Pursuing a Career in Legal Academia After Your LLM Degree: Tips to Help You Along the Scholarly Route

There are many entry points into legal academia, from PhDs and research LLMs, to Visiting Assistant Professorships and employment programmes.

While law faculties often expect doctoral training from incoming professors, aspiring academics can still take steps to begin their journey while pursuing their LLM. Whether it leads to further study or direct entry into academia, building your professional profile while completing your master's degree will ensure you can capitalise on any opportunity that comes your way.

Are you interested in launching an academic career after your LLM? Read on for some key strategies to help you get there.

Immerse Yourself in Legal Scholarship

Legal faculties hire academics with proven research credentials. Successful applicants exhibit knowledge of important scholarly debates and an ability to add to the conversation. LLM students eyeing academic careers should read extensively, focusing not only on their course research but all scholarship relating to their field. As an emerging scholar, this reading will help you find your place in academia, justifying the comparative merits of your research and its conclusions.

In addition, LLM students often develop articles from course research and submit them to graduate publications. A well-written and thoroughly researched article will help build your academic reputation. The dissertation you complete during your degree can also serve as evidence of your ability to undertake high quality independent research.

Build Relationships during your LLM Degree

LLM students have another crucial advantage in the relationships they form while studying. Mentorships with academics are especially helpful, and can be facilitated online for students in LLM distance learning courses.

Whether the mentor is an appointed supervisor or a professor whose research you admire, discuss your intended career path with them and ask for suggestions. These faculty members will not only be familiar with your work, but also the academic climate in your field. With this knowledge, they can offer specialised career advice to help you enter academia and find new opportunities throughout your career.

The relationships you build as a student can create opportunities

Networking is also crucial for aspiring academics. Alongside the focused advice of a mentor, try to build relationships with other academics and fellow students. These connections will help give you a better sense of the job market, and even present opportunities you might not otherwise know about. Even if networking does not immediately bear fruit, it helps you adapt to employment expectations and gain insights into what universities look for in their preferred candidates.

Stay Informed About All Academic Opportunities

Future academics should keep abreast of all employment opportunities, especially as they vary across countries and degree types. For instance, US law faculties are more likely to demand doctoral training, as American master's degrees are typically less research-oriented.

In contrast, LLMs are more research-based in the UK, and may lead more easily to direct academic appointments. In all cases, faculties are seeking candidates with strong research credentials, so reading, writing, and publishing are beneficial across the board.

While completing your master's degree in law, make sure you stay active on all job advertising platforms, too. In addition to specialised employment sites, aspiring academics now turn to social media and the blogosphere for the latest postings. Use these tools to assess trends in academic employment and pursue the opportunities best suited to your research.

Departmental social media accounts often advertise new job openings

Are you looking to pursue a career in legal academia?

Contact Queen Mary University of London to learn more about our LLM degree!