We get a lot of questions about what faculty can do to move laterally or move “up”. This is not an easy question to answer, because the process is somewhat elusive. Still, there are things you can and should do, and at least one you ought not.
Don’t ask!
For some reason, it is anathema in the legal academy to express an interest in moving to a school. Sometimes schools advertise, typically in the AALS Placement Bulletin, and then you may certainly apply. The most you should do, though, is quietly mention to someone you know at the school that you are open to moving. Even if the school is advertising it often is best to let someone else put your name forward.
Do Write
Face it, what schools want are hot prospects and in this day and age it means publishing. There is a bit of a Catch-22 here you should be careful about. Productivity matters. It is difficult to get noticed without publishing a fair amount. But quality matters too, especially as you move up the rankings. Do not sacrifice the latter for the former.
Network
If you want to move, it helps to know faculty at other schools. One obvious way to do this is to attend conferences and meet them. However, this can often be awkward and unproductive. For example, new faculty often find the annual AALS meeting an alienating place. Everyone except you seems to know everyone else. Besides, not much of substance happens, and handshakes do not really sell you. Consider attending smaller more substantive gatherings, especially the AALS section programs in specific subject matter areas.
Far and away the best way to network is with the written word. There are two things you can do here, one more effective than the other.
First, share your manuscripts with people in your area for help. Be strategic about this. Do not send the leading figure in your field your first draft. Get help elsewhere and polish it, then distribute it more widely. Do this twice even. People who read these manuscripts will form impressions about you, and you want them to be good. We want to be blunt here: this is something you must do. Some junior faculty are shy about approaching colleagues at other schools. It can feel uncomfortable but you must do it. Seek help from people whose work you cite. Seek help from accomplished scholars in the field. Do this with scholars at a variety of schools. Simply write them and ask. Sometimes a mutual friend might offer to lend her or his name to the process.
Second, send out your reprints. This is essential, but you also should recognize that everyone does this and desks are flooded. Go back and read the paragraph above!
Increasingly, electronic databases like SSRN and Berkeley Electronic Press provide a way to distribute work and advertise it through their published electronic abstracts. One caution: wait until you have a piece that has been accepted by a journal (and perhaps even edited) before doing this. Why? This way you put your best foot forward (and avoid the rare but regrettable possibility that someone will borrow your ideas before they are in print).
