D.C. Metro Area's 100 Largest Law Offices

The Legal Times 100 is a snapshot of the region's legal market in 2001, offering a look at the largest law offices in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland as well as in the District of Columbia.
  Firm • Location Home Office Lawyers/Partners 2001 Lawyers/Partners 2000 Change in Number of Lawyers New Associates Expected 2001
1 Hogan & Hartson • Washington Washington, D.C. 450/201 439/138 2.50% 43
2 Arnold & Porter • Washington Washington, D.C. 400/157 335/145 19.40% 70
3 Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering • Washington Washington, D.C. 341/94 284/91 20.10% 54 to 58
4 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius • Washington Philadelphia 332/103 301/94 10.30% 30
5 Covington & Burling • Washington Washington, D.C. 330/118 317/116 4.10% 59
6 Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld • Washington Washington, D.C. 288/109 270/104 6.70% 30
7 Howrey Simon Arnold & White • Washington Washington, D.C. 270/114 266/111 1.50% 35
8 Shaw Pittman • Washington Washington, D.C. 269/112 294/119 -8.50% 27
9 Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn • Washington Washington, D.C. 259/122 246/124 5.30% 30 plus
10 Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky • Washington Washington, D.C. 253/91 250/93 1.20% 25
11 Patton Boggs • Washington Washington, D.C. 249/130 221/113 12.70% 35
12 Steptoe & Johnson • Washington Washington, D.C. 241/105 228/102 5.70% 26
13 Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman • Washington Washington, D.C. 233/62 220/57 5.90% 20
14 Crowell & Moring • Washington Washington, D.C. 215/91 233/81 -7.70% 30
15 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom • Washington New York 208/47 198/49 5.10% 40
16 McDermott, Will & Emery • Washington Chicago 203/122 181/111 12.20% 25
17 Wiley Rein & Fielding • Washington Washington, D.C. 202/93 195/87 3.60% 20 to 25
18 Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner • Washington Washington, D.C. 197/73 184/68 7.10% 30
19 Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue • Washington N/A 195/70 181/65 7.70% 23
20 Venable • Washington Baltimore 192/102 168/83 14.30% 22
21 Holland & Knight • Washington N/A 191/108 165/104 15.80% 10
22 Piper Marbury Rudnick & Wolfe • Washington N/A 184/73 182/72 1.10% 25
23 Williams & Connolly • Washington Washington, D.C. 178/82 174/78 2.30% 30
24 Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand • Washington Washington, D.C. 170/56 160/50 6.30% 8 to 10
25 Sidley Austin Brown & Wood (1) • Washington Chicago 169/74 137/66 23.40% 18
26 Latham & Watkins • Washington N/A 161/47 144/46 11.80% 25
27 Dow, Lohnes & Albertson • Washington Washington, D.C. 146/60 148/67 -1.40% 18
28 Foley & Lardner • Washington Milwaukee 139/72 92/46 51.10% 10
29 Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson • Washington New York 133/40 127/35* 4.70% 35
30 Sutherland Asbill & Brennan • Washington N/A 132/53 122/49 8.20% 10
30 Winston & Strawn • Washington Chicago 132/73 130/71 1.50% 19
32 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart • Washington Pittsburgh 123/48 124/47 -0.90% 12
33 Kirkland & Ellis • Washington Chicago 121/57 112/48 8% 20
34 Mayer, Brown & Platt • Washington Chicago 117/41 105/44 11.40% 3 to 4
35 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher • Washington Los Angeles 115/40 103/40 11.70% 25
35 Hunton & Williams • Washington Richmond 115/40 101/40 13.90% 10
37 Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy • Washington Atlanta 106/52 97/49 9.30% 10
38 O'Melveny & Myers • Washington Los Angeles 100/29 84/25 19% 15
39 McKenna & Cuneo • Washington Washington, D.C. 98/46 106/45 -7.50% 9
40 Collier Shannon Scott • Washington Washington, D.C. 97/34 104/38 -6.70% 4
41 King & Spalding • Washington Atlanta 92/32 95/32 -3.10% 13
41 Shaw Pittman • McLean Washington, D.C. 92/23 54/14 70.40% 7
43 Miller & Chevalier • Washington Washington, D.C. 91/44 96/51 -5.20% 11
44 Baker Botts • Washington Houston 87/46 59/24 47.50% 14
44 Dechert • Washington N/A 87/25 68/22 27.90% 19
