Glossary
Law Professor Terms & Vocabulary
15 essential law professor terms with plain-English definitions: the vocabulary you’ll hear in training and on day one.
Key law professor vocabulary
These 15 terms come up constantly in law professor training, on the job and in interviews. Knowing them helps you follow instructions, document accurately and sound prepared.
- AALS
- Association of American Law Schools.
- Bar exam
- Licensing exam.
- Case brief
- Summary of a court case.
- Clerkship
- Working for a judge.
- Constitutional law
- Law of the Constitution.
- Contracts
- Binding agreements.
- J.D.
- Juris Doctor.
- Law review
- Student-edited legal journal.
- Legal clinic
- Student-run legal services.
- Legal writing
- Drafting memos and briefs.
- Moot court
- Simulated appellate argument.
- Precedent
- Earlier decisions guiding later ones.
- Socratic method
- Teaching by questioning.
- Tenure
- Permanent status.
- Torts
- Civil wrongs.
Practice these terms
Test yourself with the free Law Professor practice test: it includes vocabulary questions built from this list. For a complete course, see Law Professor training.
Browse terms from every career in our career glossary.