Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Law Faculty Salaries, 2012-13
The Society of American Law Teachers has released the results of its 2012-13 Salary Survey, reporting the median faculty salaries and summer stipends at 68 of the 200 American law schools (132 law schools either refused to participate or did not respond to the survey). Here are the median faculty salaries and summer stipends of the responding law schools in the Top 102 of the latest U.S. News law school rankings:
U.S. News |
Law School |
Assistant Professor |
Tenured Professor |
Summer Stipend |
26 | Iowa | n/a | 184,800 | 15,000 |
31 | North Carolina | 115,826 | 174,417 | 15,000 |
33 | Georgia | 121,400 | 180,765 | 27,500 |
36 | Ohio State | 118,320 |
159,216 | 12,500 |
46 | Florida | 111,240 | 158,000 | 26,757 |
48 | UC-Hastings | 112,942 | 187,221 | 10,000 |
58 | Kentucky | 107,134 | 123,221 | 12,000 |
61 | Nebraska | 101,178 | 150,720 | 11,000 |
61 | Tennessee | n/a | 122,316 | 17,000 |
64 | Denver | 107,620 | 140,922 | 9,000 |
64 | New Mexico | 87,159 | 121,909 | 16,250 |
68 | Arkansas-Fay. | 89,100 | 139,300 | 17,500 |
68 | Loyola-L.A. | 114,268 | 174,673 | 15,000 |
68 | Oklahoma | 95,000 | 126,080 | 10,000 |
68 | San Diego | n/a | 173,400 | 15,000 |
68 | UNLV | n/a | 147,002 | 17,000 |
76 | LSU | 104,000 | 145,170 | 18,000 |
80 | Michigan State | 115,825 | 146,832 | 12,000 |
86 | Kansas |
112,560 | 143,250 | 12,000 |
86 | Northeastern | 109,306 | 179,362 | 7,500 |
86 | Rutgers-Newark | 133,599 | 186,000 | 10,000 |
91 | Rutgers-Camden | 121,251 | 171,508 | 10,187 |
91 | West Virginia | n/a | 139,629 | 10,000 |
94 | Oregon |
105,000 | 135,578 | 5,832 |
98 | Indiana-Indy | n/a | 127,047 | 14,000 |
98 | South Carolina | 114,860 | 140,080 | 20,250 |
102 | Mississippi | 105,000 | 141,359 | 9,000 |
102 | St. Louis | 96,600 | 128,000 | 13,000 |
See here for individual law faculty salaries at twenty public law schools (Arizona State, Florida, George Mason, Illinois, Michigan, Missouri-Columbia, North Carolina, Ohio State, Rutgers-Camden, Rutgers-Newark, SUNY-Buffalo, Texas, Texas Tech, UC-Berkeley, UC-Davis, UC-Irvine, UCLA, Virginia, William & Mary, and Wisconsin).
Update: Above the Law has blogged individual law faculty salaries at these Top 20 public law schools:
- Virginia (#7 in U.S. News) (salary spreadsheet)
- Michigan (#9) (salary spreadsheet)
- UC-Berkeley (#9) (salary spreadsheet)
- Texas (#15) (salary spreadsheet)
- UCLA (#17) (salary spreadsheet)
- Minnesota (#19) (salary spreadsheet)
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2013/05/law-faculty.html
Comments
Any,
Law firms, government jobs, and corporate employers offer health insurance, retirement plans, and miscellaneous benefits as well.
The benefits at most universities are less generous than the benefits at corporate law firms faculty left to enter academe, and are generally not as efficiently administered.
TIAA CREF, the provider of pensions to most universities, is abysmal--all high fee actively managed funds and variable annuities with hidden fees and surrender charges. And terrible reporting.
Real retirement fund companies that are used in the corporate world, like Fidelity and Vanguard, offer low cost indexed mutual funds and would never do something as bone-headed as putting a variable annuity into a tax-advantaged retirement account (paying twice for the same tax benefit).
There are a whole lot more professors than there are case books, i.e., most professors don't write their own casebooks, and most casebooks are assigned by a professor who did not write the book.
If you're so unhappy with casebooks, write your own, and see if anyone thinks its good enough to use.
Posted by: Anon | May 9, 2013 2:00:22 AM
TS -- You're incorrect about that. This survey (click the link) is sent to the deans of each law school; the data comes from the school, not from individual faculty members.
Only a minority of law schools responded to the survey, with none of the U.S. News' top 20 responding. So that is certainly a bias. But you are off base in suggesting that this shows the salaries of "SALT members and friends." It's school-wide data, as reported by deans.
Posted by: anon | May 8, 2013 5:11:17 PM
Benefits
The rich benefits package offered by UC Hastings College of the Law is an important part of our overall compensation.
Health Care
Hastings provides a variety of insurance plans to meet every employee's needs. Medical plans have reasonable premium co-payments and dental and vision coverages are premium free for both employees and dependents.
Medical Plans
Dental Plans
Vision Plan
Flexible Spending Accounts
Allows tax savings for dependent care expenses and non-covered medical expenses.
Health Care Reimbursement Account (HCRA)
Dependent Care Reimbursement Account (DepCare)
Retirement
Planning ahead for a comfortable retirement is easy with our defined benefit plan and our voluntary pre-tax plans.
University of California Retirement Plan
UC Retirement Savings Program
Life Insurance
Ensure that loved ones are provided for in the event of your death.
Employer Paid Plan, Employee Paid Plans for Employees and Dependents
Accidental Death and Dismemberment Insurance
Disability/Income Protection Plan
Have peace of mind knowing that alternative income is available should you be unable to work due to a disability.
Disability Insurance
Legal Insurance Plan
Legal services without the high cost of attorney's fees.
Employee Paid Legal Insurance
Vacation
Time away from the job to ensure a balanced lifestyle.
Vacation Accrual Rates
Sick Leave
Paid time off for illness for oneself or family members.
Sick Leave Accrual Rate
Holidays
Paid time off to recognize significant events and occasions. Employees receive fifteen paid holidays per year.
2013 Pay Period and Holiday Schedule
Other Benefits
Additional miscellaneous benefits.
Scholar Share College Savings Plan
Sittercity Program
Employee Assistance Program
Golden One Credit Union
Pre-Tax Transportation Program
Auto and Homeowner's Insurance
Employee PERKS (password protected)
Note: These benefits are our benefits package in its totality. Other benefits may be available to University of California employees on other campuses.
Posted by: any | May 8, 2013 3:27:08 PM
Salaries? How about total compensation, including healthcare and FAT pensions, especially in the University of California system. To this, let's add the royalties from forcing students to purchase textbooks the professors "authored" at 200-300/ pop.
To this, let's add that professors grade one paper per semester, light teaching loads generally, and reap other perks.
Then let's call it the "rip off report" and be done with it.
Posted by: any | May 8, 2013 3:19:48 PM
Of course, this data isn't very systematic as it depends on self reporting (due to the lack of publicly reported data) and will most typically reflect the salaries of SALT members and friends at the law schools.
Posted by: TS | May 8, 2013 10:17:29 AM
It seems a couple of the least transparent institutions as far as professor salary is concerned are Washington University of St. Louis and the University of Colorado, which employ Professors Tamanaha and Campos, respectively.
Transparency does not begin at home, apparently.
Posted by: Bigguy | May 7, 2013 2:42:05 PM
Elizabeth Warren reportedly was paid $349K by Harvard Law School in 2009 & that was for teaching one course. However, that may have been when she was still claiming to be a Native American.
Posted by: onesius | May 10, 2013 8:55:57 AM