Adjuncts are seen the same way that temps are seen at many companies – hired gun short timers. Don’t do it for the money, either, because there’s usually so little of it. And some students can, frankly, be very boring.
So why do I it?
For me, I do it for the intellectual stimulation. In my Healthcare law class, I lead discussions on the application of Stark Laws to Medical Tourism, as well as how to justify dumping indigent patients onto skid row using EMTALA (obviously done tongue in cheek). As an in house lawyer, I miss the engagement of a professional private practice. Teaching forces me to remain engaged because those students ask the toughest questions. In Asia, one unexpected benefit was that the classes turned out to be a great way to get out the drinking contests (“Beg pardon, I have to stay sober for my lecture later tonight”) that make up classic Chinese dinner banquets. Best of all, the lectures and office hours keep me centered in the US when so much of my professional world is immersed in China.
