Some Preliminary Statistical, Qualitative, and Anecdotal Findings of an Empirical Study of Collegiality among Law Professors

In advance of a sophisticated analysis of the survey data, one must be very careful in drawing any overall conclusions about the state of collegiality and workplace well-being in legal academia. Certainly, no correlative assertions can be made. Nevertheless, this preliminary review has revealed some noteworthy information. Certainly, law faculties are far from perfectly collegial associations, and many if not most law professors have a gripe of one sort or another. Despite these facts, however, the overwhelming majority of faculty members appear to be happy with their choice of career. The qualitative data also leaves one with the impression that, overall, baseline collegiality is the norm at most law schools. However, more exceptions to this norm occur than most of us would find acceptable. In many instances, the source of uncollegial conduct is primarily the result of a few difficult personalities on any given faculty. Beyond that, some faculties appear to encounter friction along either status (non-tenure track versus tenure track) or political (conservative versus liberal; majority versus minority; male versus female) lines. Upon reflection, neither of these fault lines should come as a surprise, given the egos of the individuals smart and successful enough to obtain a position in legal academia, the close relationship between law and politics, and the passionate political views held by many law faculty