46 Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells • Washington N/A 86/19 81/20 6.20% 15 to 20
47 Fulbright & Jaworski • Washington Houston 84/33 84/35 0% 6
47 Sughrue, Mion, Zinn, Macpeak & Seas • Washington Washington, D.C. 84/36 89/33 -5.60% 12 to 15
49 Cooley Godward • Reston Palo Alto, Calif. 83/19 52/11 59.60% N/A
50 Vinson & Elkins • Washington Houston 81/35 71/34 14.10% 10
51 Pillsbury Winthrop (2) • McLean San Francisco 80/26 N/A N/A 12
51 Reed Smith • Washington Pittsburgh 80/35 85/36 -5.90% 10
53 Baker & Hostetler • Washington Cleveland 79/44 81/42 -2.50% 7
54 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo • Washington Boston 77/29 73/26 5.50% 8
54 Oblon, Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt • Arlington Arlington, Va. 77/38 75/36 2.70% 5 to 7
56 Burns, Doane, Swecker & Mathis • Alexandria Alexandria, Va. 76/38 76/36 0% 15
56 Epstein Becker & Green • Washington New York 76/29** 80/28 -5% N/A
58 Morrison & Foerster • Washington San Francisco 75/21 76/23 -1.30% 10
58 Nixon Peabody • Washington N/A 75/46 78/43 -3.80% 3
60 Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton • Washington New York 74/19 68/19 8.80% 15
61 LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae • Washington New York 72/26 79/26 -8.90% 5
61 Shulman, Rogers, Gandal, Pordy & Ecker • Rockville Rockville, Md. 72/44 65/42 10.80% 5
61 Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox • Washington Washington, D.C. 72/14 65/16 10.80% 8 to 10
61 White & Case • Washington New York 72/19 70/21 2.90% 16
65 Squire, Sanders & Dempsey • Washington Cleveland 70/35 73/34 -4.10% 6
66 Shea & Gardner • Washington Washington, D.C. 68/31 62/32 9.70% 8
67 Baker & McKenzie • Washington Chicago 66/27 59/25 11.90% 6
68 Keller & Heckman • Washington Washington, D.C. 65/30 65/29 0% 12
69 Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker • Washington N/A 63/19 63/17 0% 5
70 Shearman & Sterling • Washington New York 62/15 48/12 29.20% 14
71 McGuireWoods • McLean Richmond 61/28 54/28* 13% 13
72 Ross, Dixon & Bell • Washington Washington, D.C. 59/28 60/25 -1.70% 10
72 Troutman Sanders • Washington Atlanta 59/10
73 Jenner & Block • Washington Chicago 58/28 60/29 -3.30% 11
74 Bryan Cave • Washington St. Louis 55/21 55/24 0% 5
74 Dewey Ballantine • Washington New York 55/18** 57/18 -3.50% N/A
74 Hale and Dorr • Washington Boston 55/19 49/25 12.20% 9
74 Hogan & Hartson • McLean Washington, D.C. 55/20 53/14 3.80% 6
74 Spriggs & Hollingsworth • Washington Washington, D.C. 55/30 56/29 -1.80% 2
74 Weil, Gotshal & Manges • Washington New York 55/19 50/19 10% 8
80 Preston Gates Ellis & Rouvelas Meeds • Washington Seattle 54/26 63/29 -14.30% 2
81 Beveridge & Diamond • Washington Washington, D.C. 53/23 54/25 -1.90% 8
81 Hunton & Williams • McLean Richmond 53/17 42/17 26.20% 6
81 Linowes & Blocher • Rockville Silver Spring, Md. 53/26 55/26 -3.60% 3
81 Willkie Farr & Gallagher • Washington New York 53/14 60/14 -11.70% 5
85 Kelley, Drye & Warren • Washington New York 52/13** 52/13 0% N/A
86 Reed Smith Hazel & Thomas • Falls Church Pittsburgh 51/28 50/28 2% 10
86 Van Ness Feldman • Washington Washington, D.C. 51/27 47/26 8.50% 5
88 Dyer Ellis & Joseph • Washington Washington, D.C. 50/26 46/24 8.70% 4
89 Chadbourne & Parke • Washington New York 48/13 43/13 11.60% 5
89 Seyfarth Shaw • Washington Chicago 48/25 47/24 2.10% 5 to 7
89 Venable • McLean Baltimore 48/26 31/N/A 54.80% 3
89 Watt, Tieder, Hoffar & Fitzgerald • McLean McLean, Va. 48/26 53/24 -9.40% 5
93 Cole, Raywid & Braverman • Washington Washington, D.C. 47/21 42/20 11.90% 2
94 Kenyon & Kenyon • Washington New York 46/5 46/6 0% 8
94 Manatt, Phelps & Phillips • Washington Los Angeles 46/24 42/28 9.50% 5
96 Arter & Hadden • Washington Cleveland 45/25 57/24 -21.10% 4
97 Banner & Witcoff • Washington Washington, D.C. 43/25 43/25 0% 7
97 Greenberg Traurig • Washington Miami 43/23 41/18 4.90% 5 to 7
97 Jackson & Campbell • Washington Washington, D.C. 43/23 45/27 -4.40% 5
97 Perkins Coie • Washington Seattle 43/18 37/18 16.20% 5
97 Schmeltzer, Aptaker & Shepard • Washington Washington, D.C. 43/16** 28**/N/A 53.60% N/A
 
