To find out how third-, fourth- and fifth-year associates rate their firms, our survey examines 12 aspects of job satisfaction, including: compensation and benefits; training and guidance; relationships with partners and other associates; interest in and satisfaction level with the work; the firm’s policy on billable hours; and management’s openness about firm strategies and partnership chances.

Midlevels graded their workplaces in these categories on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score. Below, firms with 10 or more responses are ranked by their average scores on these questions. The response rate is the percentage of eligible midlevels at the firm who participated in the survey. All data can be found in Law.com Compass. Read our analysis of the results here.

The 2024 Midlevel Associates Survey: National Rankings
Associate Survey Rank (2024) Firm Name Associate Survey Rank (2023) Overall Score Number of Respondents Number of Surveys Requested Respondent Percentage
1 O’Melveny & Myers 1 4.813 118 133 89%
2 Blank Rome LLP 5 4.800 45 73 62%
3 Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 3 4.782 118 226 52%
4 McDermott Will & Emery 2 4.657 42 123 34%
5 Proskauer Rose 8 4.554 35 166 21%
6 Gibbons 18 4.487 16 20 80%
7 Kirkland & Ellis 26 4.479 178 742 24%
8 Goulston & Storrs 12 4.466 17 27 63%
9 Baker & Hostetler LLP 7 4.460 65 130 50%
10 Mayer Brown 28 4.450 100 170 59%
11 Clifford Chance LLP 13 4.449 42 85 49%
12 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 6 4.447 200 452 44%
13 Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP 22 4.433 64 121 53%
14 Susman Godfrey N/A 4.429 13 37 35%
15 Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel 33 4.411 24 52 46%
16 Eversheds Sutherland 35 4.398 17 58 29%
17 Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson 20 4.392 107 140 76%
18 Snell & Wilmer 17 4.389 61 67 91%
19 Munger, Tolles & Olson 21 4.380 34 53 64%
20 Paul Hastings 9 4.377 35 116 30%
21 Cahill Gordon & Reindel 25 4.365 30 59 51%
22 Manatt, Phelps & Phillips 10 4.364 17 19 89%
22 Sullivan & Worcester 32 4.364 15 18 83%
24 Fish & Richardson 51 4.359 30 50 60%
25 Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 29 4.352 68 146 47%
26 Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner 16 4.340 22 49 45%
27 Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP 47 4.336 30 186 16%
28 Robins Kaplan 38 4.335 17 32 53%
29 Debevoise & Plimpton 44 4.333 11 223 5%
30 Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 15 4.332 41 128 32%
31 Jackson Walker 39 4.318 22 60 37%
32 Dechert 11 4.311 47 114 41%
33 Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP 55 4.257 23 57 40%
34 Jenner & Block 40 4.248 49 100 49%
35 Alston & Bird LLP 36 4.247 86 161 53%
36 Greenberg Traurig 50 4.245 73 220 33%
37 Latham & Watkins 24 4.235 114 522 22%
38 Winston & Strawn 19 4.216 84 149 56%
39 Cooley 65 4.200 35 228 15%
40 Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler 59 4.197 11 39 28%
41 DLA Piper 45 4.191 52 198 26%
42 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 48 4.184 57 324 18%
43 Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath 49 4.166 53 173 31%
44 Lowenstein Sandler 61 4.161 14 62 23%
45 Ropes & Gray 23 4.159 162 358 45%
46 Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 30 4.151 100 232 43%
47 Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft 52 4.150 19 68 28%
48 Covington & Burling LLP 54 4.149 128 258 50%
49 Crowell & Moring N/A 4.144 18 73 25%
50 Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo 58 4.143 54 112 48%
51 Cravath, Swaine & Moore N/A 4.138 10 118 8%
