Career profile Law Professor

Table of Contents

• What does a Law Professor do?
• What is a typical salary for a Law Professor?
• What personality traits are common among Law Professors?
  • Career Interests
  • Values
  • Psychological Demands
• What education and training do Law Professors need?
  • Typical educational degrees
  • Required knowledge and expertise
  • Important abilities
  • Critical skills

What does a Law Professor do?

Law Professors teach courses in law.

In addition, Law Professors includes both teachers primarily engaged in teaching and those who do a combination of teaching and research.

What kind of tasks does a Law Professor perform regularly?

Law Professors are often responsible for overseeing or executing some or all of the following tasks:

• Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.
• Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, papers, and oral presentations.
• Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, or handouts.
• Compile, administer, and grade examinations or assign this work to others.
• Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, giving presentations at conferences, and serving on committees in professional associations.
• Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as anatomy, therapeutic recreation, and conditioning theory.
• Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.
• Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in scholarly journals, books, or electronic media.
• Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.
• Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.
• Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks and performance pieces.
• Advise students on academic and vocational curricula, and on career issues.
• Assign cases for students to hear and try.
• Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.
• Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.
• Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.
• Act as advisers to student organizations.

The above responsibilities are specific to Law Professors. More generally, Law Professors are involved in several broader types of activities:

What is a Law Professor salary?

What personality traits are common among Law Professors?

Interests

Career interests describe a person's preferences for different types of working environments and activities. When a person's interest match the demands of an occupation, people are usually more engaged and satisfied in that role.

Compared to most occupations, those who work as a Law Professor are usually higher in their Social, Investigative, and Enterprising interests.

Law Professors typically have very strong Social interests. Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Also, Law Professors typically have strong Investigative interests. Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Lastly, Law Professors typically have strong Enterprising interests. Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Values

People differ in their values, or what is most important to them for building job satisfaction and fulfillment.

Compared to most people, those working as a Law Professor tend to value Achievement, Working Conditions, and Independence.

Most importantly, Law Professors very strongly value Achievement. Occupations that satisfy this work value are results oriented and allow employees to use their strongest abilities, giving them a feeling of accomplishment.

Second, Law Professors very strongly value Working Conditions. Occupations that satisfy this work value offer job security and good working conditions.

Lastly, Law Professors very strongly value Independence. Occupations that satisfy this work value allow employees to work on their own and make decisions.

Psychological Demands

Each occupation brings its own set of psychological demands, which describe the characteristics necessary to perform the job well.

In order to perform their job successfully, people who work as Law Professors must consistently demonstrate qualities such as integrity, initiative, and attention to detail.

Below, you'll find a list of qualities typically required of Law Professors, ranked by importance:

What education and training do Law Professors need?

Many Law Professors have earned a graduate degree. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a doctoral degree, such as a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D..

Law Professors may need some on-the-job training, but most candidates will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

Educational degrees among Law Professors

• 0.6% did not complete high school or secondary school
• 1.4% completed high school or secondary school
• 2.0% completed some college coursework
• 1.8% earned a Associate's degree
• 14.6% earned a Bachelor's degree
• 32.1% earned a Master's degree
• 47.4% earned a doctorate or professional degree

Knowledge and expertise required by Law Professors

Important Abilities needed by Law Professors

Law Professors must develop a particular set of abilities to perform their job well. Abilities are individual capacities that influence a person's information processing, sensory perception, motor coordination, and physical strength or endurance. Individuals may naturally have certain abilities without explicit training, but most abilities can be sharpened somewhat through practice.

For example, Law Professors need abilities such as oral expression, written comprehension, and oral comprehension in order to perform their job at a high level. The list below shows several important abilities for Law Professors, ranked by their relative importance.

Critical Skills needed by Law Professors

Skills are developed capacities that enable people to function effectively in real-world settings. Unlike abilities, skills are typically easier to build through practice and experience. Skills influence effectiveness in areas such as learning, working with others, design, troubleshooting, and more.

Law Professors frequently use skills like speaking, reading comprehension, and active listening to perform their job effectively. The list below shows several critical skills for Law Professors, ranked by their relative importance.

What is the source of this information?

The information provided on this page is adapted from data and descriptions published by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration under the CC BY 4.0 license. TraitLab has modified some information for ease of use and reading, and the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment, and Training Administration has not approved, endorsed, or tested these modifications.

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