Lipshaw on "Retiring" to the Legal Academy

Jeffrey M. Lipshaw (Suffolk University Law School) has posted Memo to Lawyers: How Not to 'Retire and Teach' on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Many long-time practitioners muse about what it might be like to retire and teach, not realizing there is no more galvanizing phrase to their counterparts who have long toiled in the academy, nor one less likely to enhance the prospects of the unfortunate seasoned applicant who utters the phrase. I intend this essay not for law professors (though it may either amuse or irritate them), but for those in the practice who aspire, after all these years, to return to the academy. With what I hope is sincere humility, I offer some realistic advice to job seekers, concluding that wistful phrase is precisely the opposite of the true sine qua non of success: demonstrating the capability of, and commitment to, being a productive scholar.