Higher Education Law

[studentaffairsgrad]

Hi Friends!

 

I just graduated with my M.Ed in College Student Personnel (Student Affairs), and am thinking about law school one day in the future. I want at least 2-3 years of full-time experience before I jump back in, but you can never start thinking about it too early. I was wondering if any of you were familiar with the possibilities of working in higher education as a lawyer. I know that most institutions have legal teams, and a lot of the Title 9 compliance officers on campus have their J.D.

 

Other than that, does anyone know any other opportunities for someone to work at an institution of higher education with her or his J.D.? Can you even specialize in that? Any good schools you would recommend? Sorry for my ignorance

[Angua]

In addition to what you've identified, there are a lot of "JD preferred" positions at my (large research) university.  These wouldn't be "lawyer" jobs so-to-speak, but a JD may be required or strongly preferred.  They include, not surprisingly, a lot of the positions at the law school itself (even our IT guy has a JD!).  Outside of the law school, they also include: pre-law advising, policy writing (in areas like IT Security or Healthcare Records), compliance officers (to ensure compliance with those policies), some HR personnel, some "lobbying"-type jobs in the administration, and positions with the Institutional Review Board.  Many, many areas of law apply to universities, and there are often jobs for JDs in assuring compliance -- information security, healthcare records, student information, research protocols, research participant rights, state and federal grant funding, intellectual property issues, etc, etc.  In addition, a law degree may make you a more appealing candidate for many upper-level administration positions.