Vault 100 Rankings: The Most Prestigious Law Firms In America (2019)

Money continues to matter most for Biglaw associates.

What do associates at major law firms care about more than money? Prestige, of course. But, at the end of the day, sometimes being a leader when it comes to compensation is enough to boost a firm’s prestige. As luck would have it, the closely watched Vault 100 rankings are here to remind lawyers at the nation’s largest law firms during this summer’s salary wars about exactly which ones are considered the most prestigious.

In last year’s Vault 100 rankings, Cravath — the firm that recently rocked Milbank’s new $190K associate salary scale with over-the-top monetary compensation for senior associates — retained its number 1 slot after elbowing Wachtell Lipton out of the position it had held for 13 years in 2016. Was Cravath able to keep its cachet as the most prestigious Biglaw firm in the country in the latest Vault rankings?

Of course it was. Here’s what Matt Moody, Vault’s senior law editor, had to say about Cravath’s placement in the latest rankings: “With a steadily increasing lead over the past three years, Cravath has established itself as the nation’s top law firm. Cravath is the market leader in compensation, with associates across the industry measuring their pay against ‘the Cravath Scale,’ and the firm has been integral in shaping the legal industry for centuries, so it is unsurprising that associates view it as the best.” Sorry, Wachtell, but Cravath is now .322 points more prestigious than your firm.

Although Cravath and Wachtell kept their first- and second-place spots in the latest edition of the Vault rankings, there was some movement in the middle of the Top 10. Without any further ado, here are the Top 10 Most Prestigious Law Firms based on Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2019:

  1. Cravath, Swaine & Moore (no change)
  2. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz (no change)
  3. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom (no change)
  4. Sullivan & Cromwell (no change)
  5. Latham & Watkins (+2)
  6. Davis Polk & Wardwell (-1)
  7. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett (-1)
  8. Kirkland & Ellis (no change)
  9. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (no change)
  10. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (+1)

There were two noteworthy moves within the Top 10. This is the first time Latham has reached the Top 5 in Vault history, a sign of the firm’s kung-fu grip on prestige — though funnily enough, the firm still hasn’t announced any news as far as its salary scale is concerned. Paul Weiss is new to the Top 10 this year, kicking Weil Gotshal down to No. 11. It’s also worth mentioning that Milbank slipped down two spots to No. 40 in this year’s ranking, but we imagine that the firm may see an increase in its rank next year due to the fact that the firm was the first to kick off this round of raises.

As for notable moves outside the Top 10, Wiley Rein made its way back into the Top 100 for the first time since 2013, while Kasowitz Benson dropped out of the Top 100 entirely (and we’re all but certain that the firm’s association with the Trump administration had absolutely nothing to do with that).

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Congratulations to all of the Biglaw firms that made the latest edition of the Vault 100 rankings. How did your firm do this time around? Email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog to let us know how you feel.

Vault’s Top 100 Law Firms For 2019 [Vault]


Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky has been an editor at Above the Law since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Twitter or connect with her on LinkedIn.

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