Cornell Law School is soliciting applications for a full-time Clinical Professor (Assistant, Associate, or Full – rank commensurate with experience) to join the faculty of the
Entrepreneurship Law Clinic (the ELC). This position will be based in Ithaca, New York.
The ELC, Cornell’s only transactional law clinic, is in its sixth year of operation. The ELC provides pro bono transactional legal services to startup businesses and entrepreneurs who are not yet ready or able to engage paid legal counsel, but who need assistance setting the legal foundation for their businesses. The ELC’s clients include both for-profit and not-for-profit businesses that are poised to create jobs, contribute to community economic development, and promote innovation. Some clients are local in their focus, and others have the potential to have an impact far beyond New York State. Law students working in the ELC gain practical experience in a variety of substantive legal areas including business structuring and entity formation, intellectual property, employment, immigration, finance and commercial contracts.
The ELC is expanding, thanks to a significant gift establishing the
Blassberg-Rice Entrepreneurship Law Center (the Center). The expansion of the ELC represents Cornell Law School’s commitment to community-engaged learning and partnerships throughout New York State. The ELC will ultimately include three faculty members, two based in Ithaca and one based in New York City. Specifically:
- The current position is to replace the ELC’s founding clinician, who is moving away from Ithaca and leaving Cornell Law School. The appointment is expected to start in July 2025.
- The ELC recently hired a full-time New York City-based clinician to teach a section of the ELC at the Cornell Tech campus on Roosevelt Island, establishing Cornell’s first New York City-based law clinic. This program will start in January 2025.
- The current goal is to hire the second Ithaca-based ELC faculty member to begin their appointment in fall 2026.
The successful candidate’s responsibilities will include the following:
- Teach or co-teach the seminar component for the Ithaca section(s) of the introductory and/or advanced ELC, focusing on both substantive business law and legal skills such as contract drafting and client relations.
- Manage ongoing client engagements and supervise students’ client work, ensuring that the work is done in a timely and professional manner.
- Respond to inquiries from potential clients and select clients to work with the ELC.
- Develop resources to support the ELC’s engagement with the local community, including workshops, presentations and standard forms.
- Help maintain relationships with law firms and other organizations that support the ELC.
- Engage with the regional and national clinical legal education communities.
- Co-lead the appointments process for the second Ithaca-based ELC faculty member.
Depending on the successful candidate’s experience, the position may involve a leadership role in the Center as well.
The appointment level will depend on the successful applicant’s level of experience, but the appointments will be to the long-term, presumptively renewable, contract track. The candidate will be a member of the Law School clinical faculty with voting rights and academic leave terms consistent with the title.
Qualifications:
JD and admission to the New York bar (or eligibility for admission on motion to the New York bar). A successful candidate must have a minimum of five years’ relevant practice experience, excellent supervisee- and client-management skills, the ability to work collaboratively in a fast-paced law practice environment, and a track record of forming positive professional relationships. Prior law school teaching or clinical teaching experience is strongly preferred.
Cornell University embraces diversity and seeks candidates who will contribute to a climate that supports students, faculty and staff of all identities and backgrounds. We strongly encourage individuals from underrepresented and/or marginalized identities to apply.
To Apply:
Please submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, the names of three references, and other significant supporting materials. We also ask applicants for all faculty positions to share their experiences and/or approaches (past, current, or future) to fostering learning, research service, and/or outreach in a diverse community. Applicants may choose to submit a stand-alone statement or embed the information in other parts of their application materials.
To ensure maximum consideration, please submit all application materials by October 15, 2024. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, with priority given to early applicants.
Pay Range:
$56,000-$230,000
Pay Ranges:
Noted pay ranges reflect the potential pay opportunity for each job profile. The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:
- Prior relevant work or industry experience.
- Education level to the extent education is relevant to the position.
- Unique applicable skills.
