Law Firms for Law Professors
posted by Miriam Cherry
Are there biglaw firms that have a reputation as more “academic,” or having a high percentage of “alumni” going into law teaching? Based on this factor, and wanting to stay in Boston, I took an opportunity here (poor Eliot was sacrificed to the branding campaign gods, although Hoag seemed the more natural candidate…). Bright lights of that era were Angela Onwuachi-Willig, Rashmi Dyal-Chand, Jessica Silbey, Joel Ngugi, Bill McGeveran, fellow guest-blogger Tim Zick, who I was scratching my head trying to figure out how I knew, thus he served as inspiration for this post, and, oh, yeah, Doug Kysar. (Dina Wreede always did do excellent work). What is the current word on which law firms send the most “alums” into academia?
October 18, 2008 at 4:45 pm
Posted in: Law Practice
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Responses (14)
Jason W. - October 18, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Gibson Dunn seems to have the reputation as being a waystation for those on their way into the academy, I think, but I couldn’t give any facts on this.
Deven - October 18, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Hmm. Boston. Home to Harvard. Few big firms of note in town. The folks you name are mainly connected to the town by school or clerkship. Result, seems like the firm has a professor angle. Reality, could be coincidence. Move away from the smaller legal market to New York, Chicago, L.A., and D.C. and one has more firms for people to go to. Just a guess but one of the big S.F. firms probably has a similar record to Foley because again small market, great schools in the area, and well it is convenient, if not common, to find that recent graduates want to stay in the city.
Hillel Levin - October 19, 2008 at 7:32 am
Cleary Gottlieb has a reputation for producing law professors.
David Zaring - October 19, 2008 at 11:14 am
I wouldn’t even know where to begin with Wilmer, esp the Wilmer before it was WilmerHale. Bignami, Picker, Charnovitz, Bierschbach, Morrison are five that quickly come to mind, but there are lotsa others.
Paul Caron - October 19, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Three Tax Profs are alumni of Boston’s Sullivan & Worcester: Karen Burke, Paul Caron and Grayson McCouch
Miriam Cherry - October 19, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Wanted to comment on Deven’s point … I don’t think it’s coincidence; HLS students who were interested in teaching were choosing firms based on so-called “academic reputation.”
Anon - October 19, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Jenner & Block’s DC Office has a good reputation for producing law profs. Some examples:
Heather Gerken (Yale/Harvard)
Jenny Martinez (Stanford)
Jim Greiner (Harvard)
Mitchell Berman (Texas)
Kevin Stack (Vanderbelt)
Eric Berger (Nebraska)
David Fagundes (Southwestern)
Aaron Bruhl (Houston)
James Grimmelmann - October 19, 2008 at 11:07 pm
David Johnson was a one-man prof-producing shop at Wilmer: in addition to himself, his former colleagues Susan Crawford and David Post are both in the academy.
Anon - October 20, 2008 at 10:26 am
Covington & Burling has a strong reputation for producing future academics as well.
Jon Weinberg - October 20, 2008 at 2:57 pm
My old law firm Shea & Gardner (since absorbed into Goodwin Procter) was pretty small — about 70 lawyers at its height — but it had an “academic” reputation. A quick Google search reveals at least twenty alumni in law teaching, including Jose Alvarez, Stephen Carter, Phil Frickey, and Bill Eskridge.
Simon Stern - October 21, 2008 at 12:20 am
Jon, I second your mention of the old S&G firm, in DC. When I joined, in fact, on the first page of the firm’s web presence was a list of schools where former members were now teaching — listing over a dozen. Covington’s DC office has also seen many go into law teaching.
A.J. Sutter - October 21, 2008 at 11:19 am
Just curious: what is the typical (or maybe let’s say median) time people spend at these firms before they go into teaching? And when Simon Stern mentions “former members” was that literally, as in partners?
anon - October 23, 2008 at 1:25 pm
Kellogg Huber in DC has had a bunch too, especially for its small size:
Shelanski at Boalt
Barkow at NYU
Molot at Georgetown
Penalver at Cornell
Markel at FSU
anon - October 23, 2008 at 1:26 pm
Kellogg Huber in DC has had a bunch too, especially for its small size:
Shelanski at Boalt
Barkow at NYU
Molot at Georgetown
Penalver at Cornell
Markel at FSU
Hessick at ASU
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