Choosing a Pacific Northwest Law Firm

The Pacific Northwest, famous for the ocean, the beautiful forests, and the rain, has many excellent legal markets to work in (Portland and Seattle spring immediately to mind, among others). Our Pacific Northwest rankings cover a huge range of cities, firms, and practices. This article compares the top five Pacific Northwest-headquartered firms from the 2024 Pacific Northwest regional prestige rankings. For more Pacific Northwest options, you can review Vault’s Pacific Northwest prestige rankings and the Vault profiles of any firms you’re interested in.

The five top-ranked Pacific Northwest-based firms based on Vault’s 2024 regional prestige rankings are Perkins Coie; Davis Wright Tremaine; Stoel Rives; Lane Powell; and Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt. Below are a few relevant highlights about each of these firms.

Perkins Coie

The #1 firm in the Pacific Northwest and #31 in the overall Vault Law 100, Perkins Coie operates 17 U.S. and three international offices, including its Seattle headquarters. The firm is in the top ten in four of our Practice Area prestige rankings, the highest being #3 for Privacy & Data Security. The firm employs over 1,000 attorneys and has a good reputation as a full-service business firm with a variety of practice areas. They are known for their work with many different industries, including aerospace and transportation, energy and natural resources, financial services and investments, life sciences and healthcare, retail and consumer products, and technology and communications.

Davis Wright Tremaine

Davis Wright Tremaine holds the #2 spot in Vault’s Pacific Northwest prestige rankings this year, as well as coming in at #79 in the overall Vault Law 100. They are also the country's #3 firm for Media, Entertainment, & Sports. Davis Wright Tremaine operates out of 11 U.S. offices, employing over 500 attorneys. Headquartered in Seattle, and now a Pacific Northwest powerhouse, the firm's famous clients include Spotify, Meta, Paramount, Apple, Netflix, and Comcast, and it is also well known for its First Amendment litigation.

Stoel Rives

Landing at #5 in Vault’s 2024 Pacific Northwest prestige rankings, Stoel Rives also sports a prestigious Environmental Law practice, claiming the #6 spot in our rankings for that practice area. Stoel Rives employs over 250 attorneys out of ten U.S. offices, including their Portland headquarters. The firm is regionally famous for its regulatory and compliance work, as well as its work in corporate law, labor and employment law, land use law, and intellectual property law. They also have the distinction of being Oregon's largest law firm.

Lane Powell

Ranked at #9 in Vault’s 2024 Pacific Northwest prestige rankings, Lane Powell employs over 150 attorneys operating out of three U.S. offices, including its Anchorage headquarters. The firm handles a variety of legal issues, including corporate finance, intellectual property, regulation and taxation, real estate, labor relations, and commercial litigation. They were also early in establishing a dedicated cannabis law practice.

Schwabe Williamson Wyatt

Schwabe, Williamson & Wyatt sits at #11 in our Pacific Northwest prestige rankings. The firm employs over 150 attorneys in its eight U.S. offices, including its Anchorage headquarters. The firm is known for its work in the health care and life sciences, manufacturing, distribution, and retail, natural resources, real estate and construction, technology, and transportation, ports, and maritime industries. It is known for its work in environmental law, health care, and intellectual property.

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The Pacific Northwest is home to some famous, prestigious firms. Just about every practice area is available to jobseekers in these markets, and there is significant emphasis on environmental issues here if that's your desired niche. If you want to do media work but California and New York don't appeal to you, it couldn't hurt to look at DWT. You can learn more about all these firms (and many others) through Vault’s law firm profiles and the firms’ websites. Remember: Think hard about your priorities, because no one firm is best at everything.

Best of luck from all of us at Vault Law on your legal job search!