Vault Rankings: The Best Law Firms To Work For In America (2019)
Did your law firm make the cut this time around?
Last week, Vault released the 2019 edition of its closely watched law firm rankings, proving that money — in the form of Cravath’s perennially competitive pay scale — can buy prestige.
But can that money buy happiness?
In a companion ranking to the Vault 100, associates were asked to rank their own law firms based on categories most relevant to their overall quality of life, including satisfaction, firm culture, compensation, hours, selectivity, lateral/clerk integration, associate/partner relations, formal training, informal training and mentoring, pro bono, quality of work, business outlook, career outlook, and transparency. This may be surprising for some, but almost none of the firms that made the Top 10 list for being the most prestigious made the Top 10 list for being the best firms to work for.
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Why’s that? “Prestige and compensation will always be important for law firms, but a stellar work environment is becoming non-negotiable for many attorneys,” said Matt Moody, Vault’s Senior Law Editor. “The modern workforce is much more focused on work/life balance, transparent communication, and inclusive cultures, and the legal industry is not immune from this trend.”
There was a huge amount of movement in the Top 10 this year. Which firms made the cut? Without any further ado, here are the Top 10 Best Law Firms to Work For based on Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2019:
- O’Melveny & Myers (+2)
- Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson (no change)
- Clifford Chance (not ranked; first time in Top 10)
- Paul Hastings (-3)
- White & Case (not ranked; first time in Top 10)
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (-2)
- Thompson & Knight (+1)
- Ropes & Gray (-3)
- Crowell & Moring (not ranked; first time in Top 10)
- Latham & Watkins (+9)
Latham is the only law firm that made it into the Top 10 on both of Vault’s rankings. Kudos on keeping your own associates so incredibly happy.
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The No. 1 firms in each of Vault’s Quality of Life categories are:
- Satisfaction: O’Melveny
- Firm Culture: O’Melveny
- Compensation: Wachtell Lipton
- Hours: O’Melveny
- Selectivity: Williams & Connolly
- Lateral/Clerk Integration: Patterson Belknap
- Associate/Partner Relations: O’Melveny
- Formal Training: Ropes & Gray
- Informal Training & Mentoring: O’Melveny
- Pro Bono: Jenner & Block
- Quality of Work: O’Melveny
- Business Outlook: Kirkland
- Career Outlook: Thompson & Knight
- Transparency: O’Melveny
Congratulations to all 15 of the Biglaw firms that made the latest edition of the Vault Best Firms to Work For rankings, and a huge congratulations to O’Melveny for completely sweeping the rankings. How did your firm do? Email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog to let us know how you feel.
Best Law Firms to Work For [Vault]
Earlier: Vault 100 Rankings: The Most Prestigious Law Firms In America (2019)
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Staci 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.
