Once again, Fortune magazine is out with its annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. And once again, a number of law firms have made the cut. (We’ve covered which law firms made the Fortune list in prior years: 2009, 2008, and 2007.)
This year the list has six big law firms, up from five in 2009. All of the 2009 firms remained on the list, although some went up and some went down in the rankings. They were joined by one newcomer, Baker Donelson (#77).
So which firms made the cut, and how high did they rank?
Here are the six firms that made the 2010 list. Click on each firm’s name to read their press release (where available).
- Bingham McCutchen (#12, up from #30; sixth straight year on the list);
- Alston & Bird (#30, up from #36; eighth straight year on the list);
- Arnold & Porter (#65, down from #21; eighth straight year on the list);
- Perkins Coie (#75, up from #82; eighth straight year on the list);
- Baker Donelson (#77; not ranked last year); and
- Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe (#95, down from #87; second straight year on the list).
Some highlights from the Fortune blurbs for each firm (click on the firm name for the full Fortune write-up):
- Bingham McCutchen: “Retreats bring together lawyers of color and openly gay and lesbian lawyers.”
(Do straight white males get retreats too?) - Alston & Bird: “The law firm invites all employees — everyone from receptionists to shipping clerks to legal secretaries — to attend monthly firm meeting marked by the review of a project and kudos to all who contributed.”
(These meetingssound like huge wastes of time / circle jerksare certainly a thoughtful gesture.) - Arnold & Porter: “Employees who make successful referrals at this prestigious law firm are rewarded with bonuses ranging from $450 to $15,000.”
(They also unfroze associate salaries recently, which is good.) - Perkins Coie: “Firm was proud to represent Obama for America, with 59 lawyers working on the campaign.”
(And Bob Bauer, former Perkins partner, is now White House counsel.) - Baker Donelson: “A strong commitment to diversity at this law firm founded in 1888 has lifted number of minority lawyers from 12 to 40; of 540 lawyers, 180 are women.”
(One out of three doesn’t sound that high — but then again, this is Biglaw. Three cheers for the soft bigotry of low expectations!) - Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe: “Recession prompted law firm to ask incoming associates to defer their entry until the fall of 2010 and offered to place them in legal jobs at nonprofits and government agencies, paying them an honorarium of $60,000 and a $15,000 bar stipend. Forty-three incoming lawyers (56% of the class) agreed to the deferment.”
(This is listed in the Fortune blurb as “What makes [the firm] so great.”)
In any event, it’s nice to see law firms getting shout-outs from a prominent mainstream media publication for being great places to work. Congratulations to all the deserving honorees!
100 Best Companies to Work For – 2010 [Fortune]
Six Law Firms Make Fortune’s List of Top 100 Places to Work [ABA Journal]
Fortune: Not All Law Firms are Brutal, Soul-Crushing Places [WSJ Law Blog]
Earlier: Fortune Lists Top 100 Companies to Work For
Everyone’s a Winner at These Five Law Firms
Bingham McCutchen: Land of the Amazons?
I see what you did there, crossing out “least worse.” I get it. Very funny.
Love me some A&B.
“Do straight white males get retreats too?”
Really? It’s called “every day at the office.”
hahaha nice #3
also, i don’t see why anyone would want to go to one of those A&B meetings.
Why is Latham not on the list?
Nice to see firms that have not deferred incoming associates, rescinded offers, or conducted layoffs being rewarded by Fortune’s list.
5 – Because there were no Latham employees left to rate it.
insane. fortune is out of its element here.
Orrick DC continues to suck my balls. For realz.
Former Associate of Alston in Hotlanta. Its a great firm and on almost every deal I faced a top NY firm. We all work on the same stuff. I can say on Peach Tree, A&B Associates are treated as Gods, along w/ those from King. Biglaw rules Hotlanta.
How is Bingham’s Investment Management practice doing?
