Which Law Schools Are Shedding Full-Time Professors (2013 Edition)?

I asked this question not even six months ago, but since the Official Guide‘s data are out already, I figured no harm’d be done revisiting it.

Followers of the law school applicant crash are likely to be interested in knowing which law schools are responding by letting go of faculty. Talk of buyouts is in the air, and tenured faculty are among the highest paid, making their departures relief to law schools’ budgets. The Official Guide can help illuminate where that’s going on. For the most part.

Unfortunately, some schools are more diligent about submitting their data than others. Also, it’s not uncommon for wide fluctuations to occur on a year-by-year basis or for downright absurd outcomes to occur, e.g. in 2011 when South Dakota reported only having a full-time faculty of one, which sounds like a Hollywood pitch. Property Prof Versus the Undead 1Ls would make a delightful zombie movie—and the gratuitous Blackacre jokes might even deter the hordes of applicants powered by Legally Blonde—but alas, it was certainly a data entry error.

Having said that, overall, the aggregate of the data probably tell a reliable story: Peak full-time law professor occurred in 2011, and by 2013 even part-time profs started to disappear. The bubble is slowly deflating.

(Click to enlarge)

In fact, most of the full-time law prof bubble occurred in the 21^st century. They had a good run, I guess. For a time, “law teachers, postsecondary” was one of the fastest-growing occupations in the country.

But I know what you really came here for: Rankings! These are sorted by net two-year reduction by school with the fewest number of full-time faculty in 2011, the idea being that a small school that reduces its professors by the same number as a larger one sees a bigger impact.

Behold! Your vile, execrable, perverted obsession indulged:

