Post-Tenure Review as if it Mattered

Abstract:     
At most law schools, post-tenure review is a formality, designed to satisfy a central administration that someone is paying attention to faculty quality. Like any assessment process, post-tenure review can consist of meaningless box-checking. Or, properly designed, it can play a key role in both individual development and institutional success. This Article examines how real post-tenure review might work. It features a) a faculty-wide process of values - identification designed to highlight the behaviors that a faculty wishes to promote and reward and (b) a collegial process by which faculty members are comparatively ranked, much as we currently rank students (top 10%, next 20%, next 40%, etc.) on each item. The Article offers detailed examples of how this process might operate, including checklists, forms, and compensation guidelines. It then considers the inevitable opposition that such a process would face.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 35

Keywords: Law Schools, tenure, post-tenure review

JEL Classification: K00, K10

Accepted Paper Series