Association of American Law Schools: Sponsorship, Research, and Challenge Directed Grant

Program: Directed Grants Program
Grantee: The Association of American Law Schools (AALS)
Grant Amount: $375,000
Grant Title: Association of American Law Schools (AALS) Sponsorship, Research, and Challenge Directed Grant

Grant Outcomes:

This grant funded the American Law School Faculty Study, which provides a snapshot of law teaching and law faculty. The study was based on two surveys – one administered at the school level and the other conducted with individual faculty. The first survey yielded responses from 117 current or interim deans at 194 AALS member and fee-paid law schools. The second survey yielded responses from 1,892 law faculty at 194 AALS member and fee-paid law schools. Both surveys were fielded in the fall of 2023 and were conducted for AALS by NORC at the University of Chicago.

The study focused on the findings from the law faculty surveyed. Teaching faculty were asked about their educational backgrounds, academic roles, and the decision for pursuing law school. In addition, law faculty were asked about their job responsibilities, time allocation, and job satisfaction. Key findings from the study revealed the following:

• Women comprise 53% of new faculty, but only 42% of tenured classroom faculty or deans.
• Hispanic faculty and faculty of color comprise 37% of faculty who started teaching in the last five years, compared to 21% of faculty who have taught for 31+ years.
• More than half (56%) of current law faculty have at least one parent with a law degree or advanced degree.
• Faculty report that teaching and scholarship are both their most important responsibilities and the tasks they spend the most time on.
• The majority of faculty are satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs (74%).

AALS also conducted the annual Dean Pulse Survey, which asked current or interim deans at AALS member and fee-paid law schools about their biggest challenges and most time-consuming tasks. Surveys were fielded in the winter of 2023, 2024, and 2025.  A total of 85 deans responded in 2025, compared to 93 in 2024 and 117 in 2023. Budget and financial management, faculty recruitment and retention, fundraising, and improving outcomes for graduates are consistently cited by deans as their biggest challenges. Budget and financial and management and fundraising also consistently top the list of top tasks deans report spending the most time on.