Fall Recruiting Open Thread: Vault 91 - 100 (2010)

Here we are. The end of the Vault 100.
To be on the Vault 100 is to be a well-known firm. Sure, maybe not well-known to law students or junior associates who can’t see past the mountain of doc review boxes in their windowless conference rooms. But known to partners … and clients. Look down your nose at these firms if you wish, but remember the old African proverb: “The smallest elephant can still crush your Lexus.”
Here is the final batch of top law firms for discussion:

91. Stroock & Stroock & Lavan
92. Blank Rome
93. Seyfarth Shaw
94. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel
95. Manatt Phelps & Phillips
96. Squire Sanders & Dempsey
97. Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton
98. Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler
99. Wiley Rein
100. Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo

What say you about these fine firms? Some final thoughts after the jump.


At the beginning of the recession, some people predicted that firms at the bottom end of the Vault rankings would face grave difficulties. Some said they would have to merge, others warned that they would fold. And last year’s #92 firm, Thelen, did in fact go the way of the mastodon.
But here we are, a year after Lehman collapsed and America noticed it was locked in a horrible recession, and these firms are hanging on. Some of these firms have had layoffs, cut salaries, deferred incoming associates, and canceled summer programs. But they are surviving. And that is something to get fired up about.
Face to face, out in the heat
Hangin’ tough, stayin’ hungry
They stack the odds ’til we take to the street
For we kill with the skill to survive

Which of these firms still has the eye of the tiger?
Earlier: Vault Open Threads – 2010

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