Biglaw, Law Schools, Rankings

The Best Law Firms To Work For: Midlevel Associates Speak

And which law schools best prepare their graduates for Biglaw?

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Earlier this week, the American Lawyer released the results of its annual survey of Biglaw midlevel associates (third-, fourth-, and fifth-year associates at large law firms). We’ll start with the good news: midlevels seem to be quite happy. The average composite score for satisfaction hit 4.08 — the highest in a decade, and higher even than last year’s healthy figure.

But just like last year, which revealed a significant gender gap in terms of job satisfaction, this year’s rosy news comes with caveats. The latest survey shows, for example, that women, African-American, and LGBT lawyers are less satisfied than their non-minority counterparts in terms of measures like training, fairness of evaluations, and partnership prospects.

Now let’s move on to the juicy stuff: the firms with the happiest — and unhappiest — associates. Plus a new ranking from Am Law, focusing on which law schools best prepared their students for Biglaw life….

Here are this year’s top 10 firms in the Am Law midlevel associate rankings:

There’s a considerable amount of consistency on this list. Congratulations to Nutter McClennen and Paul Hastings for once again taking the top two spots (just trading places). Congrats to Cozen O’Connor, Goulston & Storrs, Patterson Belknap, O’Melveny & Myers, and Foley Hoag for staying in the top 10 for yet another year (again, just moving around a few spots). And kudos to Williams & Connolly, Gibson Dunn, and Shook, Hardy & Bacon for joining the top 10. (Minor correction for Am Law: Williams & Connolly is D.C.-based.)

Just missing the top 10 was Ropes & Gray, which was #10 last year and #11 this year. But the firm still deserves high marks for happy associates. In last month’s competing list from Vault of the best law firms to work for, Ropes came in #2 — right behind Paul Hastings, which took #1 in the Am Law survey. Paul Hastings, by the way, is cleaning up on the surveys lately; back in June, the firm topped the Am Law A-List.

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Five firms made both the Am Law and Vault top 10 in terms of best firms to work for:

  • Paul Hastings – #2 for Am Law, #1 for Vault
  • Williams & Connolly – #4 for Am Law, #6 for Vault
  • O’Melveny & Myers – #7 for Am Law, #8 for Vault
  • Gibson Dunn – #8 for Am Law, #4 for Vault
  • Foley Hoag – #9 for Am Law, #3 for Vault

Congratulations to these five firms on their chart-topping performances (especially Foley Hoag, which represents Above the Law and Breaking Media in certain matters).

That’s the “nice” list. Now let’s look a the “naughty” list, the firms that scored in the bottom 10 of the 124 firms ranked by Am Law this year:

Again, note the year-to-year consistency. Several of these bottom-10 firms languished in the 120s last year too.

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Now let’s check out this new ranking, the law schools that best prepared their graduates for law firm life….

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