Above the Law’s Outside Counsel Rankings: Who You Gonna Call?

Which firms do in-house counsel call on most often for routine legal work? Who do they turn to when their company can’t afford to lose?

Every year since 2018, Above the Law has published a list of the top law firms in the country, based on the insights of those who know best — the in-house attorneys who hire them.

We survey in-house counsel about their outside law firms, asking them which firms they rely on most and for what kind of work.

ATL’s Outside Counsel Rankings are based not on deal volume, partner profits, or size, but on the aspect most fundamental to a law firm’s business — what their clients think of them.

Methodology

Between December 2023 and July 2024, we reached out to corporate counsel and in-house attorneys at organizations across the country for their insights. Approximately 550 in-house lawyers shared 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.

In addition to the overall ranking of top outside counsel, we have compiled separate lists of the top-rated law firms based on the industries and types of organizations in which in-house attorneys work.

Outside Counsel:
Top Tier Firms

  • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
  • Cooley
  • Covington & Burling
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore
  • Davis Polk & Wardwell
  • Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
  • Goodwin Procter
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Mayer Brown
  • McGuireWoods
  • O’Melveny & Myers
  • Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
  • Perkins Coie
  • Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
  • Ropes & Gray
  • Sidley Austin
  • Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
  • Sullivan & Cromwell
  • Willkie Farr & Gallagher
  • WilmerHale
  • Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
  • Winston & Strawn

Outside Counsel:
Second Tier Firms

  • Akerman
  • Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
  • Alston & Bird
  • Arnold & Porter
  • Baker & Hostetler
  • Baker & McKenzie
  • Baker Botts
  • Ballard Spahr
  • Barnes & Thornburg
  • Blank Rome
  • Cozen O’Connor
  • Davis Wright Tremaine
  • Dechert
  • Dentons
  • Dinsmore & Shohl
  • DLA Piper
  • Duane Morris
  • Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
  • Fenwick & West
  • Foley & Lardner
  • Fragomen, Del Rey, Bernsen & Loewy
  • Greenberg Traurig
  • Hogan Lovells
  • Holland & Knight
  • Hunton Andrews Kurth
  • Husch Blackwell
  • Jackson Lewis
  • Jones Day
  • K&L Gates
  • King & Spalding
  • Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith
  • Littler Mendelson
  • Locke Lord
  • Loeb & Loeb
  • McDermott Will & Emery
  • Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  • Morrison & Foerster
  • Norton Rose Fulbright
  • Ogletree Deakins
  • Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
  • Paul Hastings
  • Polsinelli
  • Proskauer Rose
  • Reed Smith
  • Seyfarth Shaw
  • Sheppard Mullin
  • Squire Patton Boggs
  • Troutman Pepper
  • Venable
  • Womble Bond Dickinson

Top Outside Counsel by
Industry

Finance/Banking

  • Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
  • Cooley
  • Covington & Burling
  • Davis Polk & Wardwell
  • Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
  • Goodwin Procter
  • K&L Gates
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
  • Ropes & Gray
  • Sidley Austin
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
  • Sullivan & Cromwell

Healthcare / Life Sciences

  • Baker & McKenzie
  • Cooley
  • Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
  • Holland & Knight
  • King & Spalding
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Polsinelli
  • Ropes & Gray
  • WilmerHale
  • Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Technology

  • Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
  • Arnold & Porter
  • Baker & McKenzie
  • Covington & Burling
  • Fenwick & West
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith
  • Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  • Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe
  • Perkins Coie

Media & Entertainment

  • Davis Wright Tremaine
  • Dentons
  • Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Loeb & Loeb

Top Outside Counsel by
Organization

Fortune 500 Companies

  • Covington & Burling
  • Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Jones Day
  • Sidley Austin
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

Large Private Companies

  • Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
  • King & Spalding
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Ropes & Gray

Nonprofit Institutions

  • Baker & McKenzie
  • Dentons
  • K&L Gates
  • Norton Rose Fulbright
  • WilmerHale

Questions about our rankings?

Contact us at [email protected].