Above the Law's Outside Counsel Rankings: Who You Gonna Call?
There are many ways to rate and rank law firms, from deal tables to diversity metrics to perceptions of prestige. But there is no more essential method of assessment — and none of greater import to law firms — than one based on clients’ actual experiences and opinions. And for Biglaw firms, the clients that truly matter are GCs and legal departments at America's top companies.
That’s why Above the Law has been surveying corporate counsel about their law firm choices for the last five years. Who do in-house counsel call when they need legal help? Who do they call when their company can’t afford to lose?
The Above the Law Outside Counsel Rankings are based exclusively on surveys of in-house counsel at top companies. Their opinions offer a true measure of law firm “prestige” — the kind that leads directly to business.
Methodology
Between February and May 2022, we reached out to corporate counsel and in-house attorneys at thousands of companies, ranging from small and medium-sized private companies to large public corporations. Ultimately, approximately 500 in-house lawyers shared with us their evaluations of their companies’ outside law firms.
Our survey was direct. We asked counsel two simple questions: 1) “Which law firms does your company engage for legal services?” and 2) “Please indicate the highest level legal work for which your company will engage the particular firm(s).” The levels of work were defined along a four-point scale:
- Cost-efficient, bulk tasks (1)
- Routine matters (2)
- High-value, complex matters (3)
- “Bet-the-company” matters (4)
Because of the blunt instrument nature of our question, the resultant ratings are inapt for the purposes of an ordinal ranking. Thus, our top tier and second tier lists include the 75 firms with the highest mean ratings based on this scale. Only firms with a minimum threshold number of ratings were eligible for inclusion.
Litigation Finance: A Valuable Tool For Firms And Their Clients
The ATL Outside Counsel Rankings highlight some of Biglaw’s most trusted and sought-after firms, based on the people who know best: their clients. Faced with the enormous challenge of aligning legal expenses with business objectives, these clients are increasingly turning to litigation finance as a tool for managing risk, funding expenses, and reducing pressure on a company’s legal budget.
The annual Lake Whillans/Above the Law litigation finance survey has tracked the development of this field over the last five years. The reports from in-house counsel and law firm attorneys show the extent to which litigation funding has become an established feature of the industry landscape.
Since 2019, a majority of the lawyers surveyed have reported firsthand experience with litigation finance, nearly all of whom have said they would turn to litigation funding again. And of those without direct experience, more than 80 percent said they would consider it.
Interestingly, law firms are more often the driving force behind the decision to seek litigation financing than the client’s legal department.
Who was the main driver of the decision to seek litigation financing?
Source: Lake Whillans 2022 survey of 250 in-house and law firm attorneys
Outside Counsel:
Top Tier Firms
- Baker Botts
- Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Debevoise & Plimpton
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Goodwin Procter
- Hogan Lovells
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Latham & Watkins
- O'Melveny & Myers
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
- Ropes & Gray
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges
- Williams & Connolly
- WilmerHale
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Outside Counsel:
Second Tier Firms
- Akerman
- Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
- Alston & Bird
- Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
- Baker & Hostetler
- Baker & McKenzie
- Baker Donelson
- Ballard Spahr
- Barnes & Thornburg
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
- Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft
- Clifford Chance
- Cozen O'Connor
- Davis Wright Tremaine
- Dentons
- DLA Piper
- Dorsey & Whitney
- Duane Morris
- Foley & Lardner
- Greenberg Traurig
- Haynes and Boone
- Holland & Knight
- Hunton Andrews Kurth
- Husch Blackwell
- Jackson Lewis
- Jones Day
- K&L Gates
- King & Spalding
- Mayer Brown
- McDermott Will & Emery
- McGuireWoods
- Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
- Morrison & Foerster
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
- Paul Hastings
- Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
- Polsinelli
- Reed Smith
- Seyfarth Shaw
- Shearman & Sterling
- Sidley Austin
- Squire Patton Boggs
- Steptoe & Johnson
- Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders
- Venable
- Vinson & Elkins
- White & Case
- Winston & Strawn
Top Outside Counsel by
Industry
Technology
- Cooley
- DLA Piper
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Goodwin Procter
- Latham & Watkins
- Morrison & Foerster
- Perkins Coie
- Ropes & Gray
- WilmerHale
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Health Care / Life Sciences
- Cooley
- Covington & Burling
- Goodwin Procter
- Hogan Lovells
- King & Spalding
- Latham & Watkins
- McDermott Will & Emery
- Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
- Perkins Coie
- Ropes & Gray
- Sidley Austin
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Finance
- Covington & Burling
- Cravath, Swaine & Moore
- Davis Polk & Wardwell
- Debevoise & Plimpton
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
- Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
- Sullivan & Cromwell
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
Energy
- Baker Botts
- Hunton Andrews Kurth
- Latham & Watkins
- Norton Rose Fulbright
- Reed Smith
- Vinson & Elkins
Consumer Products
- Baker & McKenzie
- DLA Piper
- Greenberg Traurig
- Hogan Lovells
- Jones Day
Real Estate
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
- Greenberg Traurig
- Kirkland & Ellis
- Perkins Coie
Questions about our rankings?
Contact us at research@abovethelaw.com.
