The NLJ 250: 2002

This is The National Law Journal's 25th annual survey of the nation's largest law firms. We rank firms by the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) attorneys, rather than just full-time attorneys, which allows us to create a more accurate picture of the size of a firm. In some cases, due to rounding, this calculation yielded slightly higher or lower numbers than the figures submitted by the law firms. As in years past, in case of a tie, we rank firms by partners plus associates, excluding "other attorneys." If the tie persists, we break it based on the number of partners at each firm. The city listed under the firm name is the firm's principal office. In cases where the firm did not wish to be identified with a single locale, the city listed is home to the firm's largest office. For all data, firms were asked to provide figures as of Sept. 30, 2002.

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Rank '02	Law firm	Principal or largest office	Total attorneys '02
1	Baker & McKenzie	Chicago	3246
2	Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom	New York	1822
3	Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue	Cleveland	1822
4	Latham & Watkins	Los Angeles	1627
5	White & Case	New York	1581
6	Sidley Austin Brown & Wood	Chicago	1511
7	Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw	Chicago	1351
8	Holland & Knight	Washington, D.C.	1273
9	Morgan, Lewis & Bockius	New York	1098
10	Shearman & Sterling	New York	1087
11	Weil, Gotshal & Manges	New York	1046
12	Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld	Washington, D.C.	1017
13	Morrison & Foerster	San Francisco	993
14	McDermott, Will & Emery	Chicago	983
15	Foley & Lardner	Milwaukee	969
16	Hogan & Hartson	Washington, D.C.	937
17	Kirkland & Ellis	Chicago	887
18	O’Melveny & Myers	Los Angeles	879
19	Greenberg Traurig	Miami	878
20	Vinson & Elkins	Houston	863
21	Winston & Strawn	Chicago	842
22	Bryan Cave	St. Louis	841
23	Paul, Hastings, Janofsky & Walker	Los Angeles	831
24	Bingham McCutchen	Boston	806
25	Piper Rudnick	Chicago	794
26	Hunton & Williams	Richmond, Va.	783
27	Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher	Los Angeles	776
28	Dechert	Philadelphia	776
29	Fulbright & Jaworski	Houston	776
30	Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton	New York	768
31	Squire, Sanders & Dempsey	Cleveland	765
32	Sullivan & Cromwell	New York	751
33	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	New York	750
34	Reed Smith	Pittsburgh	739
35	Dorsey & Whitney	Minneapolis	735
36	LeBoeuf, Lamb, Greene & MacRae	New York	723
37	Pillsbury Winthrop	San Francisco	721
38	Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	Palo Alto, Calif.	720
39	Arnold & Porter	Washington, D.C.	712
40	King & Spalding	Atlanta	711
41	Kirkpatrick & Lockhart	Pittsburgh	699
42	Baker Botts	Houston	677
43	Alston & Bird	Atlanta	674
44	Coudert Brothers	New York	665
45	Davis Polk & Wardwell	New York	648
46	Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison	San Francisco	644
47	Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe	San Francisco	635
48	Katten Muchin Zavis Rosenman	Chicago	629
49	Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe	San Francisco	624
50	Proskauer Rose	New York	600
51	Debevoise & Plimpton	New York	598
52	Shook, Hardy & Bacon	Kansas City, Mo.	598
53	Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal	Chicago	595
54	Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson	New York	581
55	Jenkens & Gilchrist	Dallas	573
56	Dewey Ballantine	New York	571
57	Perkins Coie	Seattle	565
58	Cooley Godward	Palo Alto, Calif.	560
59	McGuireWoods	Richmond, Va.	559
60	Nixon Peabody	Rochester, N.Y.	557
61	Wilson, Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker	New York	555
62	Baker & Hostetler	Cleveland	546
63	Troutman Sanders	Atlanta	543
64	Wilmer, Cutler & Pickering	Washington, D.C.	542
65	Howrey Simon Arnold & White	Washington, D.C.	540
66	Willkie Farr & Gallagher	New York	536
67	Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison	New York	523
68	Covington & Burling	Washington, D.C.	522
69	Ropes & Gray	Boston	521
70	Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy	New York	518
71	Goodwin Procter	Boston	518
72	Cravath, Swaine & Moore	New York	510
