Weil Trumpets 'Trifecta' in Vault 2012 Rankings, But Wachtell, Cravath and S&C are 1-2-3 in Prestige
As Vault’s 2012 law firm rankings hit the news today, chest-beating resounded in the BigLaw community.
Asked to say which law firms, excluding their own, are most prestigious, some 16,000 associates rounded up the usual suspects, listing the same seven New York-based legal partnerships as last year, in the same order: Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz; Cravath Swaine & Moore; Sullivan& Cromwell; Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Simpson Thacher & Bartlett; and Weil Gotshal & Manges.
For the full Vault list of the most prestigious firms, which includes a number of rankings changes after the first seven, click on this link.
However, as the Vault website itself notes, prestige isn’t everything, and Weil Gotshal proclaimed a “Vault Trifecta” that it said is unique among all of the ranked law firms this year:
“Weil is the only firm in the country to secure a top ten spot in three key categories: most prestigious, best law firm to work for and best law firm for diversity,” the legal partnership said in a press release.
A post on Vault’s Law Blog by Mary Kate Sheridan, who serves as Vault’s law editor, notes additional points of interest about the rankings.
Among them, Latham & Watkins, which plummeted from 10th place on the prestige list, in 2009, to 17th in 2010, following a mass layoff of 190 associates and 250 staff members in 2009, was back up to 15th place last year and is number 11 on the 2012 list.
