Biglaw

Vault 100 Rankings: The Most Prestigious Law Firms In America (2024)

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 brought the associate salary scale all the way up to $415,000 back in February 2022 — managed to retain its number 1 spot, while Wachtell Lipton reclaimed the second-place title, after being edged out by Skadden the year prior for the first time in the history of the Vault rankings.

But was Cravath able to keep its cachet as the most prestigious Biglaw firm in the country in this year’s Vault rankings?

Of course it was. Here’s what Carter Isham, Vault’s law editor, had to say about Cravath’s placement in the latest rankings: “While other firms have stepped in as ‘first movers’ in recent compensation and hiring trends, Cravath’s influence on industry standards holds firm.” Cravath continues to remain the namesake for salaries because of its prestigious pull, with survey respondents referring to the firm as “the benchmark for pay scale” and “still the firm to beat.”

Although Cravath stayed on top, this year, there was some movement when it came to the Top 10 in the rankings. Here are the Top 10 Most Prestigious Law Firms based on Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2024:

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

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This is the sixth year in a row that these firms have been in the Top 10, but as you can see, there were some fluctuations in rank among them. Davis Polk — which became known for its big-money raises and bonuses in recent years but failed to offer special bonuses this past summer — lost some ground, dropping to No. 6 (down from No. 4 last year), with Latham and SullCrom picking up the slack (up one spot each). Still within the Top 20, at No. 17, we find Milbank (down six spots from No. 11 last year) — we suppose everyone forgot that this was the firm that kicked off the 2022 salary wars in the first place.

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 2024 [Vault / Firsthand]
Announcing the 2024 Vault 100, Practice Area Prestige, and Regional Prestige Rankings [Vault / Firsthand]

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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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