Biglaw

Vault 100 Rankings: The Most Prestigious Law Firms In America (2022)

Money continues to matter most for Biglaw associates.

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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 about exactly which ones are considered the most prestigious.

In last year’s Vault 100 rankings, Cravath — the firm that matched Milbank’s $190K associate salary scale three summers ago with over-the-top monetary compensation for senior associates and matched the generous new salary scale set by Davis Polk this summer — managed to retain its number 1 spot, with Wachtell Lipton edged out of second place by Skadden for the first time in the history of the Vault rankings. 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 Mary Kate Sheridan, Vault’s senior law editor, had to say about Cravath’s placement in the latest rankings: “Cravath and prestige go hand in hand, with the firm securely atop the Vault Law 100 year after year and also within the top 10 of multiple practice area rankings including the top position in General Corporate Practice. When Cravath speaks, other firms follow. The firm has established industry standards on hiring and compensation for years, and even when it isn’t the first to move, Cravath’s decision to join influences the market—as with this year’s compensation and special bonus announcements.”

Biglaw may be on the Davis Polk scale, but Cravath remains the namesake for salaries because of its prestigious pull, with survey respondents referring to the firm as an “industry trend-setter” and a “compensation leader.”

Although Cravath stayed on top, this year, there was some movement when it came to the Top 10 in the Vault rankings. Here are the Top 10 Most Prestigious Law Firms based on Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2022:

  1. Cravath, Swaine & Moore
  2. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
  3. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
  4. Sullivan & Cromwell
  5. Latham & Watkins
  6. Kirkland & Ellis
  7. Davis Polk & Wardwell
  8. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
  9. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
  10. Gibson Dunn & Crutcher

This is the fourth year in a row that these firms have been in the Top 10, but as you can see, we had a two pairs of flip flops among them. At the tippy top, Wachtell has reclaimed its No. 2 position after losing the spot for a blip in time last year, and because fame is sometimes fleeting, Skadden is back with a bronze medal in hand. At the bottom of the top, Paul Weiss and Gibson Dunn have traded places. Surprised Davis Polk didn’t move? The Vault Associate Survey was conducted between March and May 2021 — before the firm’s monumental salary move. Perhaps we can expect it to move up a few spots in next year’s ranking.

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Click here to see the rest of Vault’s prestige rankings.

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 2022 [Vault]
Introducing Vault’s 2022 Top 100 Law Firms! [Vault]

Staci ZaretskyStaci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked 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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