Legal Commentary

A short, but heartfelt, shout out and congratulations to my colleagues Anne Bloom, Omar Dajani, Marjorie Florestal and Paul Paton for the University of the Pacific?s recent decision to grant them tenure and promotion to full professor.  I was pleased that we all obtained this distinction in the same year.  Also,  I want to give my sincere thanks to the faculty and administration of the law school for their work during this process.  I was very impressed with the depth and care taken during the process, particularly during this past year when five candidates were evaluated concurrently.

When I first interviewed for a tenure track position, I gathered some advice about the process from a number of law professors both inside and outside my institution.  For those of you who have yet to go through the process, I?ve selected a few pieces of advice to pass along:

• Start building your tenure file during your first teaching year.  It?s never too early.  Your reviewers will want a sense of how you are perceived by peers, your students and the profession.  You will probably never include all of the thank you letters or comments, but that is a decision that you can make at a later time.

• Know your institution.  Law schools are built from a diverse array of personalities, but there are core priorities.  And no matter what anyone tells you, you are not writing on a blank slate.  Learn what you can about its history and values.  You may wish to be a valuable countertrend, but you should be aware if lines are about to be crossed.

• Know your field.  My institution allows tenure candidates to select some of the outside scholarship reviewers.  This one is probably one of the easier goals to fulfill.  When you are writing, you will naturally get to know others working in your area.

• Stay calm.  This is arguably the most difficult goal to meet.  I focused on providing my review committee with complete information, but after that things were out of my hands.  Rather than burning time worrying, keep writing.  Yes, your new piece won't make it into your tenure file after a certain point in time, but I find that it's far more productive (and absorbing, interesting) than nail-biting. 

Additional advice from readers is welcome in the comments.