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, Above the Law publishes 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.

For the sixth year, we partnered with our friends at Lake Whillans to 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

From late February through May 2023, we reached out to corporate counsel and in-house attorneys at thousands of companies across the country for their insights. Approximately 600 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:

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 76 firms* with the highest mean ratings based on this scale. Only firms with a minimum threshold number of ratings were eligible for inclusion.

* Note that because of tied scores the Second Tier includes 51 firms rather than 50.

Litigation Finance: An Integral Feature of the Legal Ecosystem

Over the course of the last decade or so, litigation finance has undergone a transformation from a relatively little-known resource, used mostly by small companies and firms, into an integral feature of the legal ecosystem, with benefits for firms and organizations of all sizes.

In surveys conducted over the years by Above the Law in partnership with Lake Whillans, feedback from law firm litigators and in-house attorneys has confirmed the increasingly wide acceptance of third-party funding as a valuable means for mitigating risk, funding expenses, and reducing pressure on a company’s legal budget.

“More clients are aware of it and interested in it,” one attorney told us this year. Another explained, “The cost and uncertainty has continued to rise exponentially and litigation financing manages the risk and shares the costs.”

Read more »

Presented by

Outside Counsel:
Top Tier Firms

  • Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer
  • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
  • Covington & Burling
  • Cravath, Swaine & Moore
  • Davis Polk & Wardwell
  • Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
  • Jones Day
  • King & Spalding
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Norton Rose Fulbright
  • O’Melveny & Myers
  • Paul Hastings
  • Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
  • Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman
  • Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
  • Ropes & Gray
  • Shearman & Sterling
  • Sidley Austin
  • Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
  • Sullivan & Cromwell
  • Vinson & Elkins
  • Willkie Farr & Gallagher

Outside Counsel:
Second Tier Firms

  • Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld
  • Alston & Bird
  • ArentFox Schiff
  • Baker & Hostetler
  • Baker & McKenzie
  • Baker Botts
  • Baker Donelson
  • Ballard Spahr
  • Barnes & Thornburg
  • Blank Rome
  • Cooley
  • Cozen O’Connor
  • Crowell & Moring
  • Davis Wright Tremaine
  • Dechert
  • Dentons
  • DLA Piper
  • Dorsey & Whitney
  • Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
  • Fisher Phillips
  • Foley & Lardner
  • Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
  • Goodwin Procter
  • Gordon & Rees
  • Greenberg Traurig
  • Haynes and Boone
  • Hogan Lovells
  • Holland & Knight
  • Husch Blackwell
  • Jackson Lewis
  • K&L Gates
  • Littler Mendelson
  • Mayer Brown
  • McDermott Will & Emery
  • Morgan, Lewis & Bockius
  • Morrison & Foerster
  • Munger Tolles & Olson
  • Nixon Peabody
  • Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart
  • Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
  • Perkins Coie
  • Polsinelli
  • Proskauer Rose
  • Quarles & Brady
  • Reed Smith
  • Seyfarth Shaw
  • Sheppard Mullin
  • Venable
  • WilmerHale
  • Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
  • Winston & Strawn

Top Outside Counsel by
Industry

Finance/Banking

  • Davis Polk & Wardwell
  • Debevoise & Plimpton
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Ropes & Gray
  • Shearman & Sterling
  • Sidley Austin
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
  • Sullivan & Cromwell
  • Willkie Farr & Gallagher

 


Healthcare/Life Sciences

  • Cooley
  • Covington & Burling
  • Jones Day
  • Kirkland & Ellis
  • Latham & Watkins
  • McDermott Will & Emery
  • Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
  • Ropes & Gray
  • Sidley Austin
  • Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

 


Technology

  • Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton
  • Davis Polk & Wardwell
  • Debevoise & Plimpton
  • DLA Piper
  • Latham & Watkins
  • Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
  • Perkins Coie
  • Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan
  • Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
  • Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

 


Manufacturing

  • Baker & McKenzie
  • Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath
  • Jackson Lewis
  • Jones Day
  • Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman

 


Media & Entertainment

  • DLA Piper
  • Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
  • Hogan Lovells
  • Munger Tolles & Olson
  • Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan

 


Real Estate

  • Akerman
  • DLA Piper
  • Gibson Dunn & Crutcher
  • Greenberg Traurig
  • Jones Day
  • Reed Smith

 


Questions about our rankings?

Contact us at research@abovethelaw.com.