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FULL-TIME FACULTY (FALL)
RANK	SCHOOL	’11	’12	’13	ANNUAL CHANGE	NET CHANGE
1.	Chicago	67	70	46	-24	-21
1.	Florida Coastal	69	60	48	-12	-21
3.	McGeorge	49	43	33	-10	-16
4.	St. Louis	55	49	40	-9	-15
5.	St. John’s	52	39	38	-1	-14
5.	Hofstra	56	54	42	-12	-14
5.	New York Law School	70	57	56	-1	-14
8.	Widener	51	51	38	-13	-13
8.	Catholic	52	43	39	-4	-13
8.	Fordham	85	81	72	-9	-13
11.	Hamline	34	26	22	-4	-12
11.	California-Hastings	67	57	55	-2	-12
13.	La Verne	19	8	8	0	-11
13.	Roger Williams	27	20	16	-4	-11
13.	Touro	36	34	25	-9	-11
13.	Pace	48	41	37	-4	-11
13.	John Marshall (Chicago)	69	69	58	-11	-11
18.	William Mitchell	39	35	29	-6	-10
18.	Wisconsin	57	54	47	-7	-10
18.	Stetson	58	48	48	0	-10
18.	California-Berkeley	65	63	55	-8	-10
18.	Brooklyn	66	63	56	-7	-10
23.	Golden Gate	36	30	27	-3	-9
23.	Albany	44	40	35	-5	-9
23.	Seton Hall	49	41	40	-1	-9
23.	Loyola Marymount (CA)	67	65	58	-7	-9
27.	Detroit Mercy	31	27	23	-4	-8
27.	San Francisco	38	33	30	-3	-8
27.	Georgia State	50	43	42	-1	-8
27.	Seattle	61	57	53	-4	-8
31.	New Hampshire	21	14	14	0	-7
31.	Dayton	24	23	17	-6	-7
31.	Capital	32	31	25	-6	-7
31.	Wayne State	34	30	27	-3	-7
31.	Cleveland State	36	32	29	-3	-7
31.	California Western	42	38	35	-3	-7
31.	Indiana (Bloomington)	55	50	48	-2	-7
31.	Boston University	55	54	48	-6	-7
31.	Virginia	85	79	78	-1	-7
40.	Faulkner	19	14	13	-1	-6
40.	Regent	23	18	17	-1	-6
40.	Florida A&M	25	20	19	-1	-6
40.	Vermont	29	27	23	-4	-6
40.	Arizona	38	33	32	-1	-6
40.	Thomas Jefferson	39	39	33	-6	-6
40.	Wake Forest	41	38	35	-3	-6
40.	Penn State	53	51	47	-4	-6
40.	DePaul	54	50	48	-2	-6
40.	Washington University	67	66	61	-5	-6
40.	Miami	82	79	76	-3	-6
51.	Toledo	28	25	23	-2	-5
51.	Whittier	29	24	24	0	-5
51.	Quinnipiac	29	26	24	-2	-5
51.	Texas A&M	31	29	26	-3	-5
51.	St. Thomas (FL)	37	33	32	-1	-5
51.	Chapman	44	40	39	-1	-5
51.	SUNY Buffalo	45	39	40	1	-5
51.	Nova Southeastern	52	49	47	-2	-5
59.	Ave Maria	19	19	15	-4	-4
59.	Western New England	27	23	23	0	-4
59.	Baylor	27	25	23	-2	-4
59.	Missouri (Kansas City)	31	27	27	0	-4
59.	Northeastern	36	37	32	-5	-4
59.	New England	37	35	33	-2	-4
59.	Pittsburgh	40	39	36	-3	-4
59.	Southwestern	56	57	52	-5	-4
59.	Santa Clara	61	56	57	1	-4
59.	Texas	83	75	79	4	-4
59.	George Washington	87	87	83	-4	-4
59.	New York University	141	137	137	0	-4
71.	Wyoming	17	15	14	-1	-3
71.	Samford	23	22	20	-2	-3
71.	Campbell	23	21	20	-1	-3
71.	Widener (Harrisburg)	23	22	20	-2	-3
71.	Southern Illinois	24	24	21	-3	-3
71.	University of St. Thomas (MN)	30	29	27	-2	-3
71.	Oregon	30	27	27	0	-3
71.	Nevada	32	23	29	6	-3
71.	Texas Southern	33	30	30	0	-3
71.	Southern University	39	35	36	1	-3
71.	Connecticut	41	38	38	0	-3
71.	Notre Dame	49	54	46	-8	-3
71.	Cornell	53	55	50	-5	-3
71.	Florida, University of	61	62	58	-4	-3
71.	Emory	63	64	60	-4	-3
71.	Suffolk	70	66	67	1	-3
71.	Michigan	70	71	67	-4	-3
88.	Liberty	19	17	17	0	-2
88.	District of Columbia	20	20	18	-2	-2
88.	Kentucky	24	21	22	1	-2
88.	Gonzaga	26	22	24	2	-2
88.	Northern Kentucky	27	29	25	-4	-2
88.	Oklahoma City	27	25	25	0	-2
88.	California-Irvine	28	27	26	-1	-2
88.	North Carolina Central	31	28	29	1	-2
88.	Charleston	31	31	29	-2	-2
88.	Cincinnati	32	32	30	-2	-2
88.	West Virginia	34	34	32	-2	-2
88.	Loyola (LA)	40	39	38	-1	-2
88.	Case Western Reserve	41	41	39	-2	-2
88.	Vanderbilt	41	38	39	1	-2
88.	Southern California	45	46	43	-3	-2
88.	Colorado	48	46	46	0	-2
88.	Georgia	50	47	48	1	-2
88.	Lewis and Clark	52	51	50	-1	-2
106.	Western State	17	11	16	5	-1
106.	Arkansas (Little Rock)	19	19	18	-1	-1
106.	Howard	21	20	20	0	-1
106.	Mississippi College	26	26	25	-1	-1
106.	Tulsa	26	25	25	0	-1
106.	Arkansas (Fayetteville)	27	23	26	3	-1
