One Out of Three Law Professors at the “Top 13” Law Schools Has A Ph.D.

Joni Hersch and Kip Viscusi have posted an interesting paper counting the number of law professors at the “top” schools that have Ph.D. degrees. Of course, “top” is in the eye of the beholder: Hersch and Viscusi divide schools into the “Top 13” and then the “Top 26.” A few of the findings:

  • At the “Top 13” schools, 32.3% of faculty members have Ph.D.s. The most prevalent subject area for the Ph.D. was economics, with 9.2% of faculty members having an economics Ph.D. (see page 23)
  • At the next tier of schools, those ranked 14 to 26, the proportion of Ph.Ds dropped: 20.4% have a Ph.D. of some kind, with 4.1% having a Ph.D. in economics (see page 23)
  • Of the faculty at the Top 26 schools taken together, 979 have only a J.D. degree; 294 have a J.D. and a Ph.D; and 65 have only a Ph.D. and no J.D. (see page 21)

Thanks to Al Brophy at the Faculty Lounge for the link.

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