Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (2024)

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Vault’s national ranking of the most prestigious law firms based on the assessments of lawyers at peer firms. This year, more than 20,000 associates rated the reputations of firms other than their own.Vault's 2025 Rankings are derived from Vault's Annual Associate Survey conducted fromJanuary2024 through March 2024.

Survey Methodology

How does Vault come up with its list of the Top 100 firms in the country? The first step is to compile a list of the most renowned law firms by reviewing the feedback we receive from previous surveys, consulting our previous lists, poring over legal publications, talking to lawyers in the field, and checking out other published rankings. We then asked these top firms to distribute a password-protected online survey to their associates. This year,more than 20,000 associates from all over the country returned anonymous surveys to Vault. We heard from lawyers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Orlando, Palo Alto, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Seattle—among many other locations. The online survey asked attorneys to score each of the law firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how prestigious it is to work for the firm. Associates were asked to ignore any firm with which they were unfamiliar and were not allowed to rate their own firms.

We collected all the surveys and averaged the score for each firm. The firms were then ranked in order, starting with the highest average prestige score as No. 1 on down to determine the Vault Law 100. Remember that in the Top 100, Vault is not assessing firms by profit, size, lifestyle, number of deals, or quality of service; we are ranking the most prestigious law firms based on the perceptions of practicing lawyers at peer firms.

Vault's 2025 Rankings are derived from Vault's Annual Associate Survey conducted fromJanuary 2024 through March 2024.

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Each year Vault invites eligible law firms to participate in our annual Law Survey. Please contact us if you’re interested in having your firm considered for inclusion.

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2025 Vault Law 100

#1

SCORE 9.052

2024 Rank 1

With two centuries under its belt, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms. Cravath has settled on a lean-and-mean approach to world dominance with three strategically placed offices in New York, London, and...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (2)

#2

SCORE 8.788

2024 Rank 2

Each year, a significant chunk of the world’s dealmaking—major mergers and acquisitions, antitrust and shareholder litigation, big-name restructurings, and multi-billion-dollar real estate ventures—gets cranked through the well-oiled machine...

Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (3)

#3

SCORE 8.600

2024 Rank 3

Skadden

Skadden is one of the most profitable and well-known law firms in the world. It was the first law firm to report $1 billion in annual revenue, now an industry brass ring. While the firm may be best known for its M&A prowess, it is an...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (4)

#4

SCORE 8.343

2024 Rank 4

Latham is one of the world’s largest law firms. With more than 3,000 attorneys in 30 offices around the world, Latham practices in all the major jurisdictions in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, and regularly represents...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (5)

#5

SCORE 8.216

2024 Rank 5

A BigLaw powerhouse, Sullivan & Cromwell has followed—if not created—the blueprint for legal success: It has grown internationally and in response to the increasing cross-border M&A, restructuring, and finance transactional demands of...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (6)

#6

SCORE 8.149

2024 Rank 7

Kirkland & Ellis, one of the world’s most elite law firms, is known for its corporate, intellectual property, litigation, M&A, private equity, and restructuring work. With more than 3,500 lawyers, the firm is regularly recognized as one...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (7)

#7

SCORE 8.116

2024 Rank 6

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP boasts one of the nation’s best and most comprehensive corporate departments, with impressive teams in capital markets, M&A, executive compensation, finance, financial institutions, restructuring, tax, and tech...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (8)

#8

SCORE 7.941

2024 Rank 9

Paul, Weiss

For almost 150 years, Paul, Weiss has been a leader in the legal industry and a mainstay in the New York City legal market. Today, the firm has more than 1,000 lawyers working across 10 global offices, and is known for representing some of the...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (9)

#9

SCORE 7.812

2024 Rank 8

Simpson Thacher

A Wall Street institution, Simpson Thacher houses elite teams in M&A, banking, capital markets, private equity, and litigation. With more than 1,000 lawyers across 11 global offices, Simpson Thacher has long held its spot among the most...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (10)

#10

SCORE 7.718

2024 Rank 10

Gibson Dunn

With more than 1,900 attorneys across 10 countries, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher is a force. Among the top firms in the country, Gibson Dunn is well-known for its litigation and trial work—especially its bustling Appellate Litigation and...

