Teaching

Course Loads
Our standard course load is one of the easiest to manage compared to other law schools. The standard course load at the Law School for productive research faculty members is three courses, consisting of two general-demand courses (minimum enrollment of 20 students) at least one of which a first-year required course or other core course, and one research seminar (minimum enrollment of 10 and maximum enrollment of 25) of your choice in which you engage students with your own research or learn a new area together with students. In addition, faculty should be available to supervise at least two senior research projects, LLM theses, or PhD dissertations each academic year.

Course Inventory
We ask that all faculty members, in consultation with the Dean or the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, develop an inventory of courses that they could be called upon to teach. Your inventory can change over time depending on your research and teaching interests and the Law School's teaching needs. The courses should be closely related to your research interests.

Teaching Quality
The Law School takes teaching seriously and, in conjunction with the light course load, we expect a high level of performance in the classroom and in the education of our students. As a professional school, we have a duty to prepare our students for their chosen careers in the best way possible.

Teaching Assignments
Teaching assignments and loads remain at the Dean's discretion. Faculty may be asked to cross-list or teach courses in other Northwestern schools or departments. These assignments would be counted as part of your Law School course load.

Course Reductions for Research
Please see our faculty policies page for further information.

Student Support and Participation
One of the unique aspects of the Law School is the open environment in which faculty and students interact. This is made possible because of our low student-faculty ratio and our faculty's willingness to work with students both in and out of the classroom. We expect all faculty to be available for students and interact with them as much as possible. We also insist that all faculty members arrange their professional and personal schedules to permit them to participate in our annual graduation ceremony and reception and our annual school-wide orientation event for the incoming students.