This is The National Law Journal‘s 27th annual survey of the nation’s largest law firms, covering the period Oct. 1, 2003, to Sept. 30, 2004. While most of the charts in the NLJ 250 are self-explanatory, here is some information about the process, the criteria and the definitions.

The NLJ sent surveys to approximately 300 law firms to determine the 250 largest. Eligibility is based on a firm’s total number of attorneys, and this year the cutoff point is 162. Additionally, a firm must have more lawyers based in the United States than in any other single country.

Firms are ranked by the total number of full-time equivalent (FTE) attorneys, rather than just full-time attorneys, to create a more accurate picture of the size of the 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 the total number of partners plus associates. 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.

“Number of attorneys” reflects permanent, FTE attorneys. The first column in the “Partners” category is the total number of partners, including the nonequity partners (NE) listed in the adjacent column. The “other” category includes the total number of nonpartner, nonassociate lawyers at the firm. Generally, this includes FTE counsel, of counsel, senior counsel and staff attorneys.

In some instances, firms have new names that resulted from mergers. In those cases, the 2003 data are taken from the firm that was larger before the merger.

“Starting salary” lists the base salary for a first-year associate.

A “WND” in any column indicates that the firm would not disclose the data. The “Branch Offices” section lists the total number of attorneys in each city where the firm has offices.

The law school rankings on Page S13 are based on hiring for the 2004 class of first-year associates. Some firms did not disclose the schools from which they hired, while others disclosed the schools but not the number hired. In the latter case, schools were included in the “Most Mentioned” calculations.

Former NLJ research editor Cleo Cacoulidis oversaw the early stages of this project. Tasha Norman took over and saw it through to completion, ably assisted by Angela Cheng.


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1-50 51-100 101-150 151-200 201-250 RANK FIRM NAME LOCATION NUMBER OF ATTORNEYS STARTING SALARY 1 Baker & McKenzie Chicago 3194 $125,000 2 JonesDay Washington 2221 $110,000 to $125,000 3 White & Case New York 1857 $125,000 4 Skadden,Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom New York 1731 $140,000 5 SidleyAustin Brown & Wood Chicago 1585 $125,000 6 Latham & Watkins Los Angeles 1540 $125,000 7 Mayer,Brown, Rowe & Maw Chicago 1382 $110,000 to $125,000 8 GreenbergTraurig Miami 1284 $85,000 to $125,000 9 Morgan,Lewis & Bockius Philadelphia 1221 $105,000 to $125,000 10 Weil,Gotshal & Manges New York 1205 $125,000 11 Holland & Knight New York 1159 $77,000 to $125,000 12 WilmerCutler Pickering Hale and Dorr Washington 1100 $125,000 13 Shearman & Sterling New York 1053 $125,000 14 McDermott,Will & Emery Chicago 1019 $105,000 to $125,000 15 Hogan & Hartson Washington 996 $125,000 16 PiperRudnick Chicago 980 $105,000 to $125,000 17 ReedSmith Pittsburgh 978 $100,000 to $125,000 18 AkinGump Strauss Hauer & Feld Washington 977 $110,000 to $125,000 19 Kirkland & Ellis Chicago 975 $125,000 20 Morrison & Foerster San Francisco 962 $110,000 to $125,000 21 O’Melveny & Myers Los Angeles 948 $125,000 22 Paul,Hastings, Janofsky & Walker Los Angeles 930 $100,000 to $125,000 23 Foley & Lardner Milwaukee 916 $85,000 to $125,000 24 Cleary,Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton New York 891 $125,000 25 Fulbright & Jaworski Houston 883 $91,000 to $125,000 26 Winston & Strawn Chicago 870 $125,000 27 BinghamMcCutchen Boston 865 $125,000 28 Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Pittsburgh 802 $95,000 to $125,000 29 Hunton & Williams Richmond, Va. 788 $100,000 to $125,000 30 King & Spalding Atlanta 786 $100,000 to $125,000 31 Gibson,Dunn & Crutcher Los Angeles 780 $125,000 32 SimpsonThacher & Bartlett New York 779 $125,000 33 BryanCave St. Louis 757 $85,000 to $125,000 34 Vinson & Elkins Houston 745 $110,000 to $120,000 35 Dechert Philadelphia 742 $92,000 to $125,000 36 HellerEhrman White & McAuliffe San Francisco 736 $110,000 to $125,000 37 BakerBotts Houston 732 $110,000 to $125,000 38 Orrick,Herrington & Sutcliffe New York 720 $115,000 to $125,000 39 Alston & Bird Atlanta 706 $100,000 to $125,000 40 McGuireWoods Richmond, Va. 684 WND 41 Arnold & Porter Washington 680 $110,000 to $125,000 42 Squire,Sanders & Dempsey Cleveland 680 $110,000 to $125,000 43 Wilson,Elser, Moskowitz, Edelman & Dicker New York 664 WND 44 PillsburyWinthrop San Francisco 658 $125,000 45 SonnenscheinNath & Rosenthal Chicago 658 $85,000 to $125,000 46 Dorsey & Whitney Minneapolis 656 $90,000 47 Sullivan & Cromwell New York 653 $125,000 48 DavisPolk & Wardwell New York 643 $125,000 49 Debevoise & Plimpton New York 642 $125,000 50 KattenMuchin Zavis Rosenman Chicago 632 $100,000 to $125,000 (The National Law Journal, November 2004)


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