For newly minted lawyers exploring career options beyond private practice, higher education offers a range of professional pathways. Universities, community colleges, and other post-secondary institutions increasingly hire attorneys in both academic and administrative roles, providing alternatives to traditional law firm tracks. Understanding these roles, expected pay ranges, and institutional environments can help early-career lawyers align their skills with opportunities that fit their interests and long-term goals.
Academic Roles: Teaching and Faculty Tracks
Many lawyers enter academia as faculty members, particularly in law schools or departments related to legal studies. These positions can combine teaching, research, and academic service. Salaries for law faculty vary widely depending on the institution, rank, geographic location, and tenure status.
At the entry level, positions such as assistant professor of law typically offer annual salaries that can range from around $85,000 on the lower end at smaller institutions to well over $150,000 at larger or more prestigious universities. Pay scales reported for assistant law professors often show mid-range figures around $116,000, with upper ranges nearing $150,000 or more for institutions with robust academic budgets.
For more experienced faculty, particularly full professors or those with tenure, median salaries and total compensation packages can rise further. Data for law professors suggests median pay near $151,000 annually, with upper percentiles exceeding $300,000 at research-intensive universities and top-tier law schools.
Academic positions often come with benefits beyond base salary, including sabbatical opportunities, research support, and structured advancement through tenure or promotion systems. However, competition for these roles can be significant, especially at elite universities where research credentials and publication records are strong hiring factors.
In-House Legal Roles: General Counsel Offices and Legal Departments
Another option for early-career lawyers is to work within a university’s central legal or compliance functions. In-house legal teams at colleges and universities handle a broad spectrum of institutional needs, including contracts, risk management, regulatory compliance, intellectual property issues, employment law matters, and policy drafting.
These roles tend to attract lawyers who prefer institutional problem-solving over litigation or billable-hour practice. Positions may range from junior counsel to assistant general counsel, with opportunities to specialize in areas relevant to higher education operations. Salaries for in-house university legal roles generally align with broader in-house counsel norms, where lawyers employed outside traditional law firm environments earn regular salaries and benefits packages. Nationwide, median annual wages for attorneys in salaried roles (across all industries) are above $150,000, though individual institutional pay will vary by size, public versus private status, and budget priorities.
High-profile senior legal administrators, such as Deputy General Counsel or Managing Attorney, play leadership roles in large institutions. One example is the role Jennifer Zimbroff holds at Stanford University, where senior attorneys contribute to central legal strategy and institutional legal oversight. Such positions typically command compensation reflecting their responsibility level and institutional complexity, though specific figures vary by institution and are not publicly standardized. Jobs at Stanford, like the ones Zimbroff hires, can be an excellent place to build a strong career through in-house university work.
Community Colleges and Smaller Institutions
Community colleges and smaller private colleges also hire attorneys, though the nature of these roles often differs from those at research universities. In some cases, legal professionals at these institutions support compliance, Title IX processes, faculty contracts, and local governance issues rather than broad enterprise legal functions. Salaries at these colleges can align with public-sector pay scales, which on average tend to be lower than those at major research universities but may come with stable benefits and strong job security.
Additionally, community colleges occasionally employ lawyer-educators in disciplines such as paralegal studies or criminal justice, where legal experience informs curriculum delivery. Compensation in these teaching roles often aligns with faculty pay scales at the institution, which can be modest compared to law schools but competitive within the community college system.
Making the Choice: Factors to Consider
Choosing between academic teaching, in-house legal work, or university legal administration in higher education involves balancing personal interests, professional aspirations, and financial expectations. Teaching roles can provide intellectual engagement and influence over future professionals, but they may require advanced academic credentials or a strong publication record. In-house legal positions offer variety and institutional impact, often with predictable hours and benefits, but may involve navigating complex internal politics and broad responsibility scopes.
New lawyers considering these paths should research institutional job boards, such as the National Association of College and University Attorneys or HigherEdJobs, where hundreds of legal and faculty positions are regularly posted. Building practical experience through clerkships, adjunct teaching, or internships with university legal departments can also strengthen candidacy for these roles.
Ultimately, higher education represents a distinctive segment of the legal job market, one where professionals can blend legal expertise with mission-driven work across teaching, administration, and institutional support.