52 Hughes Hubbard & Reed 14 4.130 14 26 54%
53 Weil, Gotshal & Manges 41 4.127 93 255 36%
54 Hogan Lovells 53 4.117 78 160 49%
55 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP 27 4.113 45 146 31%
55 Reed Smith 43 4.113 32 146 22%
57 Dorsey & Whitney 66 4.105 30 85 35%
58 Foley & Lardner 37 4.097 40 150 27%
59 Thompson Coburn N/A 4.089 25 42 60%
60 Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison 69 4.083 34 223 15%
61 King & Spalding 62 4.079 78 200 39%
62 Morrison & Foerster 31 4.065 90 150 60%
62 Willkie Farr & Gallagher 34 4.065 40 201 20%
64 Shook, Hardy & Bacon N/A 4.064 15 62 24%
65 Fox Rothschild 68 4.053 26 105 25%
66 Vinson & Elkins 42 4.020 22 141 16%
67 Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough 72 3.981 48 111 43%
68 Goodwin Procter 56 3.925 60 282 21%
69 Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton 46 3.865 28 59 47%
70 Holland & Hart N/A 3.767 12 57 21%
71 Kelley Drye & Warren N/A 3.727 11 35 31%
72 Steptoe LLP 70 3.703 15 56 27%
The 2024 Midlevel Associates Survey: City Rankings
City Firm Name Rank in City Responses Score for Firm Office in City
Atlanta, GA Baker & Hostetler 1 6 4.611
Atlanta, GA Eversheds Sutherland 2 9 4.425
Atlanta, GA Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough 3 10 4.367
Atlanta, GA Alston & Bird 4 42 4.316
Atlanta, GA Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton 5 11 4.067
Atlanta, GA King & Spalding 6 24 3.962
Austin, TX Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 1 5 4.667
Austin, TX Morrison & Foerster 2 6 4.103
Boston, MA Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1 14 4.759
Boston, MA Kirkland & Ellis 2 8 4.521
Boston, MA Sullivan & Worcester 3 9 4.463
Boston, MA Weil, Gotshal & Manges 4 5 4.433
Boston, MA Goulston & Storrs 5 10 4.350
Boston, MA Proskauer Rose 6 5 4.313
Boston, MA Dechert 7 5 4.238
Boston, MA Ropes & Gray 8 62 4.223
Boston, MA Covington & Burling 9 5 4.175
Boston, MA Latham & Watkins 10 11 4.140
Boston, MA Morrison & Foerster 11 9 4.139
Boston, MA Goodwin Procter 12 13 4.117
Boston, MA Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo 13 20 4.114
Boston, MA Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 14 23 4.108
Century City, CA O’Melveny & Myers 1 10 4.783
Century City, CA Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 2 9 4.468
Charleston, SC Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough 1 6 3.924
Charlotte, NC Mayer Brown 1 12 4.375
Charlotte, NC Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft 2 7 4.242
Charlotte, NC Alston & Bird 3 6 4.056
Chicago, IL Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1 5 4.933
Chicago, IL McDermott Will & Emery 2 11 4.561
Chicago, IL Ropes & Gray 3 21 4.536
Chicago, IL Cooley 4 10 4.517
Chicago, IL Greenberg Traurig 5 7 4.506
Chicago, IL Kirkland & Ellis 6 55 4.430
Chicago, IL Jenner & Block 7 16 4.378
Chicago, IL Benesch 8 7 4.298
Chicago, IL Latham & Watkins 9 17 4.292
Chicago, IL Winston & Strawn 10 24 4.260
Chicago, IL Mayer Brown 11 15 3.999
Chicago, IL Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath 12 10 3.925
Cleveland, OH Baker & Hostetler 1 8 4.839
Cleveland, OH Benesch 2 9 4.309
Columbia, SC Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough 1 7 3.893
Columbus, OH Baker & Hostetler 1 5 4.354
Costa Mesa, CA Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1 6 4.931
Costa Mesa, CA Snell & Wilmer 2 7 4.637
Costa Mesa, CA Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 3 8 4.441
Costa Mesa, CA Latham & Watkins 4 9 4.069
Dallas, TX Kirkland & Ellis 1 5 4.917
Dallas, TX O’Melveny & Myers 2 10 4.825
