Teaching Fellowships and Legal History

Aspiring legal historians will have an interest in the list of Teaching Fellowships for Aspiring Law Professors compiled by Paul Caron at TaxProf Blog. Legal historians might look to these programs as a way to work with established legal historians before entering the teaching market. Fellowships at Yale, Harvard and other "top ranked" schools are an obvious draw, but there are also advantages to seeking a fellowship at a school because you have an interest in working with a particular scholar. At smaller schools, a fellow may be more integrated into the daily life of the law school, and feel less of an outsider. The University of Iowa, for example, has an excellent Faculty Fellow program, and an opportunity to work with Herb Hovenkamp, who I know to be a kind mentor to new teachers. Dean Carolyn Jones is a tax historian, John Reitz is a superb comparativist, and there are Wendie Schnieder and others. At the University of Alabama are legal historians Al Brophy, Wythe Holt and Tony Freyer. At Fordham, there are many faculty interested in legal history, including Martin Flaherty, Robert Kaczorowski, and Dean William Treanor. One caveat: if you are choosing a fellowship because you would like to work with a particular scholar, be sure that she or he will be in residence during your fellowship.