Our first-ever Lawyerly Lairs contest to find the Best Law Firm Offices in America was a huge success. We received numerous nominations, which we reduced to a field of eight finalists (and four honorable mentions).
Then we opened the polls. Voter turnout ran high, with more than 4,500 votes cast in the contest.
Now, the moment you’ve been waiting for. It’s time to announce our winner….
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Make that winners, plural. We’ve decided to name not one but two champions for the inaugural law firm offices contest. Here’s why.
We recently received this objection from a reader:
Although 1-800-LAW-FIRM technically employs a couple attorneys, they are in such few numbers and practice so little themselves that it challenges the parameters of this contest, which is reserved for law firms. [1-800-LAW-FIRM] is essentially a legal referral service, with an extremely low number of attorneys employed in-house.
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This is a fair point. Indeed, in our original post, we noted that “[t]o be technical, 1-800-LAW-FIRM is not a firm but ‘a national network of the country’s top legal experts.'”
Even though we were aware of this technical issue, we let 1-800-LAW-FIRM into the contest. It would not be fair to remove them now, after they garnered the most votes.
At the same time, we do want to be fair to the true “law firms” in the contest. And we like to be generous here at Above the Law.
So we are spreading the love and declaring dual winners. Congratulations to the two best law firm offices in America: 1-800-LAW-FIRM and Bouhan, Williams & Levy!
(If you prefer, you can think of 1-800-LAW-FIRM as having “the best law offices,” where “law” is construed as “law-related,” and the Bouhan firm as having “the best law firm offices.” If we do this contest in the future, we will speak with clarity from the outset about eligibility requirements.)
And congratulations also to Proskauer Rose, which takes the prize for the best Biglaw offices in the country. Among large law firms, Proskauer’s lawyerly lairs can’t be beat.
Our two overall winners, 1-800-LAW-FIRM and Bouhan, Williams & Levy, provide a nice study in contrasts. The 1-800-LAW-FIRM offices are ultra-modern, while the Bouhan Williams offices are the pinnacle of traditional. The 1-800-LAW-FIRM offices are sleek and spare, while the Bouhan Williams offices are richly decorated. The 1-800-LAW-FIRM offices are in the heartland (Southfield, Michigan), while the Bouhan Williams offices are in the deep south (Savannah, Georgia).
Despite their differences, our two winners share this in common: utter fabulosity. Congratulations to them — and to the other finalists, as well as the honorable mentions — for demonstrating that law offices can be just as colorful and comely as their occupants.
Earlier: The Best Law Firm Offices in America: Honorable Mentions
The Best Law Firm Offices in America: The Finalists!
A Lawyerly Lairs Contest: The Best Law Firm Offices in America – Nominations, Please