The final round of Above The Law’s 2009 March Madness for Law Firms was actually more exciting than the final round of the NCAA tournament.

While UNC routed Michigan State, Wachtell and Williams & Connolly were competing in a fierce battle for the title of Biglaw’s safest firm — the place where you are least likely to be laid off.

New York-based Wachtell (the #1 Vault seed) was leading early on in the day, but D.C.-based Williams & Connolly (V14) took the lead in the polls in the afternoon, and refused to let go.

When the buzzer sounded at midnight last night, WillConn claimed victory, 51.5 to 48.5.

According to ATL readers, Williams & Connolly is Biglaw’s Safest Firm, baby!!! *
*Out of the top 32 in the Vault prestige rankings

It’s a good time to be a small, streamlined firm in Washington, D.C., tight with the leading politicos. We congratulate the attorneys at Williams & Connolly on their job security prospects.

See the brackets and the explanations behind readers’ voting after the jump.

March Madness peaks today with UNC and Michigan State competing for the NCAA basketball crown, and here at Above The Law, Wachtell and Williams & Connolly going head to head to be named Biglaw’s safest firm — the place where you’re least likely to be laid off.

The two firms had decisive wins in the Final Four round, with Wachtell defeating Paul Weiss, 72 to 28; and WillConn besting Covington, 57.5 to 42.5..

Both firms are on the smaller side of Biglaw, around the 200-lawyer size. New York-based Wachtell is Biglaw’s most prestigious firm according to Vault, but is the M&A powerhouse the safest? Things may seem dire in New York these days, but Wachtell has made the most of the economic downturn. It represented Bank of America and JP Morgan in their acquisitions of Merrill Lynch and Bear Stearns, respectively, and advised the Treasury on AIG.

D.C.-based Williams & Connolly may benefit from the regime change in the nation’s capital, given its history of advising prominent Democrats (but it also represents leading Republicans, especially of the Alaskan variety — e.g., vindicated ex-Senator Ted Stevens; future memoirist Sarah Palin). Two of its attorneys made the jump to the Obama administration. The firm’s website has a quote from the Wall Street Journal calling it “the powerhouse Washington law firm with a deep bench.” Is its bench deep enough to best Wachtell in March Madness?

You decide. Vote now:

Last night, voting ended in the Elite Eight round of ATL March Madness for Law Firms. If you’re just tuning in, this is our NCAA-style tournament in which ATL readers vote to crown one firm Biglaw’s safest — the place where you’re least likely to be laid off.

Today, we bring you what ATL readers have deemed to be the four safest firms out of the top 32 most prestigious from Vault. There have been some upsets along the way, and only one of the top seeds remains: Wachtell. This is your chance to determine who goes to the final round on Monday. Here are the polls:

After the jump, check out the brackets to see which firms these top contenders dunked on to make their way to the Final Four.

We’re down to eight firms in our 2009 March Madness for Law Firms. It’s an NCAA-style tournament in which ATL readers vote to crown one firm Biglaw’s safest — the place where you are most likely to still have your job at year’s end.

The real NCAA tournament heads into the Final Four this weekend, and we plan to catch up with them. We’re bringing you the Legal Employment Elite Eight match-ups today, with polls open until midnight on Wednesday, April 2. We’ll then head into the Final Four, with Biglaw’s two safest firms competing for the crown on Monday.

There were many upsets in the latest round of ATL March Madness. Heading into the Elite Eight round, it looks like Vault prestige seeds mean little. Over 6800 people voted in the most popular match-up of the Sweet Safe Sixteen, helping Paul Weiss (V13) fend off Skadden (V4). Williams & Connolly (v14) managed to squeak out a victory over Sullivan & Cromwell (V3), in a tight competition with a final score of 51-49.

Heading into the weekend, Debevoise (V12) was beating Davis Polk (V5), but when the buzzer sounded at midnight Sunday, some last-minute voters managed to hand a narrow victory to DPW. The final score was 50.1 to 49.9.

There were a few blowouts as well: Kirkland 72 - Linklaters 28; Cravath 80 - Sidley 20; and Wachtell 82 - Gibson 18.

Meanwhile with regard to the real NCAA tournament, there are 738 ATL readers and one Elie Mystal competing in pool over at ESPN. Elie would like to point out that he’s tied for fifth in that tournament at the moment. K. Eimicke is at the front of the pack for now though, and looking good to win a gavel-shaped ATL stress ball should UNC go all the way.

After the jump, we’ve got new ATL March Madness brackets, the polls for the Elite Eight round, and commentary from ATL’s Dick Vitale, Lord Oberon.

We just wanted to remind you that the polls are open until Sunday for the Sweet (Safe) Sixteen round of ATL March Madness for Law Firms. It’s our NCAA-style tournament to crown Biglaw’s safest firm — the place where you are least likely to be laid off.

Sixteen firms remain. Some of the match-ups are tight ones.

A faithful ATL reader who goes by the moniker Lord Oberon has been chosen to weigh in as a guest commentator. ATL’s Dick Vitale has compiled stats from the AmLaw 100 survey for the March Madness firms. Here’s Oberon’s round-up, baby!

