The ATL 2015 Law Firm Rankings Top Regional Offices

The Top Regional Offices

Rank Firm Score
Atlanta
1 Alston & Bird LLP 81.71
2 King & Spalding 77.90
3 Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP 69.65
4 Jones Day 61.22
5 McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP 55.71
6 Paul Hastings LLP 53.27
7 Greenberg Traurig, LLP 53.25
8 Troutman Sanders LLP 51.15
9 Bryan Cave LLP 43.74
10 Ballard Spahr LLP 34.11
Boston
1 Ropes & Gray LLP 87.96
2 WilmerHale 80.60
3 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates 72.44
4 Goodwin Procter LLP 69.32
5 Fish & Richardson P.C. 63.71
6 Cooley LLP 63.22
7 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo P.C. 63.10
8 Proskauer Rose LLP 61.60
9 Foley Hoag LLP 56.43
10 Nixon Peabody LLP 53.35
11 Greenberg Traurig, LLP 52.42
12 Foley & Lardner LLP 51.11
13 Choate Hall & Stewart LLP 50.98
14 Bingham McCutchen LLP 50.54
15 Goulston & Storrs, PC 49.61
16 Sullivan & Worcester LLP 49.42
17 Holland & Knight LLP 44.12
18 Seyfarth Shaw LLP 41.90
19 Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP 37.63
20 Wolf Greenfield & Sacks PC 36.68
21 Brown Rudnick LLP 34.51
22 Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP 33.68
23 Duane Morris LLP 32.59
24 Burns & Levinson LLP 24.39
25 Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP 20.96
Chicago
1 Kirkland & Ellis LLP 88.76
2 Sidley Austin LLP 81.99
3 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates 78.98
4 Latham & Watkins LLP 78.33
5 Jones Day 70.00
6 Mayer Brown LLP 67.53
7 Jenner & Block LLP 65.89
8 McDermott Will & Emery LLP 64.67
9 Ropes & Gray LLP 61.77
10 Winston & Strawn LLP 61.06
11 Perkins Coie LLP 56.54
12 Baker & McKenzie 55.21
13 Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 54.59
14 Foley & Lardner LLP 54.10
15 Greenberg Traurig, LLP 53.98
16 Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP 52.73
17 DLA Piper 52.13
18 Reed Smith LLP 51.99
19 Dentons 51.77
20 Schiff Hardin LLP 51.31
21 Bryan Cave LLP 48.90
22 McGuireWoods LLP 48.82
23 Seyfarth Shaw LLP 46.13
24 Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP 44.65
25 Holland & Knight LLP 42.66
Houston
1 Vinson & Elkins LLP 79.79
2 Latham & Watkins LLP 77.67
3 Susman Godfrey L.L.P. 72.68
4 Baker Botts LLP 69.98
5 Bracewell & Giuliani LLP 59.55
6 Jones Day 57.25
7 Norton Rose Fulbright 57.06
8 Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 56.69
9 Andrews Kurth LLP 51.84
10 King & Spalding 51.58
Los Angeles
1 Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP 83.87
2 Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP 83.23
3 Latham & Watkins LLP 81.79
4 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates 75.34
5 O'Melveny & Myers LLP 75.19
6 Kirkland & Ellis LLP 73.08
7 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP 72.13
8 Irell & Manella LLP 71.08
9 Morrison & Foerster LLP 65.38
10 Paul Hastings LLP 64.56
11 Sidley Austin LLP 64.10
12 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 63.01
13 Greenberg Traurig, LLP 59.84
14 Jones Day 58.61
15 Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP 57.02
16 Arnold & Porter LLP 55.51
17 Proskauer Rose LLP 55.38
18 Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 54.92
19 Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP 54.12
20 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP 52.59
21 DLA Piper 50.42
22 Reed Smith LLP 49.75
23 Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 48.83
24 Winston & Strawn LLP 47.75
25 Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP 46.81
New York
1 Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz 83.57
2 Davis Polk & Wardwell 82.62
3 Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP 81.48
4 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP 79.53
5 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP 79.29
6 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 78.93
7 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates 76.24
8 Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP 75.83
9 Debevoise & Plimpton LLP 73.84
10 Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP 72.01
11 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP 71.45
12 Latham & Watkins LLP 71.15
13 Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP 69.75
14 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP 68.60
15 Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP 65.72
16 Covington & Burling LLP 64.48
17 Sidley Austin LLP 63.34
18 Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP 62.76
19 Shearman & Sterling LLP 61.80
20 WilmerHale 61.77
21 Proskauer Rose LLP 61.75
22 Morrison & Foerster LLP 61.11
23 Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP 59.24
24 Paul Hastings LLP 58.85
25 Kirkland & Ellis 58.25
Philadelphia
1 Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 87.99
2 Dechert LLP 79.58
3 Pepper Hamilton LLP 70.42
4 Reed Smith LLP 68.56
5 Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP 64.97
6 Baker & Hostetler LLP 64.33
7 Duane Morris LLP 53.40
8 Ballard Spahr LLP 53.28
9 Blank Rome LLP 50.54
10 Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin 48.53
San Francisco
1 Kirkland & Ellis LLP 85.22
2 Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP 76.41
3 Latham & Watkins LLP 74.73
4 Morrison & Foerster LLP 70.40
5 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati 70.30
6 Covington & Burling LLP 68.32
7 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP 68.05
8 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP 66.97
9 Sidley Austin LLP 66.81
10 Fenwick & West LLP 65.96
11 Keker & Van Nest LLP 64.94
12 O'Melveny & Myers LLP 62.31
13 Cooley LLP 61.68
14 Jones Day 61.66
15 Paul Hastings LLP 61.56
16 Ropes & Gray LLP 58.38
17 Farella Braun + Martel LLP 52.83
18 Dentons 49.11
19 Littler Mendelson P.C. 48.07
20 Nixon Peabody LLP 47.66
21 Bingham McCutchen LLP 47.01
22 Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP 46.52
23 Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP 46.35
24 Reed Smith LLP 41.24
25 Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP 40.87
Silicon Valley
1 Davis Polk & Wardwell 85.32
2 Cooley LLP 81.85
3 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati 80.63
4 Latham & Watkins LLP 80.47
5 Morrison & Foerster LLP 72.63
6 Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP 72.16
7 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates 68.19
8 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP 66.96
9 Fenwick & West LLP 64.48
10 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP 61.43
Washington, DC
1 Covington & Burling LLP 80.81
2 Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP 77.75
3 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates 77.53
4 WilmerHale 75.15
5 Kirkland & Ellis LLP 74.01
6 Williams & Connolly LLP 73.79
7 Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP 73.31
8 Latham & Watkins LLP 70.65
9 Sidley Austin LLP 70.13
10 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 69.17
11 Arnold & Porter LLP 66.90
12 Hogan Lovells US LLP 66.83
13 Jones Day 66.47
14 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP 65.55
15 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP 65.45
16 White & Case LLP 58.97
17 Ropes & Gray LLP 58.45
18 O'Melveny & Myers LLP 58.18
19 Morrison & Foerster LLP 56.77
20 Mayer Brown LLP 55.57
21 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP 55.51
22 Wiley Rein LLP 55.32
23 Jenner & Block LLP 54.76
24 Paul Hastings LLP 54.73
25 King & Spalding 53.88




