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Best Law Firms by Region

Published: Oct 08, 2018

 Law       
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Sometimes, choosing a law firm hinges on its location—whether for industry focus, particular career goals, family, or other personal reasons, you may be committed to a specific location. When searching for a law firm, it is important to understand the leaders in your market as at least one factor in your decision-making process.

Last week, we shared Vault’s 2019 Best Law Firms in New York City. In addition to the Big Apple, Vault’s Annual Associate survey covers a dozen other regions across the U.S. We asked associates to rate the reputations of peer firms in the region where they work. Associates could only rate the firms in their specific region for these rankings.

This year’s regional rankings included the following locations: Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Miami; the Mid-Atlantic; the Midwest; Mountain States; New York City; Northern California; the Pacific Northwest; Southern California; Texas; and Washington, DC.

Some interesting shifts in the 2019 regional rankings include:

  • Gibson Dunn moved from No. 2 to No. 1 in Southern California. The firm dethroned Latham, although the lead was narrow: .048 points.
  • Perkins Coie claimed the top spot in the Mountain States, up from No. 4 last year. The firm maintained its No. 1 spot in the Pacific Northwest and also bounded into a new ranking, claiming the No. 20 spot in Southern California.
  • A number of regions saw firms break in to the Top 10: Greenberg Traurig moved from No. 11 to No. 10 in Atlanta; Cooley moved from No. 13 to No. 10 in Boston; Morgan Lewis clinched the No. 10 spot in Miami, up from No. 14 the previous year; Snell & Wilmer leaped from No. 12 to No. 8 in the Mountain States; Skadden jumped from No. 11 to No. 9 in Northern California; and Miller Nash Graham & Dunn hopped forward from No. 12 to No. 10 in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Five was a lucky number for numerous firms. Weil launched into Miami’s Top 5 from its prior position at No. 7. Similarly, Greenberg Traurig moved from No. 7 to No. 5 in the Mountain States. Reed Smith claimed the No. 5 spot in the Mid-Atlantic, Foley & Lardner snagged the No. 5 spot in the Midwest, and Quinn Emanuel settled in at No. 5 in Southern California—all three firms inching up from their 2018 rankings of No. 6 in their respective regions.
  • One of the biggest jumps in the regional rankings was Ice Miller’s catapult from No. 18 to No. 9 in the Midwest.
  • Interestingly, the No. 1 firms in every region except Southern California and the Mountain States remained the same this year.

Below are the Top 10 firms in each region in Vault’s 2019 Best Law Firms by Region (aside from New York City). You can see the full 2019 law firm regional rankings here.

Atlanta
#1 King & Spalding
#2 Alston & Bird LLP
#3 Jones Day
#4 Bondurant Mixson & Elmore LLP
#5 Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP
#6 Troutman Sanders LLP
#7 Paul Hastings LLP
#8 Eversheds Sutherland (US) LLP
#9 Arnall Golden Gregory LLP
#10 Greenberg Traurig, LLP

Boston
#1 Ropes & Gray LLP
#2 WilmerHale
#3 Goodwin
#4 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
#5 Choate Hall & Stewart LLP
#6 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.
#7 Foley Hoag LLP
#8 Latham & Watkins LLP
#9 Proskauer Rose LLP
#10 Cooley LLP

Chicago
#1 Kirkland & Ellis LLP
#2 Sidley Austin LLP
#3 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
#4 Latham & Watkins LLP
#5 Jenner & Block LLP
#6 Mayer Brown LLP
#7 Winston & Strawn LLP
#8 Jones Day
#9 McDermott Will & Emery LLP
#10 Baker McKenzie

Miami
#1 White & Case LLP
#2 Greenberg Traurig, LLP
#3 Holland & Knight LLP
#4 Jones Day
#5 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
#6 Akerman LLP
#7 McDermott Will & Emery LLP
#8 Hogan Lovells
#9 DLA Piper
#10 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Mid-Atlantic
#1 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
#2 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
#3 Dechert LLP
#4 Jones Day
#5 Reed Smith LLP
#6 K&L Gates LLP
#7 Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP
#8 Duane Morris LLP
#9 Hogan Lovells
#10 Pepper Hamilton LLP

Midwest
#1 Jones Day
#2 Baker & Hostetler LLP
#3 Squire Patton Boggs
#4 Faegre Baker Daniels LLP
#5 Foley & Lardner LLP
#6 Dentons
#7 Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP
#8 Dorsey & Whitney LLP
#9 Ice Miller LLP
#10 Barnes & Thornburg LLP

Mountain States
#1 Perkins Coie LLP
#2 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
#3 Hogan Lovells
#4 Holland & Hart LLP
#5 Greenberg Traurig LLP
#6 Cooley LLP
#7 Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP
#8 Snell & Wilmer L.L.P.
#9 Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP
#10 DLA Piper

Northern California
#1 Morrison & Foerster LLP
#2 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
#3 Cooley LLP
#4 Fenwick & West LLP
#5 Latham & Watkins LLP
#6 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
#7 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
#8 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
#9 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
#10 Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Pacific Northwest
#1 Perkins Coie LLP
#2 Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
#3 K&L Gates LLP
#4 Stoel Rives LLP
#5 Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati
#6 Cooley LLP
#7 DLA Piper
#8 Fenwick & West LLP
#9 Foster Pepper PLLC
#10 Miller Nash Graham & Dunn LLP

Southern California
#1 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
#2 Latham & Watkins LLP
#3 Munger, Tolles & Olsen LLP
#4 O’Melveny & Myers LLP
#5 Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP
#6 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
#7 Irell & Manella LLP
#8 Kirkland & Ellis LLP
#9 Paul Hastings LLP
#10 Morrison & Foerster LLP

Texas
#1 Vinson & Elkins LLP
#2 Baker Botts LLP
#3 Latham & Watkins LLP
#4 Susman Godfrey LLP
#5 Kirkland & Ellis LLP
#6 Norton Rose Fulbright
#7 Jones Day
#8 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
#9 Sidley Austin LLP
#10 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

Washington, DC
#1 Covington & Burling LLP
#2 Williams & Connolly LLP
#3 WilmerHale
#4 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
#5 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates
#6 Latham & Watkins LLP
#7 Hogan Lovells
#8 Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP
#9 Jones Day
#10 Kirkland & Ellis LLP

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