Yale Law Women
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B. Interactions Beyond the Classroom Yale Law School places a premium on one-on-one student-faculty interactions outside the classroom. Without formal grades, large classes, or institutionalized benchmarks, faculty-student relationships play a crucial role in a student’s education and future opportunities. Furthermore, many students come to YLS with an interest in legal academia and/or judicial clerkships. Success in these areas requires faculty advocacy on the student’s behalf. This section explores out-of-class interactions between students and faculty. The 2002 study identified five forms of out-of-class interactions between faculty and students: 1. General availability to students (office hours and other policies); 2. Advocacy for students through recommendations; 3. Collaborative work (research/teaching assistance, supervised writing, etc.); 4. Mentoring; and 5. Providing feedback. As these types of interactions remain the primary ways in which students and faculty connect, they are the five areas of focus in this study. The study begins with office hours, because almost all students will attend office hours at least twice over the course of their time at YLS.28 Office hours are the most universally available and least hidden form of contact with professors. Some professors require their students to visit office hours at least once, and others require office hours for students writing papers. Every JD student writes at least two papers, which means that most students, at some point, will attend office hours. Advocacy and collaborative work also affect all students: every student will need a faculty member for a reference, letter of recommendation, or paper supervision at some point in his or her career. Mentoring relates to these forms of advocacy and collaboration, but it is an important part of the law school experience that we address separately.
1. Availability Interviewers asked faculty members about their availability policies, including whether they post and hold regular office hours. Survey questions asked students to mark on a numerical scale how comfortable they felt (1) speaking to a professor after class; (2) attending scheduled office hours; (3) meeting with a professor outside of office hours; (4) communicating with professors by e-mail; (5) working as a research assistant for a professor; and (6) working with a professor who is supervising a paper.
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In the fall 2011 semester alone, 82% of students surveyed reported visiting office hours at least once.