Dallas, TX Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 3 13 4.750
Dallas, TX Alston & Bird 4 5 4.642
Dallas, TX Winston & Strawn 5 13 4.481
Dallas, TX Jackson Walker 6 7 4.423
Dallas, TX Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 7 7 4.310
Dallas, TX Weil, Gotshal & Manges 8 8 4.141
Dallas, TX Greenberg Traurig 9 7 4.131
Del Mar, CA Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 1 10 4.031
Denver, CO Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 1 9 4.116
Denver, CO Snell & Wilmer 2 5 3.925
Denver, CO Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 3 10 3.796
Denver, CO Holland & Hart 4 6 3.625
Denver, CO Hogan Lovells 5 7 3.532
Frankfurt Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 1 5 3.992
Greenville, SC Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough 1 5 4.075
Houston, TX Blank Rome 1 5 4.975
Houston, TX Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 2 13 4.773
Houston, TX Kirkland & Ellis 3 21 4.640
Houston, TX Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 4 5 4.600
Houston, TX Baker & Hostetler 5 10 4.541
Houston, TX Jackson Walker 6 7 4.345
Houston, TX King & Spalding 7 6 4.278
Houston, TX Winston & Strawn 8 8 3.969
Houston, TX Latham & Watkins 9 7 3.940
Houston, TX Vinson & Elkins 10 6 3.868
Houston, TX Mayer Brown 11 5 3.825
Indianapolis, IN Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath 1 9 4.227
Irvine, CA Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 1 20 4.562
Kansas City, MO Shook, Hardy & Bacon 1 7 4.161
Las Vegas, NV Greenberg Traurig 1 5 3.896
London King & Spalding 1 6 4.483
London Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 2 11 4.342
London Vinson & Elkins 3 5 4.158
London Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 4 7 4.115
London Goodwin Procter 5 6 3.424
Los Angeles, CA Blank Rome 1 5 5.000
Los Angeles, CA Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 2 6 4.910
Los Angeles, CA O’Melveny & Myers 3 14 4.779
Los Angeles, CA Proskauer Rose 4 8 4.621
Los Angeles, CA Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 5 5 4.542
Los Angeles, CA Alston & Bird 6 7 4.536
Los Angeles, CA Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 7 14 4.530
Los Angeles, CA Munger, Tolles & Olson 8 23 4.524
Los Angeles, CA Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 9 26 4.433
Los Angeles, CA Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 10 5 4.400
Los Angeles, CA Susman Godfrey 11 6 4.382
Los Angeles, CA Winston & Strawn 12 9 4.301
Los Angeles, CA Manatt, Phelps & Phillips 13 10 4.295
Los Angeles, CA Hogan Lovells 14 7 4.232
Los Angeles, CA Kirkland & Ellis 15 13 4.112
Los Angeles, CA Latham & Watkins 16 11 4.110
Los Angeles, CA Willkie Farr & Gallagher 17 7 4.071
Los Angeles, CA Covington & Burling 18 12 3.764
Los Angeles, CA Mayer Brown 19 5 3.704
Los Angeles, CA Morrison & Foerster 20 7 3.702
Menlo Park, CA Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 1 5 4.733
Miami, FL Hogan Lovells 1 5 4.033
Miami, FL Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough 2 7 3.696
Minneapolis, MN Fish & Richardson 1 5 4.567
Minneapolis, MN Robins Kaplan 2 13 4.301
Minneapolis, MN Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath 3 12 4.125
Minneapolis, MN Dorsey & Whitney 4 13 3.979
Munich Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 1 5 4.583
New York, NY Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1 21 4.874
New York, NY Blank Rome 2 13 4.845
New York, NY Mayer Brown 3 43 4.731
New York, NY O’Melveny & Myers 4 25 4.709
New York, NY Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 5 5 4.617
