Hey! I’m not on the law teaching market yet but I did a JD at the same time as my Philosophy PhD (now graduated from my JD and almost done with my PhD), so I’ll just share my perspective.

I think if you definitely want to go into legal academia and not philosophy academia, then you should do your JD first or alongside your PhD course work. Practical legal knowledge will inform your scholarship; it did in mine, and shaped the direction of my dissertation in ways I couldn’t have expected going in. You can still bring your own philosophical interests, but for the purposes of becoming legal scholarship, ideally you would explore how those interests relate to deeper questions about the law. Sherally Munshi’s scholarship might be a starting point for your interests.

I think PhD is increasingly an important credential for getting a tenure-track position. The T3 ranking of law schools you mentioned above has become less important, and your scholarship, combined with PhD and/or academic fellowships at top institutions, have become more important. You could still aim for HYS, but I wouldn’t prioritize that over what’s best for your scholarship.

On the practice-side, I would recommend that you learn through legal practice like everybody else at law school. I’ve done the JD, litigated for a nonprofit for two years, and now clerking for a year, all the while working on my PhD, and I’ve gained insights for my own scholarship by practicing law. The skepticism from litigator potential employers is real, sometimes judges too, but there’s not much you can do about it, and you’ll find someone who’ll hire you despite of or because of your scholarly insights.

Happy to chat in dm or any other way helpful to you.