2008-08-12 23:50:05 -
www.vault.com/ - Vault.com, Inc. Melanie London, 646-792-6355 mlondon@vault.com Career information media company Vault.com, Inc. (www.vault.com) has just released the latest edition of its best-selling Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms, and for the sixth straight year Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz has been ranked #1.
As part of Vault's annual Law Firm Associate Survey, from January through
April of this year, over 18,800 law associates were asked to rate law firms on a scale of 1 to10 based on prestige (they were unable to rate their own firms, and asked to only rate firms with which they were familiar). According to survey respondents, Wachtell is "in a league of its own" and represents the "apex for law practice"--though many note that Wachtell attorneys "work super ridiculous hours," albeit for "truly amazing pay." Cravath Swaine & Moore, the only other firm ever to rank #1 for prestige (from 1997-2002) was lauded for "embodying the idea of lawyers as true professionals."
The Top 10 firms as ranked in the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms are: -0- FIRM HEADQUARTERS 1. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz New York, NY 2. Cravath, Swaine & Moore New York, NY 3. Sullivan & Cromwell New York, NY 4. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom New York, NY 5. Davis Polk & Wardwell New York, NY 6. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett New York, NY 7. Latham & Watkins Los Angeles, CA 8. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton New York, NY 9. Weil, Gotshal & Manges New York, NY 10.Kirkland & Ellis Chicago, IL
In addition to the #1 Prestige ranking, Wachtell also received high ratings in various other categories; the firm has been rated #1 "Best in Practice" for corporate law and mergers & acquisitions, #1 "Best in Region" for New York City and #1 in "quality of life" areas such as compensation and selectivity.
Vault's Top 10 has been consistent in recent years--the only new firm this year is Kirkland & Ellis, which replaces Covington & Burling at #10. Further down the list, however, some interesting trends emerge. The ascension of U.K. firms in the prestige rankings is striking. All of the highest-climbing firms are from the "Magic Circle"--most notably Linklaters and Allen & Overy, which have jumped a remarkable 21 and 22 spots respectively since 2006.
According to Brian Dalton, Vault's law editor, "London's arguable eclipse of New York for the title of 'world's financial capital,' as well as recent, aggressive U.S. growth by the Magic Circle has resulted in a spike in prestige and name recognition for the U.K. firms."
On the downside, the aftershocks of the credit crunch took their toll on the legal industry, as M&A and transactional matters slowed. Some firms, especially those highly leveraged in structured finance, have been forced to lay off associates. "Little is more damaging to a firm's image among associates than layoffs. There is a clear correlation between layoffs and a decline in prestige, and our rankings reflect this," Dalton says.
In addition to the top prestige rankings, the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms features quality of life rankings, in such categories as compensation, training, hours, offices and diversity, straight from employees themselves. The guide also contains rankings for Best in Practice, Best in Region, and Partner Prestige, in which firm partners rank peer firms on overall prestige and in specific practice areas. The guide also features individual firm profiles that give readers an insider's perspective, revealing information on compensation, uppers and downers of working for the firm, employment contacts and "The Buzz," overall perceptions of each firm. The Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms is available at bookstores nationwide or by ordering through Vault.com.
To see Vault's top law rankings, please CLICK HERE. All categories of partner prestige, quality of life and diversity rankings are available to Vault Gold subscribers.
To order the guide online, please CLICK HERE.
About Vault.com
Vault is the leading media company focused on careers. Vault is celebrated for its online resource, www.vault.com, which features thousands of company and university profiles, information on hundreds of occupations and industries, articles on a multitude of workplace topics, a network of message boards for professionals with over 2,200,000 posts and jobs-related video, blogs and research tools. Vault offers over 120 online and print books, from the best-selling Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms to the Vault Guide to Schmoozing. The company's clients include nearly 1,000 advertisers and recruiters, over 900 universities and graduate schools and over 7,000,000 consumers worldwide. Maintaining offices in New York, London, Mumbai, and Hong Kong, Vault was founded in 1996 by Hussam Hamadeh, Samer Hamadeh, and Mark Oldman and recently received a majority investment from Veronis Suhler Stevenson, a $5 billion private-equity firm focused on media and communications.
Annual Vault Law Survey Reveals Wachtell #1 Again, Kirkland &
Ellis Cracking the Top 10 and the Emergence of UK Firms
