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&lt;p&gt;BigLaw litigation associates and corporate general counsel (mostly) agree on which firms have the alpha dog litigators.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Recently, the BTI Consulting Group released its 2011 Litigation Outlook report.  The report, based on a survey of in-house counsel, charts trends in law firm spending, management and hiring criteria.&amp;nbsp; Counsel were also surveyed about which firms they feel are the most formidable litigation opponents. Kirkland &amp;amp; Ellis, Quinn Emanuel, Latham &amp;amp; Watkins, and Skadden were cited most often by survey respondents, leading BTI to dub them the &amp;ldquo;Fearsome Foursome.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These findings reinforce the Vault Law Practice Area Ranking&amp;mdash;and are a testament to the astute judgment of BigLaw associates. Litigation associates ranked Kirkland, Skadden, and Quinn as the top 3 in the &amp;ldquo;General Commercial Litigation&amp;rdquo; category (Latham&amp;mdash;despite, or because of, the firm&amp;rsquo;s transmogrification into a verb&amp;mdash;came in at #9).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here&amp;rsquo;s sample of how the Foursome were characterized by their peers in the 2010 Vault Associate Survey (i.e., the BUZZ):&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Kirkland &amp;amp; Ellis &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Shark tank, opaque management, great partners&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Collegial and very skilled litigators&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Randian.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Quinn Emanuel&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Will be the template from which future litigation firms are hewed.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Good lawyers, but need to get off the whole &amp;lsquo;we&#39;re the cool lawyers!&amp;rsquo; thing.  They&#39;re associates seem to drink the kool aid, though.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;CHECK YOU BLACKBERRIES&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Latham &amp;amp; Watkins &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Rapidly rebuilding their image.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;Kirkland for hippies&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Associates as peons is part of their business plan, but when things are good, it&#39;s gravy.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;b&gt;Skadden &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Something something something DARK SIDE.  Something something COMPLETE.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Nothing will stop the Skadden machine.&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;ldquo;Devil&#39;s advocates&amp;rdquo;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: right;&quot;&gt;-posted by brian&lt;br&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

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