The deferral / stipend IS a positive thing for Orrick, and a good thing for any other firm that provided that for its employees. A lot of firms will lay people off who’ve actually been working there productively for years, and only give them a two month severance(and that only if they sign a release). The fact that this firm paid people who NEVER WORKED THERE for a year, and assisted them with finding non-profit work, i an act of pure charity that these snivelling nothings didn’t deserve.
12 – Some firms were well-managed enough to start their associates on time, no deferral.
“Do straight white males get retreats too?”
Yes, the partners’ retreat.
This list seems so random. What was the methodology?
“(One out of three doesn’t sound that high — but then again, this is Biglaw. Three cheers for the soft bigotry of low expectations!)”
Total horseshit.
Orrick – what a f- joke.
16 – I agree. Whoever started letting women and Jews into law firms should be slapped in the face. It’s a disgrace. You’re totally right about that.
IMHO, there’s nothing like Asian Coie. Its the best.
13 – Being “well managed” and being a “good place to work” aren’t necessarily identical. A Naval submarine is incredibily well-managed, but I wouldn’t want to work on one.
The deferral/stipend is a point in favor of Orrick belonging on the “Best companies to get a job with and then not work for.”
As someone who pretended to work at all of these 6 firms by occasionally wandering their respective offices, I can vouch that they are all wonderful places to work.
-Roxy
I’m not sure how having diverse retreats makes Bingham a fun place to work. Diversity is great, but fun? Who gives a shit in this context?
Where on this list are the winners at Nixon Peabody?
I’m chocked – CHOCKED – that DLA Piper did not make this list.
24 – NP hasn’t made the list since 2008:
http://abovethelaw.com/2008/01/everyones_a_winner_at_these_fi_1.php
15 – methodology is whichever 100 companies pay Fortune the most receive the “honor. “
At least there is a little something about gays in this. I want more, but this is acceptable.
The “soft bigotry of low expectations” (which is not so soft, by the way) occurs when minorities and women are held to lower objective standards, in order to increase their numbers.
Affirmative Discrimination occurs, by the way, when a nonfavored group is discriminated against in favor of a favored group.
15, 27: The pool of potential companies is self selected, and this year comprised… wait for it…
“Three hundred forty-three companies participated in this year’s survey.”
In other words, a) just by sending in an application, a company has a 30% chance of making the list, and b) the results are statistically meaningless.
Interestingly, the pool has been as high as 500 in the past; I guess companies aren’t considering placing on the list very worthwhile for marketing purposes.
Please see: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2010/faq/index.html
29 – That applies here. Law firms are held to low expectations when it comes to hiring and promoting women and minorities. So they a magazine gives them an award.
I was tempted to complain that this has nothing to do with the gays and race-baiting, but then I noticed Bingham McCutchen’s homoerotic colored retreats.
Nevermind!
And here’s Baker Donelson’s secret to becoming one of the 100 Best Places to Work For in America:
1. Discriminate on the basis of race and sex (no worries – it’s benign!)
2. Trumpet your “commitment to diversity” to Fortune
3. ?
4. Profit!
It’s so easy, a white male can do it (institute the policy, that is; actually giving them the jobs defeats the whole purpose).
HOMOEROTIC COLORED RETREATS SECURE
26 – are you saying that everyone is no longer a winner at Nixon Peabody? Will there be another song to announce this?
This list is dumb. Nobody who had a choice would work for any of those firms, so far as I know.
G’Damn….. Just FIVE MORE HOURS until The Deep End. God, then let the pleasure begin.
35 – YES. I am betting Marin’s liveblog will be very very funny.
http://abovethelaw.com/2010/01/the_deep_end_liveblog_plug.php
Right on, 14, right on!
Thank god Lat is back.
Bingham is a shithole if you’re a contract lawyer, thanks to the batshit crazy woman in SF who runs the contract lawyer program like Captain Bly ran the Bounty.
Wegman’s rules! OTOH, law firms suck.
To this list, I would add Eckert Philly. Great place to work for. Always has been. You get the big city rep of being in Philly, while being a smaller satellite office of a Big Pitt firm.
