Alston & Bird, Biglaw, Rankings

Crain's 2011 'Best Places to Work in NYC' List Includes Seven Law Firms

Since 2008, Crain's has been producing a list of the 50 Best Places to Work in New York City. This year, seven law firms made Crain's list. It appears that congratulations and condolences are both in order. So, which law firms are considered the cream of the crop in New York City?

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Since 2008, Crain’s has been producing a list of the 50 Best Places to Work in New York City. Each year, a few law firms manage to sneak their way onto the list, much like what we’ve seen thus far with Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list.

This year, seven law firms made Crain’s list, and as we told you back in January, only four made Fortune’s. Three firms are new to Crain’s list, while the other four moved up or down in the rankings. Just two of those firms overlap between Crain’s and Fortune’s lists.

It appears that congratulations and condolences are both in order. So, which law firms are considered the cream of the crop in New York City?

Before we get to New York City’s top law firms to work for, let’s check out Crain’s rankings methodology:

To identify the Best Places to Work, Crain’s partnered with Best Companies Group, an independent research firm, which conducted 12,494 surveys of employees in New York City.

To be eligible, businesses had to employ 25 or more workers in the city. Scores from employees, who answered a confidential 72-question survey, were combined with scores from an 80-question survey of employers. Questions focused on everything from benefits and policies to opportunities for advancement and corporate culture. Results from the employee surveys made up 75% of the total score; results from the employer surveys made up 25%.

Yup, that sounds like a great way to determine if a Biglaw firm is a better place to work than the local bar or bakery.

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That being said, the seven law firms on Crain’s 2011 Best Places to Work in NYC list are:

Those are some pretty big moves for Hunton & Williams and Alston & Bird. Hunton & Williams, which is apparently “a democracy” (hey, even democracies get WikiLeaked), must be giving out some pretty patriotic bonuses.

But what happened at Alston & Bird? Why did so many A&B employees in the New York office decide to flip the firm the bird? Alston & Bird was one of the firms that made both Crain’s list and Fortune’s list (along with Bingham). Keeping that in mind, it seems strange that the firm would take such a big hit. If you’ve got any information, please email us or text us at (646) 820-TIPS.

So, readers, have these rankings actually been earned? Can you think of a law firm that deserves to be recognized, but hasn’t been? Please give us your thoughts.

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Best Places to Work 2011 [Crain’s New York Business]

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