Quality of life is always an important consideration for employees. And for attorneys, who work in a profession infamous for its high stress and long hours, finding the right employer that relieves—or at least somewhat softens—these burdens can be a godsend.
To that end, Vault.com, which provides employer and university rankings, ratings and reconnaissance, yesterday released its 2013 Law Firm Quality of Life Rankings. The rankings assessed what firms offer the best overall work experience, including such factors as: firm culture, satisfaction, compensation, formal and informal training, hours and business outlook, office space, pro bono work and green initiatives, among others.
However, Vault’s rankings differ somewhat from others. To get its rankings data, Vault sends a survey to law firm associates asking them to rank their own firms on a list of factors. For the 2013 survey, Vault polled nearly 17,000 associates from across the country.
“Associates have unique insights into the strengths of practice areas at their peer firms,” Vault.com’s law editor Rachel Marx told InsideCounsel in June after Vault released its 2013 Practice Area Rankings. “They interact with other associates and partners at these firms while working on deals and cases, and this experience informs their opinion of which firms are the strongest in their practice area.”
From those responses, Vault calculated each firm's overall score using the following formula: 40 percent satisfaction; 10 percent hours; 10 percent pay; 10 percent associate/partner relations; 5 percent formal training; 5 percent informal training/mentoring; 5 percent pro bono; 5 percent diversity (overall); 10 percent business outlook.
Vault.com’s top 25 best law firms to work for are:
- Williams & Connolly LLP
- Ropes & Gray LLP
- Patton Boggs LLP
- Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz PC
- Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP
- Foley Hoag LLP
- Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
- Fish & Richardson P.C.
- Paul Hastings LLP
- Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP
- Morrison & Foerster LLP
- Alston & Bird LLP
- Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP
- Latham & Watkins LLP
- Fenwick & West LLP
- Jones Day
- Thompson & Knight LLP
- Carlton Fields
- O'Melveny & Myers LLP
- Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
- Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
- Debevoise & Plimpton LLP
- Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP
- Steptoe & Johnson LLP
- Hogan Lovells US LLP
To learn more about where firms ranked in a specific category, visit Vault’s website.
And for more from InsideCounsel on other recent law-related rankings, read:
Top law firms named by practice area
U.S. News & World Report names 2013 best law schools
