The Top Five General Corporate Law Firms

Broadly speaking, corporate or transactional lawyers advise companies on a variety of transactions—including M&A, financings, and securities—in compliance with federal and state laws and regulations. Corporate generalists work across these disciplines and can sometimes act as “outside general counsel.” What a corporate generalist focuses on can depend a lot on their location. In New York, the work leans toward finance and securities work, while in Washington, DC, it tends to be more regulatory. On the West Coast, corporate attorneys often deal with venture capital and the issues affecting emerging companies. While there are certain large firms that encourage their corporate attorneys to have a broad practice, many require them to specialize in only one area. Attorneys who wish to be corporate generalists often look to practice in smaller firms or in smaller, regional offices of large firms where specialization is not required. Corporate generalists often have the most in-house opportunities because they have touched on so many areas.

The five top-ranked General Corporate law firms based on Vault’s 2024 General Corporate Practice prestige rankings are Cravath; Kirkland & Ellis; Wachtell; Skadden; and Latham. Below are a few relevant highlights about each of these firms.

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

Ranked at #1 in Vault’s 2024 General Corporate Practice prestige rankings, Cravath is, rather famously, the most prestigious firm in the country at #1 in the overall Vault Law 100. It is also the most prestigious firm for Banking & Financial Services, the most prestigious firm in New York, and the firm with the #45 best overall Summer Associate Program. They employ over 250 attorneys out of just two U.S. and a single international office. Associates describe the culture as extremely professional and collegial, and the firm balances extremely high work hours with a lot of flexibility as to when and where work is done. Partnership odds are statistically very slim here, but exit opportunities from the country's most prestigious firm are unsurprisingly unparalleled.

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirkland & Ellis operates 11 U.S. and seven international offices, and employs over 3,500 attorneys. In addition to being the #2 General Corporate law firm, Kirkland & Ellis is #7 in the overall Vault Law 100, the top firm in Bankruptcy/Restructuring, Private Equity, and Products Liability, and the top firm in both Chicago and the broader Midwest. Associates here describe the culture as upbeat and energizing, with no formal billable hour requirement but generally long working hours. Partnership here is realistic and transparent, but quite difficult. Exit opportunities are very strong.

Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

Wachtell sits at #3 in both the 2024 Vault 100 and our General Corporate Practice prestige rankings, and commands this level of prestige out of a single New York office. This firm has the distinction of being the top-ranked firm for associate compensation, as well as being the most prestigious M&A firm in the country. Wachtell also cracks the top five in Securities Litigation and Private Equity. Much like Cravath, although the firm has no billable hour requirement, associates tend to work far in excess of any threshold the firm might set. Career prospects within this firm are good, with counsel and partner roles reportedly achievable.

Skadden

Skadden sits at #4 in our General Corporate Practice prestige rankings, and is also #3 in the overall Vault Law 100. Apart from their General Corporate practice, they are the country's top firm for Securities Litigation & Tax. The firm employs over 1,500 attorneys out of eight U.S. and 13 international offices. Associates describe the culture as professional and polite. The firm has an achievable billable hour requirement of 1,800, and there is an expectation of three in-office days per week (Tuesday-Thursday). Partnership is not generally realistic, but viable long-term counsel roles are, and exit opportunities are very strong.

Latham & Watkins

Ranked at #5 in Vault’s 2024 General Corporate Practice prestige rankings, Latham is #4 in the overall Vault Law 100, the #23 best overall law firm to work for, and the best law firm in Southern California. They employ over 3,000 attorneys out of 12 U.S. and 18 international offices. Associates describe the culture as friendly and ambitious, and the firm has a standard billable hour requirement of 1,900. Partnership is realistic with a transparent but difficult path, and exit opportunities are very strong.

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If you know you want to be a corporate lawyer, there are a HUGE number of opportunities available to you, and many outside these top five that are nonetheless highly prestigious. There is obviously close to 1:1 overlap between the country's best General Corproate law firms and the most prestigious firms overall, and a lot of these firms also rank amongst our Best Law Firms to Work For. If you have the pedigree to get offers from these firms and are sure that you don't want to do litigation, any one of these five firms should be of significant interest to you. We encourage you to check out their Vault Law profiles, as well as those of all of the other firms ranked in this category, to help yourself differentiate on metrics other than prestige, as all of these firms are highly prestigious and look stellar on any resume.

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