Humble Is The Path Of The Law Professor

Academia isn’t a monologue. Pay it forward among your colleagues and students.

Businesswoman at apex of crowdI was thoroughly enjoying a nice conference two weeks ago, the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS).   I met some great people, had a great panel, and managed to help some junior scholars in the process.  I didn’t even make it to the beach much, but I was loving life.

Then I had an unpleasant interaction with a colleague.  I’ll spare you the details, but the conversation pretty much started out with me saying, “You missed my panel,” which was followed with the question, “What could I possibly learn from your panel, LawProfBlawg?” I began to answer, but was cut off.  Then the conversation degenerated into who was more productive as a scholar, or perhaps who was more famous.  I can’t remember.  I do remember I realized the error of my ways (because it was my fault that this conversation started) and extricated myself from the conversation.

This isn’t the first horrible encounter I’ve had at a conference.  I remember one fine author reception where a group of professors looked at my name tag, then turned back to continue talking to one another like I wasn’t there.  It was these experiences, as if I were back in 8th grade, that made me become very comfortable sitting by myself at a bar, observing (and later live-tweeting) human behavior.

I remember at another conference watching an elderly law professor who was lost.  I observed her trying to ask people for directions, only to be ignored.   I recall her being in the wrong building, and no one seemed to care enough to help her get to the right one.  Don’t worry, she got where she was going thanks to the kindness of a stranger.

I’m sure I’m not the only one with stories like this.

I remember back when I started in academia.  Then, giants roamed the earth.  Professors who were very humble, yet who had done great things.  They had argued before the Supreme Court, they had published in high-ranking journals, they had MADE law, published casebooks, and a whole host of other things.  The Supreme Court cited them. You never knew any of this unless you opened their CV, and often times, even some of those things remained hidden.  They were very keen on learning about you, touting the successes of their students, and they went out of their way to help you, with only one condition: Pay it forward.  They still roam the earth, but I fear they are becoming extinct.

Some might say these giants didn’t know how to market themselves, but I think the opposite is true.  They marketed themselves humbly.  They advocated for ideas, and any glory came from the ideas, not the person.  They advocated for others, and through helping others earned their reputation as giants.

Sponsored

This isn’t to say that marketing isn’t a good thing. But it shouldn’t be shameless self-promotion.  There’s a difference.  As one blogger points out:  “The reason that self-promotion works and self-adulation doesn’t is because self-promotion is the art of spreading ideas, concepts, and a greater vision. Self-adulation is just the promotion of accomplishments, deeds that have already been done.”

So, the promotion of ideas and vision can be beneficial to your self-marketing.  That can be accomplished by discussing your ideas or vision.  However, how you conduct yourself may get in the way of your ideas and vision.

Of course, we’re all human.  I’m not saying never ever talk about yourself.  But if that’s the only person you ever discuss or promote, or if you feel compelled to do it all the time, you have a problem.

You should not be touting yourself the way Bart Simpson does in this video, or else your colleagues will eventually act the way Marge does:

Sponsored

Academia isn’t a monologue.  If the whole point of your desire is to demonstrate your own brilliance, you might become famous, you might have hordes of people seeking to know you (for their own self-promotion purposes, nothing more), and you might even manage to impact the law now and again.  You might also be tremendously insecure, or perhaps a narcissist.

But a giant, you are not.


LawProfBlawg is an anonymous professor at a top 100 law school. You can see more of his musings here and on Twitter (@lawprofblawg). Email him atlawprofblawg@gmail.com.