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Section IV.C: Appointment Policy and Procedure and Promotion and Indefinite Contract Reviews for Clinical and Lawyering (LAW) Faculty - Law School
Section IV.C: Appointment Policy and Procedure and Promotion and Indefinite Contract Reviews for Clinical and Lawyering (LAW) Faculty - Law School
- General Principles
- New Clinical and LAW faculty hires will be subject to the 80% hiring rule.
- Successful candidates will have:
- Full voting rights, commensurate with rank.
- Full access to, and responsibility for, attending faculty meetings, and participating on committees; and
- Academic titles as appropriate per appointment and promotion:
(1) Assistant Clinical Professor, Associate Clinical Professor, or Clinical Professor; or
(2) Assistant Professor of Lawyering, Associate Professor of Lawyering, or Professor of Lawyering.
- Hiring Process
- When hiring a Clinical or LAW faculty member, the dean shall appoint a Clinical and LAW Faculty Appointments Committee. The Committee will consist of an equal number of skills faculty and tenured or tenure-track faculty, as well as two students. The committee will conduct a national search, which will be completed, where feasible, during the academic year, and will provide an opportunity for all faculty members to interview candidates.
- A Clinical or LAW position shall be filled, whenever possible, using the process described in section B.1 above. When this is not possible, the dean, in consultation with the director of the LAW program or relevant clinic, may hire a visitor.
- A visitor hired pursuant to section B.2 above who thereafter wishes to be considered for a permanent appointment must participate in the subsequent national search process.
- Review and Promotion
- LAW and Clinical faculty members will be evaluated using the process outlined in Section D below.
- Clinical faculty members will be evaluated on the requirements of their contracts, which include:
- Teaching,
- Service, and
- Practice.
- Scholarship by clinicians will be supported as appropriate, but is not required or expected.
- LAW faculty members will be evaluated on the requirements of their contracts, which will include:
- Teaching,
- Service, and
- Scholarship.
- Evaluation Process - Clinical and LAW Faculty Review Process
The dean shall appoint the Associate Dean of Faculty to chair a Promotion and Review Committee in each academic year in which a clinical or LAW faculty member is eligible for consideration for promotion. The Promotion and Review Committee must include clinical or LAW faculty as well as tenure track faculty, and all members shall be of sufficient seniority to be eligible to vote on the promotion of all clinical or LAW faculty under review.- Year One
- Procedure - the clinic or LAW director assesses performance and makes a recommendation to the Dean whether to continue employment. In the event the person under review does not have a director, the Chair of the Promotion and Review Committee (in consultation with faculty and administrators who work with the person) assesses performance and makes a recommendation to the Dean whether to continue employment. The Dean reports his decision to the faculty.
- Substance - a determination that the person has successfully performed the duties of the position as judged according to the Evaluation Standards set forth in the Contract. There is no presumption of renewal and no presumption of non-renewal.
- Successful completion of this review process results in a two-year contract for the faculty member.
- Year Three
- Procedure - The committee assembles a review file with information relevant to the person’s performance of the contract responsibilities. This file or a summary of it is made available to the faculty, who may communicate their views or relevant information to the review committee. The committee assesses the performance of the person according to the contract responsibilities and presents the file to the full faculty. The voting faculty who are superior in academic rank to the person under consideration shall decide by majority vote of those present and voting whether to award a promotion.
- Substance – a determination that the person is successfully performing the duties of the position as judged according to the Evaluation Standards.
- Successful completion of this review process results in a (second) two-year contract for the faculty member and promotion to associate professor.
- Year Five
- Procedure - The committee assembles a review file with information relevant to the person’s performance of the contract responsibilities. This information should include peer assessment from those outside the Law School familiar with the person’s work. This file or a summary of it is made available to the full faculty, who may communicate their views or relevant information to the review committee. The voting faculty who either have tenure or an indefinite contract shall decide by majority vote of those present and voting whether to award an indefinite contract.
- Substance - a determination that the Law School will be well served by appointing this person to an indefinite appointment in light of the person’s performance of the duties of the position as judged according to the Evaluation Standards set forth in the Contract.
- Successful completion of this review process results in an indefinite contract and full voting rights, with the exception of voting on promotion and tenure of tenured and tenure-track faculty currently teaching at Lewis & Clark who have not completed the promotion and tenure process as of Fall semester 2009.
- If the candidate is not successful, the Dean shall notify the faculty member that his or her appointment will terminate at the end of the succeeding academic year.
- Year Seven
A Clinical or LAW faculty member who has taught at the Law School for seven years will be reviewed under the same procedures as the three-year review process described in Section D3. Successful completion of this review process results in a promotion to full professor. - Timing of the review
- If the Dean and the faculty member so agree, the promotion consideration may be postponed for an additional year beyond the time period specified.
- Any leave of absence granted to a faculty member for reasons of illness, disability, pregnancy, childbirth, parental, or other family needs may at the option of the faculty member be excluded from the candidate’s review period. Other approved leaves may extend the review period only with the prior written approval of the Dean.
- Year One
Approval Date
Approved by the Faculty November 17, 2009. Approved by the Board of Trustees May 7, 2010. Amended by the Law Faculty, November 9, 2010, February 5, 2013, and December 11, 2018