Cravath Continues to Be Leader in Vault’s 2018 List of Top Law Firms

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Summary: The much-anticipated results from Vault’s associate survey have been released with Cravath, Swaine & Moore still leading the pack.

The results are in. Vault’s annual survey of associates has come back with Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP once again on top for the second year. The law firm narrowly knocked off Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz’s last year from their 13-year reign. This year the gap between the two widened even more.

  

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Cravath has been referred to as the “leader of the pack” and a “great American law firm against which all others should be judged” by those who took the survey. Vault Senior Law Editor Matt Moody said, “After just edging out Wachtell last year, Cravath really solidified its top spot this year. Cravath invented the business model upon which nearly all large law firms are organized. And associates clearly haven’t forgotten that the firm is responsible for industry-wide associate raises last year.”

The survey asks roughly 18,000 law firm associates on a scale of 1 to 10, which law firm is the most prestigious. Associates are not allowed to rank their own firm and only supposed to rate law firms that they are familiar with. The survey also invited associates to rate the local prestige of firms in their area as well as to select the best firms in their specific practice area. Using this data they are able to make 26 practice area prestige ranking and 13 regional prestige rankings. They added two new practice areas to their rankings – Emerging Companies & Venture Capital and Health Care.

There were five new firms to make it to the top 100 this year. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton; Kasowitz Benson Torres; Troutman Sanders; Davis Wright Tremaine; and Ballard Spahr were not in the top 100 last year but were able to slip in this year. The firms that dropped off the last were Bracewell; Keker & Van Nest; and Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler. Two other spots were opened up when Arnold & Porter merged with Kaye Scholer and Norton Rose Fulbright with Chadbourne & Parke.

 

1. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
2. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
3. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
4. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
5. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP
6. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
7. Latham & Watkins LLP
8. Kirkland & Ellis LLP
9. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
10. Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
11. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
12. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP
13. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LP
14. Sidley Austin LLP
15. Jones Day
16. Covington & Burling LLP
17. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
18. White & Case LLP
19. Williams & Connolly LLP
20. Boies, Schiller & Flexner LLP
21. Ropes & Gray LLP
22. Paul Hastings LLP
23. WilmerHale
24. Morrison & Foerster LLP
25. O’Melveny & Myers LLP
26. Hogan Lovells LLP
27. Proskauer Rose LLP
28. Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP
29. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
30. Baker McKenzie
31. Mayer Brown LLP
32. Cooley LLP
33. Clifford Chance US LLP
34. K&L Gates LLP
35. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
36. Linklaters LLP (US)
37. DLA Piper
38. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
39. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
40. Shearman & Sterling LLP
41. Allen & Overy LLP
42. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
43. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
44. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
45. Baker Botts LLP
46. King & Spalding
47. Winston & Strawn LLP
48. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP
49. Goodwin
50. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
51. Dechert LLP
52. Greenberg Traurig LLP
53. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
54. Perkins Coie LLP
55. Jenner & Block LLP
56. Alston & Bird LLP
57. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP
58. McDermott Will & Emery LLP
59. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP
60. Irell & Manella LLP
61. Vinson & Elkins LLP
62. Reed Smith LLP
63. Susman Godfrey LLP
64. Holland & Knight LLP
65. Dentons
66. Baker & Hostetler LLP
67. Nixon Peabody LLP
68. Norton Rose Fulbright
69. Crowell & Moring LLP
70. Squire Patton Boggs
71. Fish & Richardson P.C.
72. Steptoe & Johnson LLP
73. Bryan Cave LLP
74. Venable LLP
75. Foley & Lardner LLP
76. Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
77. McGuireWoods LLP
78. Locke Lord LLP
79. Fenwick & West LLP
80. Arent Fox LLP
81. Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP
82. Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP
83. Hunton & Williams LLP
84. Seyfarth Shaw LLP
85. Pepper Hamilton LLP
86. Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP
87. Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
88. Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick PLLC
89. Haynes & Boone, LLP
90. Fox Rothschild LLP
91. Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
92. Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
93. Blank Rome LLP
94. Duane Morris LLP
95. Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
96. Troutman Sanders LLP
97. Littler Mendelson P.C.
98. Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
99. Kasowitz Benson Torres LLP
100. Ballard Spahr LLP

Are you surprised by any of the results? Tell us in the comments below.

To learn more about Cravath, Swaine & Moore, read these articles:

• Firms Follow Cravath’s $180,000 Base Pay Scale
• “Cravath Effect” Takes Place with Several Firms Upping Salary Rates
• Law Firms Across the Globe Match Cravath Bonuses

Photo: lawlytics.com