As a former Bingham manager, I can tell you that no, straight white males don’t get their own retreat, straight white females don’t get their own retreat. We have become the underclass in a world trying to suck up to the underclass.
To the companion WSJ blog entitled “Not All Law Firms Have to be Soul-Crushing Places” – Bingham was ordering expensive bottles of port for a partner dinner just days after it announced one its largest layoffs last spring. I have the email. That’s pretty soul crushing to those who lost their job for “economic” reasons. Really, Bingham?
10 – A+B sucks in LA. ask anyone that works there. oh wait, just ask loyola cause most of the associates are from there. that’s beside the point, AB is a cheap, second rate firm.
Thacher Proffittt?
These “best places to work” lists always seem to focus on stuff that doesn’t matter to me, like having good pregnancy leave policies, whether there are [insert minority]-friendly retreats, and having input into the brand of muffins served on Friday mornings.
How about a very simple: “do you like your job and do you feel fairly compensated for it” question?
I would like to work in a firm that has as few Jews and Black people as possible. Where is this firm?
High Pitched Eric
How about an ATL poll for worst biglaw shitholes to work in? I hereby nominate Paul Hasting’s NY office, also known as “Barry’s torture shack.”
48- I second that nomination! I feel really sorry for the poor unsuspecting newbies. They have no idea what they’re into.
I stopped reading at Alston and Bird.
That joke of a firm still has ‘09 grads “deferred indefinitely.”
There must be 30 places to work in this country where the people “hired,” actually, you know, work.
Does anyone remember when Seyfarth Shaw thought they had a shot at this?
The firms that made this list are all biglaw shitholes. By definition, if you are working in biglaw, you are in hell.
Actually, this is Alston & Bird’s 11th year on the list (not 8th, as the original post says). See http://www.alston.com/alston–bird-ranked-30-among-ifortunei-magazines-100-best-companies-to-work-for-in-2010-01-21-2010/
And A&B hasn’t “indefinitely” deferred any associates. Vast majority of 09 has already started, and the rest will start by January, probably earlier.
Alston associate here. This list actually makes sense because A&B has, until the layoffs the first week in January, kissed staff’s ass, and their opinion counts more than the attorneys for this stupid made-up survey. Did you know that until this last summer A&B staff members got paid overtime for anything above 37 hours? So they were getting paid overtime for a regular week. It will be interesting to see what happens next year since A&B conveniently fired secretaries and staff after the Fortune surveys had been submitted.
As for associates, Alston froze their below-market salaries last week, cut associate salaries $5,000 more over the summer, and then froze salaries again for 2010. But Liz Price won’t call it a freeze because they are putting the $5,000 back in. Oh, and if you did hit hours this year (good luck with partners hoarding work), you probably got a bonus less than $10,000. And after hearing all year how the equity partners were foregoing their distributions in the first half of the year, it turns out that they caught up and made the same amount they did in 2008. Way to share the pain, guys. Love having you in the foxhole.
Finally, Alston announced last week at the annual associates meeting that they are going to move to a hybrid system where 1st-4th years are on lockstep and then 5th years and up (after a promotion hurdle?) are on a merit-based system. So now they can try to hide further the fact that their salary scale is flatter than Iowa.
Yes, I’ve been drinking. Rant over.
55 – awesome
54: And A&B hasn’t “indefinitely” deferred any associates. Vast majority of 09 has already started, and the rest will start by January, probably earlier.
——————————
First, you are flat out wrong. See
http://abovethelaw.com/2009/09/deferral_extension_season_alst.php. Likewise, I know people supposed to start in Atlanta and 2 branch offices and NONE have started.
Second, it’s already the END of January. How are they going to ‘probably start earlier’ than January?
57–January 2011
–54
Where’s Skadden on this list?
