In-House Counsel

Outside Counsel Industry Rankings: Which Biglaw Firms Are Best For Your Specific Company?

Biglaw firms claim specialties in many areas, but which ones do the best work in their industries?

By Elie Mystal on March 06, 2018 2:45 pm

Last week, we released our Outside Counsel rankings. They are a broad overview of the 50 firms in-house counsel trust the most when they need outside help.

That’s a great list if your company is generally facing “bet the company” litigation. But most of the time, you’re not. Most of the time, you need your outside counsel to have a deep understanding of your industry so they can advise you on the best course of legal action. The firm that’s going to be best for a bank isn’t necessarily the firm that’s going to know all there is to know about the energy market.

Today, we want to look at the firms that were rated highest by in-house counsel based on the industries they work in. We’ve put together a few top 10 lists, across six different industries: Consumer Products, Energy, Media/Entertainment, Life Sciences/Health Care, Finance, and Tech.

Let’s drill down on the “Finance” category because… well, I like money. Here are the top 10 Biglaw firms based on in-house lawyers who work in finance:

Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft
Cahill Gordon & Reindell
Cleary Gottlieb
Clifford Chance
Cravath Swaine & Moore
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Debevoise & Plimpton
Kirkland & Ellis
Sullivan & Cromwell
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz

Usual suspects all, though I am sure that we can all think of some firms that talk a big game but did not make this list according to in-house attorneys.

But if we look at the “Energy” industry, you’ll note an entirely different group of firms rises to the top:

Akin Gump
Baker McKenzie
Baker Botts
Bracewell
Haynes & Boone
Jackson Walker
Norton Rose Fulbright
Vinson & Elkins
Weil Gotshal
Skadden

Four firms made our lists in three different industries:

Baker McKenzie
Cooley
MoFo
Skadden

You can check out all of our lists here. Congratulations to all the firms represented. It’s not small thing to have the respect of the in-house attorneys you work with.

Above the Law Outside Counsel Rankings: Top Outside Counsel By Industry