Of the sixteen we have information on, there are five that have posted gains in profits, number of equity partners, and PPP. In order of PPP (the order doesn’t change if you use 08 or 09 PPP), they are: Paul W - Kirkland - Debevoise - Cleary - Gibson

Of all the March Madness firms we have information on, there are three that have NOT posted gains in profits, number of equity partners, or PPP. In order of PPP they are: Cravath - Latham - Shearman & Sterling

There are seven March Madness firms that posted revenue above $1 Billion. Of those firms, Weil and Latham have reduced the number of equity partners; Skadden and Latham have reduced PPP; and Latham reduced gross revenue.

Two firms increased the number of equity partners, but lost revenue and PPP: Fried Frank - Milbank Tweed

Eight firms increased the number of equity partners, but lost PPP: Skadden - WilmerHale - MoFo - Paul Hastings - Sullivan - Davis Polk - Fried Frank - Milbank Tweed

Use the statistics as you will. Vote with your head. Or vote with your heart. Either way, vote for Biglaw’s safest firms, and check out the brackets, after the jump. Polls close Sunday at midnight.

Tonight, the “real” Sweet Sixteen games will play out on NCAA courts. Here at ATL, the NCAA-styled ATL March Madness for Law Firms continues. Sixteen firms remain in the tournament hoping to be crowned Biglaw’s safest — the place where you’re least likely to get laid off.

Thirty-two firms entered the tournament, based on Vault prestige rankings. Thousands of ATL readers voted to eliminate sixteen firms in the first round. There was only one upset of a higher-ranked seed: Linklaters (V26) beat Latham (V7). The Magic Circle firm’s magic run may not last though. Kirkland has a solid lead over the UK-based firm at the moment.

Will there be more upsets in the Sweet Sixteen? Over 4,000 votes are in since voting started on Tuesday and two of the contests are nail-biters: Skadden vs Paul Weiss and Davis Polk vs Debevoise.

Check out the brackets and vote on the next four match-ups, after the jump.

Last week, we brought you our NCAA-tournament style March Madness for Law Firms. We took the top 32 firms from the Vault prestige ratings and asked you to vote on which firms were the “safest” — the places where you’re least likely to get laid off.

After Round One, we’re down to the Sweet (Safe) Sixteen.

The higher-ranked teams firms won in all of last week’s contests but one: Magic Circle firm Linklaters (V26) upset 2008 March Madness tournament champ Latham (V7). Sadly, Latham’s bench was not as deep this year. Apparently, voters disagreed with this line of reasoning.

There were two particularly close matches. As predicted by one commenter:

Gibson v Wilmer in the first round is gonna be a close race.

Gibson Dunn won out, but barely, while Kirkland eked out a victory over Jones Day.

The most popular match with 6226 votes was Ropes & Gray vs Davis Polk & Wardwell. Check out which firms advanced, and vote on the first four match-ups of the Sweet Sixteen round, after the jump.

We started our ATL March Madness for Law Firms on Tuesday. Through this NCAA-style tournament, with brackets and seeding, we will crown Biglaw’s safest firm — the place where you’re least likely to get laid off. Yes, we know it’s irreverent; but we’re a legal tabloid. Irreverence is what we do.

We’ve taken the top 32 law firms from the Vault prestige rankings. Last year, we asked you to vote on the coolest law firm. You chose Latham. Yeah…

This year, we’re posing a more important question. We are asking you to vote to decide which of the firms is the safest. Where are you most likely to keep your job?

Here are the brackets:

Voting on the first eight match-ups started on Tuesday; now, we bring you the face-offs between the other 16 firms at the top of the Vault. Polls close on Sunday. You vote to determine who will go to the Sweet (Safe) Sixteen, after the jump.

[Ed. note: To catch up on the latest round of the tournament, check out the March Madness 2009 category thread.]

The NCAA basketball tournament starts up this week. If your team is already out, or you’re only half-heartedly rooting for your team (Sigh. Go Duke.), we are offering you a different contest to take part in. And this is better than the NCAA tournament, because you’re not just a sixth man watching from the sidelines; you get to determine the course of the tournament through voting.

We’ve held March Madness NCAA-tournament style competitions before. UVA won the 2007 competition for coolest law school, and last year Latham eked out a victory over Cleary for coolest law firm.

Since Latham recently, um, cut a number of players from its team, we don’t think we can let it keep its crown, so we’re revisiting Biglaw firms with the 2009 ATL March Madness tournament. But rather than comparing “cool,” in a nod to the current climate, we are comparing “safe.” We bring you….

ATL MARCH MADNESS FOR LAW FIRMS!!!
WHICH FIRM IS THE SAFEST???

We’ve set up brackets based on Vault seeds. Thirty-two firms are entering the tournament. We invite you to vote on which firms are better at lay-ups than layoffs. At which firm are you least likely to lose your job?

After the jump, we give you the brackets, and the first eight match-ups. Look out for the next eight match-ups on Thursday. The polls close Sunday at midnight.