73	Seyfarth Shaw	Chicago	505
74	Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft	New York	502
75	Duane Morris	Philadelphia	492
76	Hale and Dorr	Boston	490
77	Kaye Scholer	New York	476
78	Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo	Boston	475
79	Haynes and Boone	Dallas	468
80	Kilpatrick Stockton	Atlanta	465
81	Venable	Baltimore	448
82	Quarles & Brady	Milwaukee	442
83	Ballard Spahr Andrews & Ingersoll	Philadelphia	441
84	Cozen O’Connor	Philadelphia	440
85	Thelen Reid & Priest	New York	440
86	Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice	Winston-Salem, N.C.	437
87	Drinker Biddle & Reath	Philadelphia	433
88	Faegre & Benson	Minneapolis	428
89	Locke Liddell & Sapp	Houston	408
90	ShawPittman	Washington, D.C.	407
91	Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault	Boston	404
92	Gray Cary Ware & Freidenrich	Palo Alto, Calif.	402
93	Blank Rome Comisky & McCauley	Philadelphia	398
94	Littler Mendelson	San Francisco	395
95	Jenner & Block	Chicago	390
96	Pepper Hamilton	Philadelphia	389
97	Davis Wright Tremaine	Seattle	389
98	Preston Gates & Ellis	Seattle	386
99	Buchanan Ingersoll	Pittsburgh	382
100	Thompson Hine	Cleveland	378
101	Frost Brown Todd	Cincinnati	378
102	Andrews & Kurth	Houston	375
103	Chadbourne & Parke	New York	371
104	Patton Boggs	Washington, D.C.	366
105	Stoel Rives	Portland, Ore.	364
106	Bracewell & Patterson	Houston	362
107	Altheimer & Gray	Chicago	361
108	Kelley Drye & Warren	New York	358
109	McKenna Long & Aldridge	Atlanta	358
110	Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith	Los Angeles	356
111	Sutherland Asbill & Brennan	Atlanta	356
112	Hinshaw & Culbertson	Chicago	354
113	Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease	Columbus, Ohio	353
114	Jackson Lewis	White Plains, N.Y.	351
115	Snell & Wilmer	Phoenix	349
116	Michael Best & Friedrich	Milwaukee	349
117	Akerman Senterfitt	Miami	347
118	Barnes & Thornburg	Indianapolis	345
119	Stroock & Stroock & Lavan	New York	340
120	Stinson Morrison Hecker	Kansas City, Mo.	337
121	Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton	Los Angeles	336
122	Kutak Rock	Omaha, Neb.	334
123	Winstead Sechrest & Minick	Dallas	333
124	Epstein Becker & Green	New York	333
125	Thompson & Knight	Dallas	333
126	Schulte Roth & Zabel	New York	325
127	Lord, Bissell & Brook	Chicago	325
128	Steptoe & Johnson	Washington, D.C.	325
129	Sedgwick, Detert, Moran & Arnold	San Francisco	317
130	Dickstein Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky	Washington, D.C.	311
131	Blackwell Sanders Peper Martin	Kansas City, Mo.	301
132	Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis	Philadelphia	301
133	Miller, Canfield, Paddock and Stone	Detroit	301
134	Schiff Hardin & Waite	Chicago	300
135	Marshall, Dennehey, Warner, Coleman & Goggin	Philadelphia	298
136	Swidler Berlin Shereff Friedman	Washington, D.C.	298
137	Baker & Daniels	Indianapolis	294
138	Jackson Walker	Dallas	293
139	Powell, Goldstein, Frazer & Murphy	Atlanta	290
140	Edwards & Angell	Boston	290
141	Gardere Wynne Sewell	Dallas	288
142	Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner	Washington, D.C.	286
143	Fenwick & West	Palo Alto, Calif.	285
144	Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel	New York	285
145	Porter, Wright, Morris & Arthur	Columbus, Ohio	284
146	Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough	Columbia, S.C.	282
147	Hughes Hubbard & Reed	New York	282
148	Thompson Coburn	St. Louis	280
149	Fish & Richardson	Boston	279
150	Husch & Eppenberger	St. Louis	278
151	Arter & Hadden	Cleveland	273
152	McCarter & English	Newark, N.J.	270
153	Crowell & Moring	Washington, D.C.	261
154	Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen	Philadelphia	259
155	Holland & Hart	Denver	259
156	Moore & Van Allen	Charlotte, N.C.	257
157	Foley Hoag	Boston	256
158	Dinsmore & Shohl	Cincinnati	254
159	Dykema Gossett	Detroit	252
160	Cahill Gordon & Reindel	New York	251
161	Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn	Washington, D.C.	249
162	Baker, Donelson, Bearman & Caldwell	Memphis, Tenn.	249
163	Oppenheimer Wolff & Donnelly	Minneapolis	246
164	Irell & Manella	Los Angeles	245
165	Manatt, Phelps & Phillips	Los Angeles	244
166	Fox, Rothschild, O’Brien & Frankel	Philadelphia	240
