For Mayer Brown, specialists in electronic discovery and appellate work were the sec­rets to success during 2012. The firm's Chicago lawyers pulled in significant wins before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and the U.S. Supreme Court.

"I think there are a lot of great firms in Chicago," said Mayer Brown partner Andrew Marovitz, a Chicago-based co-leader of the litigation group worldwide. "But I don't think there are many that can marry the disciplines" that Mayer Brown brings.