- Academic Discipline (faculty pay ranges reflects 9-month annual salary
About Us: Founded in 1887, Cornell Law School is a top-tier law school, currently ranked 14th by U.S. News & World Report. We offer a 3-year JD program for about 200 students per class, a one-year LLM program for about 120 students from countries throughout the world, and a doctoral (JSD) program for about 2-3 new students per year. Cornell Law School has 41 tenured and tenure-track faculty, including 20 with chaired faculty positions; and 15 clinical professors in the Lawyering Program and in clinics at the local, national, and international level. Our faculty is consistently ranked among the top in the country for scholarly productivity and influence and has pre-eminence in many areas, including quantitative and qualitative empirical legal studies, international and comparative law, and robust doctrinal scholarship in core fields. Our school is committed to being recognized as the leader among law schools at combining inspiring theoretical, doctrinal, and experiential teaching with cutting-edge scholarship in a supportive, intellectually rich community, so that our graduates can achieve excellence in all facets of the legal profession.
Cornell Tech is a revolutionary model for graduate education that fuses technology with business and creative thinking. Cornell Tech brings together like-minded faculty, business leaders, tech entrepreneurs and students in a catalytic environment to produce visionary ideas grounded in significant needs that will reinvent the way we live. Cornell Tech focuses on creating pioneering leaders and technologies for the digital age, through research, technology commercialization, and graduate-level education at the professional masters, doctoral and postdoctoral levels. Cornell Law School and Cornell Tech partner on the Law, Technology & Entrepreneurship Program, which offers JD and Master’s of Law students a unique environment to learn the skills to become a successful lawyer and counselor for technology companies and ventures.
Cornell University is an innovative Ivy League university and a great place to work. Our inclusive community of scholars, students and staff impart an uncommon sense of larger purpose and contribute creative ideas to further the university's mission of teaching, discovery and engagement. With our main campus located in Ithaca, NY, Cornell's far-flung global presence includes the medical college's campuses on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and Doha, Qatar, as well as the Cornell Tech campus located on Roosevelt Island in the heart of New York City. We offer a rich array of services, programs and benefits to help employees advance in their career and enhance the quality of personal life, including: employee wellness, workshops, childcare and adoption assistance, parental leave, flexible work options.
Employment Assistance:
For specific questions about the position or application process, please contact the Recruiter listed in the job posting or for general questions email mycareer@cornell.edu.
If you require an accommodation for a disability in order to complete an employment application or to participate in the recruiting process, you are encouraged to contact Cornell University's Office of Institutional Equity and Title IX at voice (607) 255-2242, or email at equity@cornell.edu.
Applicants that do not have internet access are encouraged to visit your local library, or local Department of Labor. You may also request an appointment to use a dedicated workstation in the Office of Talent Attraction and Recruitment, at the Ithaca campus, by emailing mycareer@cornell.edu.
Please read the required Notice to Applicants statement by clicking here. This notice contains important information about applying for a position at Cornell as well as some of your rights and responsibilities as an applicant.
EEO Statement:
Diversity and Inclusion are a part of Cornell University’s heritage. We are a recognized employer and educator valuing AA/EEO, and we do not tolerate discrimination based on any protected characteristic, including race, ethnic or national origin, citizenship and immigration status, color, sex/gender, pregnancy or pregnancy-related conditions, age, creed, religion, actual or perceived disability (including persons associated with such a person), arrest and/or conviction record, military or veteran status, sexual orientation, gender expression and/or identity, an individual’s genetic information, domestic violence victim status, familial status, marital status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. We also recognize a lawful preference in employment practices for Native Americans living on or near Indian reservations in accordance with applicable law.
Cornell University embraces diversity and seeks candidates who will contribute to a climate that supports students, faculty, and staff from all identities and backgrounds. We encourage individuals from underrepresented and/or marginalized identities to apply.
Pay Ranges:
The hiring rate of pay for the successful candidate will be determined considering the following criteria:
- Prior relevant work or industry experience.
- Education level to the extent education is relevant to the position.
- Academic Discipline (faculty pay ranges reflects 9-month annual salary)
- Unique applicable skills.
** (posted 2024/09/10, listed until 2024/10/15)