New York, NY Goulston & Storrs 6 5 4.608
New York, NY Proskauer Rose 7 22 4.585
New York, NY Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 8 21 4.545
New York, NY Kirkland & Ellis 9 36 4.486
New York, NY McDermott Will & Emery 10 10 4.479
New York, NY Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 11 37 4.468
New York, NY Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel 12 20 4.458
New York, NY Clifford Chance 13 33 4.438
New York, NY Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson 14 89 4.437
New York, NY Dechert 15 15 4.422
New York, NY Hughes Hubbard & Reed 16 8 4.417
New York, NY Arnold & Porter 17 11 4.411
New York, NY Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler 18 6 4.403
New York, NY Cahill Gordon & Reindel 19 30 4.365
New York, NY Latham & Watkins 20 20 4.346
New York, NY Baker & Hostetler 21 9 4.338
New York, NY Covington & Burling 22 25 4.292
New York, NY Debevoise & Plimpton 23 10 4.286
New York, NY Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft 24 9 4.230
New York, NY Sullivan & Worcester 25 6 4.215
New York, NY DLA Piper 26 10 4.208
New York, NY Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 27 23 4.201
New York, NY Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler 28 11 4.197
New York, NY Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 29 23 4.161
New York, NY Willkie Farr & Gallagher 30 16 4.151
New York, NY Reed Smith 31 9 4.149
New York, NY Cravath, Swaine & Moore 32 10 4.138
New York, NY Morrison & Foerster 33 13 4.125
New York, NY Winston & Strawn 34 18 4.123
New York, NY Jenner & Block 35 9 4.118
New York, NY Hogan Lovells 36 10 4.083
New York, NY Greenberg Traurig 37 10 4.081
New York, NY Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 38 38 4.072
New York, NY Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison 39 32 4.070
New York, NY King & Spalding 40 13 4.052
New York, NY Ropes & Gray 41 51 4.038
New York, NY Weil, Gotshal & Manges 42 62 4.031
New York, NY Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 43 6 4.019
New York, NY Cooley 44 5 3.975
New York, NY Alston & Bird 45 14 3.935
New York, NY Foley & Lardner 46 5 3.933
New York, NY Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo 47 9 3.861
New York, NY Goodwin Procter 48 17 3.779
New York, NY Kelley Drye & Warren 49 6 3.582
Newark, NJ Gibbons 1 11 4.598
Newport Beach, CA O’Melveny & Myers 1 12 4.677
Orlando, FL Baker & Hostetler 1 8 4.557
Palo Alto, CA Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 1 6 4.708
Palo Alto, CA Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 2 8 4.555
Palo Alto, CA Morrison & Foerster 3 7 4.281
Palo Alto, CA Covington & Burling 4 5 4.133
Paris Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 1 6 3.806
Philadelphia, PA Blank Rome 1 12 4.757
Philadelphia, PA Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 2 25 4.754
Philadelphia, PA Dechert 3 8 4.406
Philadelphia, PA Reed Smith 4 5 4.221
Phoenix, AZ Snell & Wilmer 1 26 4.434
Redwood Shores, CA Weil, Gotshal & Manges 1 6 4.528
REMOTE Goodwin Procter 1 5 3.942
Riyadh Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 1 5 4.342
Roseland, NJ Lowenstein Sandler 1 12 4.132
Salt Lake City, UT Mayer Brown 1 6 4.611
Salt Lake City, UT Kirkland & Ellis 2 13 4.370
Salt Lake City, UT Snell & Wilmer 3 8 3.896
San Diego, CA Latham & Watkins 1 6 4.442
San Diego, CA Cooley 2 5 4.408
San Diego, CA Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo 3 12 4.159
San Diego, CA Morrison & Foerster 4 10 3.858
San Francisco, CA O’Melveny & Myers 1 15 4.949
San Francisco, CA Kirkland & Ellis 2 9 4.634
