Hiring a Research Fellow in Free Speech Law for 1 or 2 Years, at the Hoover Institution (Stanford)

This was just announced today; if you're interested, please apply, and if you know people who might be interested, please pass this along to them.

Opportunity for Post-JD Scholars

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is seeking an outstanding early-career legal scholar interested in researching free speech law, in preparation for seeking an academic position at a law school or elsewhere.

If selected, you would work on your own research with the guidance and supervision of Senior Fellow Eugene Volokh, who has moved to Hoover after 30 years as a Professor of Law at UCLA School of Law. You would be appointed a Research Fellow with the Center for Free Expression, for one year from July 2025 through June 2026. The term may be renewed, if both you and Hoover agree, for one extra year. You would be expected to be physically present at the Institution, working full-time, with no competing major professional commitments.

There is no teaching obligation, so you would have maximum time to research and write. However, you would be expected to help organize and participate in occasional conferences, workshops, and lectures, and to work on occasional projects with Volokh or other Senior Fellows. These tasks would all be related to free speech law and are expected to help promote your own research and future career.

Eligibility Criteria:

• You must have a JD or its equivalent by June 2025.
• You must commit to staying for at least one year (July 2025 through June 2026). The date range might be moved back slightly if required because of a judicial clerkship that will keep you occupied until July to September 2025.
• A judicial clerkship (past or upcoming) is not required, though it is a plus.
• Work experience as a lawyer is not required, though some such experience is a plus.
• A PhD in another discipline is not required, though neither is it frowned upon.
• You must have written a publishable law journal article already while in law school or shortly after. Whether it has already been published or not does not matter, so long as it is essentially complete. That article need not have been on free speech law.
• You must be planning to work on free speech law, understood broadly. This is not limited to First Amendment law, but includes federal or state statutes, common law rules, state constitutional provisions, transnational or international legal provisions, and rules of important private institutions—so long as they relate to the regulation (or deregulation) of speech, press, expression, assembly, expressive association, petition, and the like. Likewise, it includes doctrinal, historical, theoretical, and empirical scholarship.
• We prefer projects on important but insufficiently studied topics, rather than on ones that have already been heavily researched by others.

To Apply, Please Submit:

• Your resume
• Your law school transcript
• Plans for at least two research projects, described in some detail; draft Introductions for what would become journal articles tend to be a good format
• At least one published or completed and publishable research article
• Any other articles, whether published or in draft
• Contact information for three professors or other legal scholars who can speak to your intellect, writing, or research agenda

Requirements:

The Research Fellowship position provides full Stanford benefits with a salary range of $80,000-125,000. Depending on individual circumstances, a housing and relocation allowance may also be provided.

Completed applications must be submitted online by Deadline to Apply: February 1, 2025

Please direct questions to Julie Park at [e-mail].

About Stanford University's Hoover Institution:

The Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace is a public policy research center devoted to the advanced study of economics, politics, history, political economy, and law—both domestic and foreign—as well as international affairs. It is located on the Stanford University campus and is an academic unit of the University.

The Hoover Institution is an equal employment opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

Comments

[Jerry B.]

I’d take it, but I don’t meet any of the qualifications. Can I identify as qualified?

[NvEric]

Yes you can !

[Bwaaah]

Sure you can. But they probably need somebody who *is* qualified.

For a moment, some time ago, I identified as a helpful commenter. In retrospect, I don't know what to make of that.

[Frank Drackman]

Can I take breaks to Breastfeed? (No Baby, it's just me and my Mom have a very close relationship)

Frank

[Stephen Lathrop]

You must be planning to work on free speech law, understood broadly. This is not limited to First Amendment law, but includes federal or state statutes, common law rules, state constitutional provisions, transnational or international legal provisions, and rules of important private institutions—so long as they relate to the regulation (or deregulation) of speech, press, expression, assembly, expressive association, petition, and the like. Likewise, it includes doctrinal, historical, theoretical, and empirical scholarship.

In short, you could be getting in at ground zero on the broadest legal power grab ever. But remember, political happenstance might rain on that parade. And don’t worry about that historical scholarship bit. They are dead serious about that, but the requirement is not really for scholarship, it’s for making stuff up. Making imaginary history sound plausible is the only bar you have to get over.

[QuantumBoxCat]

I hear the Dyson Institution already sucked up all the best free speech research fellows.