The Harvard Law Record report on Daryl Levinson’s presentation on the entry-level market is must read material. HT to Orin Kerr who pointed out the article and was amused by Levinson’s comment that practical legal experience is “is pretty nearly disqualifying.” I agree that comment might well shock some prospective law profs out there, but here’s the exchange would most likely catch the attention of academics in other departments:
Q: What’s hardest: getting the entry-level job, getting the next job, or getting tenure?
A: Tenure is relatively easy – presumptively everyone gets it, and those who don’t are the exception, not the rule. In the schools with the strictest requirements, about one out of every four professors don’t get tenure.
I don’t know where he is getting the data from (if there are data) but a tenure rate of >75% is consistent with casual empiricism and anectodal evidence I’ve heard.