Methodology

Back in July, we launched the ATL Law Firm Reputation Survey, asking those of you working in Biglaw to rate your peers and competitors. Included in these rankings were market-specific questions, inquiring about both the reputation of firms in each survey participant's city as well as each firm's desirability as a potential employer. In creating the survey, we limited our city-specific firm choices to offices with at least 50 lawyers. Our regional rankings include the following markets: Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Silicon Valley and Washington, DC.

Firms are rated on a scale with 100 possible points:

  • Market-specific reputation survey*
    “Strength and quality of practice”: 35%
    “Potential employer”: 15%
  • Leverage
    Ratio of equity partners to all other attorneys: 5%
  • Growth/decay
    % change in headcount since 2009: 5%
  • Percentage of women partners: 5%
  • “Homegrown” partners
    Likelihood of incoming associates making equity partner: 5%*
  • Insider satisfaction
    ATL Insider Survey: 5%**
  • Compensation rating: 25%***

As with the Power 100, we are making value judgments in choosing and assigning weight to these metrics. For example, we are rewarding firms for maintaining low leverage, or for offering a relatively better chance for incoming associates to eventually ascend to partnership. Also, to be sure, law firms are not homogenous in their approaches to partnership tracks or compensation structures or other aspects that we have sought to measure here, but we have done our best to account for these differences and create a formula that allows for meaningful comparisons.

The perfect "ATL score" is 100. Each firm is awarded a maximum number of points based on the weight of each metric (a maximum of 25 points for highest compensation rating, 5 points for highest growth headcount, etc.). The points are awarded on a sliding scale from highest to lowest. (For certain categories, firms were placed into tiers and points were apportioned accordingly.) Those points add up to the total ATL score seen on the rankings table.



* Survey conducted in partnership with Kinney Recruiting.
** Data for the “homegrown” metric courtesy of Leopard Solutions.
*** Compensation rating accounts for the following 4 factors: first-year salary, recent track record for bonuses, profits per partner (as reported to Am Law), and survey data.





Questions about our rankings? Contact us at research@abovethelaw.com.




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