There are three major sources of institutional support for you as you enter the law teaching market: your faculty mentors, the YLS Law Teaching Placement Committee, and the vast network of YLS alumni in law teaching across the country and around the world.
Law Teaching Placement Committee
The Law Teaching Placement Committee, a group of YLS faculty presently led by Prof. William Eskridge, Jr., offers advice and support for YLS graduates entering the market. For simplicity, there is a single central email address for potential law teaching candidates: lawteaching@yale.edu. You can use this email address to send questions, submit your CV for review, or request a telephone or in-person appointment. As a first step you should send an email to this address to make sure you are added to either the current YLS candidates’ email list or to an email list for those who are interested in law teaching in the future. Signing up for one of these lists will ensure that you receive timely notices and information. The YLS Law Teaching Placement Committee aims to provide a “cycle of support” services throughout the process.
YLS Alumni in Law Teaching
There are over one thousand YLS alumni currently teaching in law schools across the country and throughout the world. Three of the deans of the top five law schools—and seven of the deans of the top fourteen law schools—graduated from YLS. Many of these alumni would be delighted to help you as you go on the law teaching market.
Perhaps you have a callback interview: you might want to speak with YLS alumni who were recently hired at that school to find out what the process is like or to obtain more information about the school. Maybe you would like advice about your job talk: There might be YLS alumni in your field who would be willing to give you feedback. Past candidates have found it helpful to speak with alumni in their field, alumni teaching in the geographic area in which they are interested, or alumni who were recently hired.
There are several ways to contact YLS alumni in law teaching. To find alumni with experience in law teaching, use The Courtyard, Yale Law School's alumni engagement plattaform. Click "Explore the Community" and select "Academia/Legal Education" in the Industry Expertise field to get started. There are also many alumni who are not registered with The Courtyard, but who would be happy to answer questions or offer suggestions. Assistant Dean Gordon Silverstein can suggest alumni you might wish to contact.