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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Curious…how does one become a law professor…is there such a thing as a law PhD? Almost sounds like the route for DD.

Just wondering if that route is fully covered.  As an example, you of course have to pay yourself for an MBA, but a finance PhD is 100% free and actually you can earn decent money getting research sponsored.

Wondering if law is at all the same.[/quote]

No, law is not at all the same.

You don't really pursue a Phd -- advanced study in law is called an LLM. The academics of law is a little weird and little backasswards: the basic degree is a doctorate, the JD, and then the (most common) advanced degree is the LLM, which is a master's degree. The JD is practical and basic, it provides foundational knowledge for the practice of law. The LLM is more academic and scholarly, and people get them in special areas (I have an LLM in tax). I know two people who got LLMs hoping to become law professors (one has a UVA JD and a Yale LLM, and one has a Berkeley JD and a Stanford LLM). They both did become professors, but they also had pretty significant and impressive experience as well, and one was highly published and one had done very high profile work. They also both started at the very bottom, teaching legal research and writing, which is in no way shape or form a job where you are actually a law professor. It's the lowest type of adjunct position there is and most people do it for fun, or while in transition, or something. It isn't a great stepping stone to becoming a professor because so few are going to be able to make the leap from it. But I do know those two people did. But you aren't going to get that job going from JD to LLM to teaching LR&W, you need experience first, and that means practicing law. And some law professors don't have LLMs at all, they are just famous or highly published. There is an SJD degree as well which is a research based degree more like a Phd. Some law professors have that, but not many. And there is the very, very rare professor with a somehow-relevant Phd. I'd say about half my law professors at my top tier school just had a JD, and about half had an LLM as well (or they had a law degree from another country and an LLM). Some SJDs and Phds were sprinkled in there, but not many.

And there is no funding for LLM programs like there is for Phd programs -- LLM programs are a cash cow for law schools. So ... they are quite expensive. (An LLM is also what international attorneys hoping to practice in the US get).

So ... I'm not going to say that carving out a career as a law professor is impossible for OP's child. It's not impossible. But it's probably almost impossible. And she'd either need to practice law for awhile (at a very high level -- BigLaw or DOJ), or publish like mad (possibly even a book or books in addition to law review articles) before even seeking academic work out. And the JD needs to be from a top school -- that goes without saying. 
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