Law Firms for Law Professors

No, this post is not about a charity event for law professors (not with the all the money we are making from selling those complimentary text books). 

Rather, this post concerns the entry-level hiring market.  We all know that there are certain credentials that law schools look for when they hire new faculty.  Recite after me:  law school, rank in class, law journal, position on law journal, student note or comment or other publications, prestigious federal clerkship, great references, teaching experience, and, increasingly, an advanced degree in law or other discipline.  Heck, I don't even care if the candidate has a personality (and apparently many law schools feel the same way) if they have all these qualifications.

What else is missing? Well, one thing that sets apart law professors from their colleagues in other disciplines is that many of them practice in their field before becoming professors (and, in the case of some (read: Lipshaw), they practice many, many, many, many, etc., years).  Indeed, one might argue that at least a couple of years of law practice should be required for aspiring law professors (maybe more on that later).

So, in any event, my question for this post is if there are certain law firms which have a notable record of placing its attorneys in legal academia?  This thought came to me when I started noticing that a large number of law professors friends coming from the same firms (and not always the largest or starting with "Sullivan" or "Davis").  Consider Heller Ehrman, which through a rather informal, unscientific google query seems to have a large amount of its former attorneys in academia (including labor and employment types Maria Ontiveros and Michelle Travis).

But even if there are law firms which place more attorneys in academia, is this because the law firms encourage such movement (through formal programs) or because it just so happens that the firm attracts the type of intelligent, thoughtful people (I'm blushing)  likely to find a career as a law professor attractive?  It seems like the latter, but do people know of firms who have programs for attorneys who want to become law professors?

My impetus for leaving law firm life:  I was actually dreaming in billable hours.