Anyone want to become a law professor? Anyone?

The largest annual entry-level law school hiring event kicks off Friday in Washington, but the scene at the host hotel will likely be more subdued than the frenzied atmosphere from a decade earlier. The number of candidates vying to become doctrinal legal academics is about half what it was 10 years ago, a phenomenon observers attribute to an overall drop-off in law school hiring as well as an increase in the credentials schools seek in new professors.