San Francisco, CA Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 3 8 4.542
San Francisco, CA Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 4 17 4.516
San Francisco, CA Hogan Lovells 5 6 4.222
San Francisco, CA Goodwin Procter 6 6 4.208
San Francisco, CA Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 7 5 4.200
San Francisco, CA Munger, Tolles & Olson 8 10 4.083
San Francisco, CA Morrison & Foerster 9 15 4.015
San Francisco, CA Ropes & Gray 10 5 3.992
San Francisco, CA Covington & Burling 11 13 3.926
San Francisco, CA Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe 12 6 3.924
San Francisco, CA Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler 13 5 3.846
San Francisco, CA Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 14 5 3.783
St. Louis, MO Thompson Coburn 1 9 4.204
Toronto Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo 1 5 4.383
Washington, DC O’Melveny & Myers 1 24 4.881
Washington, DC Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler 2 9 4.796
Washington, DC Morgan, Lewis & Bockius 3 12 4.774
Washington, DC McDermott Will & Emery 4 6 4.694
Washington, DC Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 5 16 4.643
Washington, DC Blank Rome 6 6 4.597
Washington, DC Kirkland & Ellis 7 9 4.595
Washington, DC Mayer Brown 8 11 4.552
Washington, DC Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld 9 22 4.466
Washington, DC DLA Piper 10 8 4.458
Washington, DC Clifford Chance 11 7 4.351
Washington, DC Crowell & Moring 12 9 4.264
Washington, DC Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner 13 16 4.257
Washington, DC Latham & Watkins 14 25 4.238
Washington, DC Weil, Gotshal & Manges 15 6 4.236
Washington, DC Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom 16 10 4.209
Washington, DC Covington & Burling 17 68 4.207
Washington, DC Baker & Hostetler 18 6 4.179
Washington, DC Hogan Lovells 19 28 4.175
Washington, DC Ropes & Gray 20 16 4.174
Washington, DC Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson 21 18 4.171
Washington, DC Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton 21 9 4.171
Washington, DC Jenner & Block 23 15 4.167
Washington, DC Greenberg Traurig 24 6 4.160
Washington, DC Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr 25 31 4.152
Washington, DC Arnold & Porter 26 11 4.133
Washington, DC Morrison & Foerster 27 18 4.098
Washington, DC Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton 28 5 4.083
Washington, DC Alston & Bird 29 6 4.069
Washington, DC King & Spalding 30 10 4.033
Washington, DC Dechert 31 9 4.002
Washington, DC Willkie Farr & Gallagher 32 7 3.960
Washington, DC Hughes Hubbard & Reed 33 5 3.633
Washington, DC Steptoe LLP 34 11 3.454
The 2024 Midlevel Associates Survey: Average City Score
City Average City Score
Atlanta, GA 4.291
Austin, TX 4.385
Boston, MA 4.292
Century City, CA 4.626
Charleston, SC 3.924
Charlotte, NC 4.224
Chicago, IL 4.386
Cleveland, OH 4.574
Columbia, SC 3.893
Columbus, OH 4.354
Costa Mesa, CA 4.520
Dallas, TX 4.513
Del Mar, CA 4.031
Denver, CO 3.799
Frankfurt 3.992
Greenville, SC 4.075
Houston, TX 4.341
Indianapolis, IN 4.227
Irvine, CA 4.562
Kansas City, MO 4.161
Las Vegas, NV 3.896
London 4.104
Los Angeles, CA 4.347
Menlo Park, CA 4.733
Miami, FL 3.865
Minneapolis, MN 4.243
Munich 4.583
New York, NY 4.267
Newark, NJ 4.598
Newport Beach, CA 4.677
Orlando, FL 4.557
Palo Alto, CA 4.419
Paris 3.806
Philadelphia, PA 4.535
Phoenix, AZ 4.434
Redwood Shores, CA 4.528
REMOTE 3.942
Riyadh 4.342
Roseland, NJ 4.132
Salt Lake City, UT 4.292
San Diego, CA 4.217
San Francisco, CA 4.203
St. Louis, MO 4.204
Toronto 4.383
Washington, DC 4.266