Figures are as of April 1. Number of partners reflects equity and nonequity partners. Offices with an "N/A" for "Lawyers/Partners 2000" were not among the largest in 2000. Firms with an "N/A" for "Home Office" do not designate a headquarters. An asterisk reflects figures corrected and updated from the 2000 survey. Two asterisks denote that the figures came from the firm's Web site or the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Directory. (1) Sidley & Austin merged with Brown & Wood to form Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. The numbers reflect firm size after the merger in May. (2) Pillsbury Madison & Sutro merged with Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts to form Pillsbury Winthrop. Pillsbury's numbers reflect a July shift of a majority of lawyers from the D.C. office to Northern Virginia.
 
Behind the Numbers: Notes on the Methodology

The Legal Times 100 was compiled by the staff of Legal Times after polling more than 250 firms with offices in Washington, D.C., Northern Virginia, and suburban Maryland.

This special report aims to reveal which private law offices are the largest, how much they have changed in the last year, who are their rivals, and what are their track records on hiring and promoting women and minorities. It also attempts to gauge their plans for growth in the near future.

Firms were asked to provide information on an office-by-office basis. Thus, many firms with large D.C. offices as well as sizable satellite offices in Northern Virginia were asked to provide separate information for each office.

We calculated the number of lawyers at each office by totaling the number of equity and nonequity partners, associates, of counsel, and counsel. Contract attorneys were not included in the survey results.

MERGERS AND NEW NAMES

With a few exceptions, the figures in the survey are current as of April 1, 2001.

San Francisco-based Pillsbury Winthrop moved the bulk of its lawyers in the metro D.C. area from Washington to McLean, Va., in July. Given the magnitude of the move and the fact that information for Pillsbury Winthrop as of April 1 would have been obsolete, we have chosen to present more current numbers.

In January, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro merged with New York-based Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts to form Pillsbury Winthrop.

In May, Chicago's Sidley & Austin and New York-based Brown & Wood merged to form Sidley Austin Brown & Wood. The figures in the survey reflect the size of the D.C. office after the merger.

Mergers at other firms considerably changed these firms' rankings. In February 2001, Milwaukee-based Foley & Lardner merged with both Chicago's Hopkins & Sutter and D.C.'s Freedman, Levy, Kroll & Simonds. In January, Houston-based Baker Botts merged with D.C.'s Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin.

One firm simply shortened its name this year: Jorden Burt Boros Cicchetti Berenson & Johnson is now Jorden Burt.

HOME AND AWAY TEAMS

The homegrown 50 chart includes only those firms whose home office is in Washington, D.C.

Firms based in other cities, or that claim to have no home office, are listed in the out-of-town 50 chart. Firms with home offices in Northern Virginia or suburban Maryland are included in this chart.

For this survey, Northern Virginia is defined as Fairfax County and the cities of Alexandria and Arlington. Suburban Maryland is defined as Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

OUTSIDE SOURCES

A handful of firms chose not to participate in the survey. Information for these firms was gleaned from the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory or from the firms' Web sites. Each of these entries is noted by asterisks accompanying the figures for the number of lawyers and partners at a particular office.

Asterisks in the minorities and women charts indicate that last year's figures came from the 2000-01 National Directory of Legal Employers.

(Legal Times, October 2001)


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