Law Faculty Highest Paid on Average in Academia

The Chronicle of Higher Education has published its latest survey on academics and wouldn’t you know it, law faculty members are the highest paid of all the disciplines listed.  The average salary of a full professor is $134,162.  The next highest figure comes from the ranks of engineering with an average salary of $114,365.  While it may pay to teach someone how to build a bridge, it is apparently more lucrative to teach someone how to sue the bridge maker for design defects when it falls down. 

Library Science faculty members comparatively earn $92,099.  Of the five categories listed, Full Professor, Associate Professor, New Assistant Professor, and Instructor, only faculty who teach business, management, marketing, and related support services get more at the Assistant Professor level, $87,248 to $84,374.  The figures, by the way, are averaged for 9 or 10 month contracts.  The full list of salary information by discipline and rank is here.

The number of degrees awarded in legal professions and studies grew 95% between the 1998-99 and 2008-09 academic years.  Library Science saw no growth over the 10 years listed.  The full list of programs and their degree numbers is here.

While we are on the subject of law faculty and what they earn for what they do, or how little of it they do, the anonymous faculty member who created the Inside the Law School Scam is no longer anonymous.  The author is Paul Campos of the University of Colorado Law School.  More on that from the ABA Journal and the TaxProf Blog.  See Joe's post As the World Turns:  Welcome to the Blogosphere Inside the Law School Scam for additional details.  [MG]