[quote=Allan from Fallbrook]

SK: Boalt might not be Harvard Law School, but, you’re right, it’s damn close. I know quite a few lawyers from both Stanford Law and Boalt, and Boalt is considered Stanford’s equal in many areas. Also, not all law schools are created equal and not all law students are, either. Area of practice is key, along with clerking/interning and where the bulk of your study and practice lies.

Regarding Obama’s University of Chicago time, this from FactCheck.org: http://www.factcheck.org/2008/03/obama-a-constitutional-law-professor/

To claim Obama as a “constitutional law scholar” is something of a reach.[/quote]

In all fairness, a lot of not-primarily-research schools assign lots of classes and lectures to individuals they refer to as “professors”.

Research schools consider publication and original research to be essential to professorial endeavors.

In other words:
At UCSD, Obama would be called a lecturer (basically a teacher) and at SDSU or USD, he would be called a professor.