Are Law Schools Hiring More PhDs?

Once again Larry Solum is compiling data for his Entry Level Hiring Report in Law Schools.  In last year's report, 30 of 173 candidates (17.3%) had PhDs or DPhils.  My guess is that this percentage will increase over time.   This hypothesis is based on: the increased number of legal scholars now doing empirical work; that law schools are hiring non-JD professors who have PhDs in other fields; the increase in the number of JD/PhD programs available to students; and that law schools are developing their own PhD programs (e.g., Vanderbilt Law's PhD in Law & Economics). 

Is my guess correct?  Will more future law professors be JD/PhDs?  Might law schools soon subsidize PhDs for its faculty?  Are law school hiring committees interviewing more candidates with PhDs?  Are committees actively looking for candidates with PhDs?  Comments are open.

Comments

[Matt]

For what it's worth, of the 12 most recently hired faculty members (faculty hired at the Jr. level, though some have since been tenured) at Penn (including two incoming members next year), 8 have advanced degrees- 8 PhD's and an SJD. (The break down is 3 history, 1 Poli-sci, 1 international relations, 1 JSP(Berkeley), 1 SJD (yale), 1 Econ.) (Of the 41 full-time faculty who teach (i.e.- leaving out the full time administrators) 24 have an MA or more (most of these have PhDs.) So, at least at Penn there seems to be a pretty clear emphasis on people w/ advanced degrees. As a JD/PhD student myself (philosophy) I'm happy about this, and certainly think it's made my education better.

[Michael Heise]

In addition to--but not in lieu of--comments responding to Jason's questions (and, FWIW, my guess is that Jason's guess is correct), I would invite comments dwelling on the potential consequences (good, bad, indifferent) to the legal academy, scholarship, and education that might flow from more law profs possessing the Ph.D.