106.	Hawaii	29	28	28	0	-1
106.	Washburn	30	32	29	-3	-1
106.	George Mason	34	35	33	-2	-1
106.	Washington and Lee	35	35	34	-1	-1
106.	Utah	37	36	36	0	-1
106.	Marquette	37	37	36	-1	-1
106.	Tulane	43	45	42	-3	-1
106.	Maryland	61	61	60	-1	-1
106.	Illinois Institute of Technology	64	63	63	0	-1
121.	North Dakota	12	9	12	3	0
121.	Northern Illinois	17	15	17	2	0
121.	Willamette	25	25	25	0	0
121.	Louisiana State	29	26	29	3	0
121.	St. Mary’s	31	31	31	0	0
121.	Barry	32	32	32	0	0
121.	Texas Tech	32	35	32	-3	0
121.	Oklahoma	33	31	33	2	0
121.	Alabama	38	39	38	-1	0
121.	John Marshall (Atlanta)	40	49	40	-9	0
121.	Florida State	41	43	41	-2	0
121.	Illinois	43	43	43	0	0
121.	California-Davis	46	46	46	0	0
121.	Arizona State	49	51	49	-2	0
121.	Michigan State	51	51	51	0	0
121.	Temple	58	55	58	3	0
137.	Montana	14	14	15	1	1
137.	Appalachian	15	17	16	-1	1
137.	Ohio Northern	19	19	20	1	1
137.	Creighton	23	25	24	-1	1
137.	Louisville	25	25	26	1	1
137.	Brigham Young	25	24	26	2	1
137.	Drake	26	25	27	2	1
137.	Akron	26	30	27	-3	1
137.	Valparaiso	27	31	28	-3	1
137.	Syracuse	41	45	42	-3	1
137.	Indiana (Indianapolis)	42	8	43	35	1
137.	Houston	51	55	52	-3	1
137.	Duke	55	59	56	-3	1
137.	Pennsylvania	62	65	63	-2	1
137.	Northwestern	76	84	77	-7	1
137.	American	102	103	103	0	1
137.	Georgetown	130	140	131	-9	1
154.	Memphis	18	18	20	2	2
154.	Drexel	24	25	26	1	2
154.	Mercer	26	27	28	1	2
154.	Nebraska	27	29	29	0	2
154.	Arizona Summit	32	41	34	-7	2
154.	South Texas	44	47	46	-1	2
154.	Baltimore	50	52	52	0	2
154.	Boston College	52	49	54	5	2
154.	Minnesota	53	51	55	4	2
163.	Maine	16	16	19	3	3
163.	Idaho	19	20	22	2	3
163.	Kansas	28	30	31	1	3
163.	Florida International	29	29	32	3	3
163.	Villanova	32	31	35	4	3
163.	South Carolina	33	37	36	-1	3
163.	Southern Methodist	38	36	41	5	3
163.	Washington	51	48	54	6	3
163.	Stanford	59	60	62	2	3
172.	Tennessee	27	28	31	3	4
172.	Missouri (Columbia)	28	26	32	6	4
172.	City University	34	39	38	-1	4
172.	Iowa	39	43	43	0	4
172.	Cardozo	58	62	62	0	4
172.	Harvard	116	125	120	-5	4
178.	Duquesne	23	27	28	1	5
178.	New Mexico	28	29	33	4	5
178.	Richmond	32	31	37	6	5
178.	Rutgers (Newark)	34	38	39	1	5
178.	Pepperdine	35	40	40	0	5
178.	North Carolina	44	49	49	0	5
178.	San Diego	55	47	60	13	5
185.	Elon	17	19	23	4	6
185.	Ohio State	38	45	44	-1	6
187.	Loyola (IL)	48	48	55	7	7
187.	California-Los Angeles	72	76	79	3	7
189.	Rutgers (Camden)	45	48	53	5	8
190.	Yale	61	71	70	-1	9
191.	William and Mary	39	38	49	11	10
192.	South Dakota	1	15	14	-1	13
192.	Mississippi	17	28	30	2	13
192.	Denver	62	73	75	2	13
192.	Thomas M. Cooley	102	96	115	19	13
196.	Charlotte	39	62	64	2	25
196.	Columbia	127	142	152	10	25
10TH PERCENTILE		21	19	19	0	-2
25TH PERCENTILE		27	26	26	0	-1
MEDIAN		38	37	35	-2	-3
75TH PERCENTILE		53	51	49	-2	-4
90TH PERCENTILE		67	66	63	-3	-4
MEAN		42.4	41.3	40.1	-1.2	-2.3
GROSS GAIN					221	276
GROSS DECLINE					-421	-670
CUMULATIVE		8,352	8,158	7,958	-200	-394

Comments:

(1). I seriously doubt Chicago let go of a third of its faculty this year; its enrollments are about the same as ever, and there isn’t a corresponding surge in part-time profs or similar offsets. Either Chicago misreported this year or did so in previous years and is now correcting it.

(2). The rest of the large reductions happened at schools that you’d expect them to, except maybe Berkeley.

(3). Incidentally, it’s nice to see that Indiana-Indianapolis found the 35 profs it lost last year. Again, another misreporting.

(4). In November, I was incredulous of Columbia’s 15-prof binge, but it appears to be continuing. In the last two years Columbia has increased its full-time faculty by 20 percent. Maybe that’s where all the Chicago profs went?

That’s all for now. Peace.