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (11)

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Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com (2024)

FAQs

Top Law Firm Rankings: Vault Law 100 | Vault.com? ›

Kirkland & Ellis

With $7,208,000,000 gross revenue in 2023, the firm placed 1st on The American Lawyer's 2024 Am Law 200 ranking. On the 2023 Global 200 survey, Kirkland & Ellis ranked as the 1st highest grossing law firm in the world. ...

What is the #1 law firm in the US? ›

Kirkland & Ellis

With $7,208,000,000 gross revenue in 2023, the firm placed 1st on The American Lawyer's 2024 Am Law 200 ranking. On the 2023 Global 200 survey, Kirkland & Ellis ranked as the 1st highest grossing law firm in the world. ...

What does am 100 law firm mean? ›

The Am Law 100 is the definitive ranking of the 100 largest law firms in the United States.

What is the most elite law firm in the world? ›

Top Law Firms by Prestige

Attorneys responded to the most recent survey between January and March 2023, and the results of the poll rank the following as the top five most prestigious firms in the world for 2024: Cravath, Swaine & Moore. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. Skadden.

What law firms do billionaires use? ›

Without further ado, here are the top 10 firms on the Super Rich list:
  • Wachtell.
  • Susman Godfrey.
  • Sullivan & Cromwell.
  • Cravath.
  • Kirkland & Ellis.
  • Ropes & Gray.
  • Paul Weiss.
  • Skadden.
Apr 22, 2024

What law firm does Trump use? ›

Trump's entities paid Habba Madaio & Associates more than $4 million in 2023, the records show. Alina Habba, the firm's managing partner, represents Trump in multiple of his cases and also serves as the former president's legal spokesperson.

What is the most powerful law firm? ›

Key Takeaways
  • Revenues for the top three firms—Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and DLA Piper—each exceeded $3 billion for the 2020 fiscal year.
  • Kirkland & Ellis came out on top with $6.51 billion in revenue while Gibson Dunn rounded out the list at number ten with $2.73 billion.
Oct 19, 2023

What is vault law? ›

Vault Law has you covered, with detailed law firm profiles for hundreds of top law firms. With critical stats and firsthand information, our profiles give you the scoop on everything you need to know about a firm and what it's really like to work there.

What is the world's strongest law firm brand? ›

Kirkland & Ellis retains its dominance as the strongest Big Law firm brand and increasingly looks unassailable in its no. 1 positioning. The headline story is the top ten takeover by a group of super-profitable US-headquartered and increasingly global firms displacing the UK-headquartered global firms.

What is the highest rank in a law firm? ›

The managing partner or shareholder is at the top of a law firm's hierarchy. As the senior-level lawyer of the firm, job duties include managing the day-to-day operations of the firm.

What type of lawyer makes the most money? ›

As of 2024, the top five highest paid types of lawyers are:
  • Patent Attorneys.
  • Intellectual property (IP) Attorneys.
  • Trial Lawyers.
  • Tax Attorneys.
  • Corporate Lawyers.
Feb 19, 2024

What is the highest paying law firm in the US? ›

  • #1. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP. SCORE 9.680. ...
  • #2. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz. SCORE 9.678. ...
  • #3. Boies Schiller Flexner LLP. SCORE 9.636. ...
  • #4. O'Melveny & Myers LLP. SCORE 9.626. ...
  • #5. Clifford Chance US LLP. SCORE 9.580. ...
  • #6. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP. SCORE 9.571. ...
  • #7. Proskauer Rose LLP. SCORE 9.544. ...
  • #8. McDermott Will & Emery. SCORE 9.541.

What lawyers does Elon Musk use? ›

Spiro has long been a top lawyer for Musk, representing him in court cases involving the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other matters. The case is Brody v. Musk, District Court of Travis County, No. D-1-GN-23-006883.

What is the richest type of law? ›

What Type of Lawyer Makes the Most Money? Patent lawyers, IP attorneys, and trial lawyers make the most money.

How rich are top lawyers? ›

The World's Richest and Most Influential Attorneys
  • Wichai Thongtang — $1.8 Billion. ...
  • Charlie Munger — $1.6 Billion. ...
  • Bill Neukom — $850 Million. ...
  • Judge Judy (Judith Sheindlin) — $440 Million. ...
  • Robert Shapiro — $120 Million. ...
  • Willie E. ...
  • John Branca — $100 Million. ...
  • Roy Black — $65 Million.
Jan 4, 2024

What was the first law firm in the United States? ›

As the nation's oldest law firm, established in 1783, Rawle & Henderson LLP remains committed to increasing its diversity.

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