167	Lathrop & Gage	Kansas City, Mo.	239
168	Williams Mullen	Richmond, Va.	237
169	Crosby, Heafey, Roach & May	Oakland, Calif.	237
170	Pennie & Edmonds	New York	233
171	Phelps Dunbar	New Orleans	233
172	Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi	Minneapolis	231
173	Day, Berry & Howard	Hartford, Conn.	231
174	Gardner Carton & Douglas	Chicago	230
175	Armstrong Teasdale	St. Louis	230
176	Ice Miller	Indianapolis	229
177	Saul Ewing	Philadelphia	228
178	Bell, Boyd & Lloyd	Chicago	226
179	Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner	New York	224
180	Strasburger & Price	Dallas	224
181	Wiley, Rein & Fielding	Washington, D.C.	221
182	Adams and Reese	New Orleans	221
183	Jones, Walker, Waechter, Poitevent, Carrère & Denègre	New Orleans	217
184	Vedder, Price, Kaufman & Kammholz	Chicago	213
185	Stites & Harbison	Louisville, Ky.	213
186	Carlton Fields	Tampa, Fla.	211
187	Williams & Connolly	Washington, D.C.	211
188	Wildman, Harrold, Allen & Dixon	Chicago	208
189	Kenyon & Kenyon	New York	206
190	Allen Matkins Leck Gamble & Mallory	Los Angeles	205
191	Thacher Proffitt & Wood	New York	205
192	Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach	New York	205
193	Butzel Long	Detroit	204
194	Luce, Forward, Hamilton & Scripps	San Diego	202
195	Robinson & Cole	Hartford, Conn.	202
196	Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs	Louisville, Ky.	201
197	Dickinson Wright	Detroit	200
198	Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels	Boston	200
199	Taft, Stettinius & Hollister	Cincinnati	197
200	Calfee, Halter & Griswold	Cleveland	196
201	Honigman Miller Schwartz and Cohn	Detroit	195
202	White and Williams	Philadelphia	195
203	Steel Hector & Davis	Miami	195
204	Pitney, Hardin, Kipp & Szuch	Morristown, N.J.	195
205	Fish & Neave	New York	194
206	Lowenstein Sandler	Roseland, N.J.	193
207	Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott	Pittsburgh	193
208	Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren	Milwaukee	190
209	Hodgson Russ	Buffalo, N.Y.	189
210	Holme Roberts & Owen	Denver	188
211	Warner Norcross & Judd	Grand Rapids, Mich.	185
212	Palmer & Dodge	Boston	184
213	Chapman and Cutler	Chicago	183
214	Bradley, Arant, Rose & White	Birmingham, Ala.	181
215	Patterson, Belknap, Webb & Tyler	New York	181
216	Ross & Hardies	Chicago	181
217	Balch & Bingham	Birmingham, Ala.	180
218	Fowler White Boggs Banker	Tampa, Fla.	180
219	Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz	New York	180
220	Ruden, McClosky, Smith, Schuster & Russell	Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.	180
221	Harris Beach	Rochester, N.Y.	180
222	Quinn Emanuel Urquhart Oliver & Hedges	Los Angeles	179
223	Smith, Gambrell & Russell	Atlanta	177
224	Loeb & Loeb	Los Angeles	175
225	Bullivant Houser Bailey	Portland, Ore.	175
226	Lane Powell Spears Lubersky	Seattle	175
227	Gray, Harris & Robinson	Orlando, Fla.	175
228	Leonard, Street and Deinard	Minneapolis	175
229	Hughes & Luce	Dallas	172
230	Greenebaum Doll & McDonald	Louisville, Ky.	172
231	Miles & Stockbridge	Baltimore	172
232	Cummings & Lockwood	Stamford, Conn.	171
233	Godfrey & Kahn	Milwaukee	171
234	Phillips, Lytle, Hitchcock, Blaine & Huber	Buffalo, N.Y.	171
235	Lewis, Rice & Fingersh	St. Louis	170
236	Nutter, McClennen & Fish	Boston	170
237	Burr & Forman	Birmingham, Ala.	169
238	Kennedy Covington Lobdell & Hickman	Charlotte, N.C.	169
239	Fredrikson & Byron	Minneapolis	168
240	Curtis, Mallet-Prevost, Colt & Mosle	New York	168
241	Briggs and Morgan	Minneapolis	167
242	Knobbe Martens Olson & Bear	Irvine, Calif.	163
243	Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart	Atlanta	162
244	Stevens & Lee	Reading, Pa.	162
245	Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto	New York	161
246	Gibbons, Del Deo, Dolan, Griffinger & Vecchione	Newark, N.J.	160
247	Clausen Miller	Chicago	159
248	Choate, Hall & Stewart	Boston	159
249	Fisher & Phillips	Atlanta	159
250	Plunkett & Cooney	Bloomfield Hills, Mich.	155
Research Editor Kathleen Collins compiled and processed this year's numbers. She was assisted by researchers Shira Abilevitz, Lia Fernandez, Sara Langer and Aaron Lauchheimer. Research Director Margaret Daisley and database manager Shannon Holman provided invaluable assistance.
(The National Law Journal, November 2002)