-SKADDEN SECURE
As a former Bingham associate I can tell you that this is entirely bullshit. The time I spent at Bingham is now a painful blur, punctuated by crazy, demanding, passive-aggressive partners who would alternate scolding me for spending too much time on a project and scolding me not billing enough. The senior associates locked themselves in their offices hoarding work. Oh, and I’m gay, and never got invited to a retreat. Bingham may not have been worse than any other law firm, but no way was it better. Oh, and BTW, Bingham started doing stealth layoffs in 2007, before it was even en vogue. Are they a better place to work because they did a better job of keeping it hush hush?
60: You could substitute Paul Hastings for Bingham in your post and be just as accurate. Jamie Wareham told us all kinds of glorious bullshit when we started 3 years ago. Trust me kids, Uncle Paul will take a class of young, eager associates and turn them into lifeless, demoralized husks in no time. You are now in the land of the Soul Crusher. And if you see Zach, run the other way!
That A&B rose 6 notches in the rankings this year is incomprehensible, and that they show growth of 7% job growth is highly implausible (considering their two rounds of semi-voluntary staff retirements, two rounds of staff layoffs, associate layoffs and “performance” firings, etc.) This shop is all about internal brand worship over substance, and anything other than a sunny, happy face is considered subversive by its management, which has no appreciation for nuance, complexity or individuality. Only the nauseatingly sycophantic need apply.
Orrick will certainly not make it next year after the new rounds of benefit and pay cuts are announced next month…
Orrick will certainly not make it next year after the new rounds of benefit and pay cuts are announced next month…
Orrick will certainly not make the list next year after the new rounds of benefit and pay cuts are announce next month…
how could any firm that did multiple rounds of attorney and staff layoffs make this list? are they joking???
to the pointy-headed “bosses” at a&b – no need for the suspender-snappy – everyone knows that anything can be bought including this worthless, 2-bit list. it’s a bloodbath at a&b and has been for a long time…all handled in the most mercenary, soul-crushing way. maybe everone will “Getz” it like tinkerbell.
A & B does not have a soul and I think that the Fortune survey is an absolute joke. The layoffs that have been happening and the morale in their offices are astoundingly low. I can not imagine working in such a place feeling like an axe was about to fall. They are more concerned about their rankings than their actual employees.
#60 is absolutely on point. As a former associate of Bingham, with experience at other law firms, it utterly shocks me each year that Bingham could even rank on this list. Neither I, nor any of my coworkers that I asked, were ever asked to respond to a survey on job satisfaction.
No, 69, they don’t. Some of the tactics I’ve seen to get these things filled out are pretty obnoxious. I don’t know how any big law firm even makes this list.
How in the hell did A&B get on any list besides a schiet list . . . crazy mo fos
A&B panders to transgender freaks and makes other attend “diversity” HORSE SHIT training while this big ugly guy takes dump in the ladies’ room
if Fortune ever bothered to fact-check, Perkins would get thrown off the list and fast.
The best thing about working at A&B is being able to say, “I USED to work at A&B and am now extraordinarily happy working elsewhere – no more billable hours to lie about, no passive aggressive partners and management bullshit to deal with.” Yep, life is sweet and pretty damn good now. Hey, all you A&B mo fos (including the Partners’ Committee, Cathie Benton and her crew, and the hatchet guy CFO with the big hooked nose) — kiss my happy, not-miss’n-the-bullshit-one-bit, carefree ass. The only thing to miss is watching the fist fights between pansy-asses and the “Little Women” with the balls enough to cold cock you queers and freaks into next week. A&B suX and always will. Your name in the market place is now Alston & BirdSHIT. Giddyup!
Alston & Tird suX.
Should be one helluva staph appreciation day at the new and improved offices of BallsTown & Tird. Join other homeless folks on the big green lawn for the latest spewing of BS propaganda. Let us all hold hands and bellow “Nobody Knows Da Trouble I's Seen” as we gorge ourselves silly on stale sardine bagels generously spread with runny horse sht. To the few of us left groveling for a job, don't forget to blow smoke up Kathie Bentwig's cellulite-riddled, gorillia ass. Comando M would enjoy an ass blow'n so just send him a niiice card.