Are you a law student or do you want to hire legal assistance to deal with your work or personal issues? Whatever be the reason, you might want the best law firms in NYC to either start your career with or get the best legal support.
However, it is very hard to tell which one is the right firm, especially if you have limited information about the firm. The struggle is over though because we have prepared a list of top law firms in NYC.
We will also share our ways of preparing the list of the best New York law firms so that you can have a clear picture regarding the criteria of the selection.
While talking about the best and largest law firms in NYC, few things that come to our mind are in the firm prestigious enough, the money they are making out of it, how many years they have completed in the market, etc.
You will get answers to all these questions and much more information other than that.
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What is the Eligibility Criteria for Being the Best Law Firms in NYC?
There are many factors that a firm needs to fulfil to be known as a reputed law firm. We have sorted the list of the five largest law firms in NYC, under the following criteria:
- The process of submission
- Ranking by Tiers
- Award Notification
- Public Release
We will now discuss each of the points in detail so that it helps you to choose the best out of the list.
a) Process of Submission
It is the first criteria that one must keep in mind while choosing a law firm. The process of submission includes a few more points, they are:
- If the firm is eligible for the practice.
- Survey of the law firm.
- What instruction does it follow while sending a list of client or professional references?
- A number of previous clients shared their experience with the firm regarding effectiveness, responsiveness, expertise, etc.
- It is important that the firm keeps the clients’ information confidential and it was never published anywhere.
b) Ranking by Tiers
The various records of the firm including the quantitative and qualitative data help to create the reputation of the firm. We have considered the same parameters to prepare this list of best law firms NYC.
There is the possibility that the firm does not stand out to any particular speciality, but it should have enough data to rank in that area.
c) Award Notification
The next point to decide the eligibility of a firm to come under the best law firms is the number of awards that a firm has possessed. Some of the awards are:
- Metro Tiers 1-3
- National Tiers 1-3
- Law Firm of the Year
d) Public Release
As the name of the criteria suggests, it is the ranking provided by the public to the law firms. There are many trusted sites that can provide you with a more detailed overview of the public experience and the history of the firm’s projects.
Now since you got a rough idea about the selection procedure, let jump into the listicles of the best New York law firms.
Some of the Best Law Firms in NYC
1. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison
The firm is also known as Paul, Weiss. It has total offices all over the world and the headquarter is situated on Sixth Avenue, New York City.
In 1875, the firm was founded by Samuel William Weiss and Julius Frank. After 47 years, Samuel’s son started another firm along with John F. Wharton. Both the firms later joined together and became Cohen, Cole, Weiss & Wharton. In 1946, Randolph Paul and Lloyd K. Garrison joined the firm and the name became what it is known as nowadays, Paul, Weiss, Wharton & Garrison.
Popular Representations:
- The firm helped the detainees who were on hunger strike against the U.S. military at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp. They were protesting the inhumane conditions in the prison.
Paul Weiss demanded the health reports of all the detainees and presented them during the force-feeding notice.
- It also assisted Thurgood Marshall in Brown v. Board of Education.
- Paul Weiss also issued the report on football inflation in 2015.
- It also fought for the China Medical Technologies Audit Committee. The medical firm was accused of fraudulent activities.
Pro Bono:
The firm assisted around 400 parents to find their families, who got separated at the southern border of the United States.
In 2019, with the help of Paul, Weiss Pablo Fernandez got free who was wrongly accused of murder.
2. Davis Polk & Wardwell
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP also known as Davis Polk is a reputed law firm in New York. It has around 982 attorneys along with 10 offices all over the world including Washington, D.C., Northern California, London, Paris, Madrid, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, and São Paulo.
Around 172 years ago, in 1849, the firm was founded by a 21-years-old lawyer, Francis N. Bangs. John Pierpont Morgan recruited Francis Stetson in the late 19th century.
Some of the Current Attorneys:
- Dr. Uzo Asonye, he was a member of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office and Deputy Chief in the Eastern District of Virginia’s Financial Crimes and Public Corruptions Division
- Former Federal Trade Commission Chairman, Jon Leibowitz
- Mr. Lynch served as a Director of the Enforcement Division of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Morgan Stanley, a Vice Chairman and Chief Legal Officer of Credit Suisse, and a Global General Counsel of Bank of America.
- Former US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, Neil MacBride.
- Several biographies of Howard Shelanski were published in the scholarly literature
- During her tenure at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Linda Chatman Thomsen was the Director of Enforcement
- Former Assistant Attorney General and former Homeland Security Advisor Kenneth Wainstein was the former Assistant Attorney General of the National Security Division for the Department of Justice
Awards Received:
- It received “America’s Law Firm of the Year” by the International Financial Law Review in 2021 and 2013.
- Received the award of third-ranked in “Revenue per Lawyer” by the American Lawyer’s top 100 National Firms in 2010.
- Davis Polk & Wardwell got “Lawyer of the Year ” by Law Business Research’s Who’s Who Legal and “Outstanding Young Restructuring Lawyer ” by Turnarounds & Workouts.
- It also received the Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) in March 2007.
3. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom
It is an American multinational law firm situated in New York City. The corporation was founded in 1948 by Marshall Skadden, John Slate and Les Arps and since then it has been constantly ranked among the top firms. After almost 10 years William Meagher and Elizabeth Head joined the association
Rankings:
- The firm was the fourth-largest firm in the United States in 2015 and 2016.
- In the same year, Skadden was ranked as the fourth highest-grossing law firm in the world.
- It has around 1,700 attorneys in twenty-two offices.
4. Kirkland & Ellis
In 1909, the firm came into existence. Robert R. McCormick founded the firm in Chicago, Illinois. Since then the firm has only grown exponentially. It is one of the largest law firms in the world that generates around the seventh-largest revenue by the number of attorneys.
Popular Representations:
- During the Volkswagen emissions scandal, Volkswagen came under fire for its emissions program.
- Regarding the scandal surrounding ignition switches at General Motors.
- The Jumpman logo was defended against trademark infringement claims by Nike, Inc.
- Pharmaceutics company Abbott Laboratories spin off AbbVie Inc. in 2013, in a license dispute with MedImmune; received a $93.8 million jury award.
- An Atlas IP, LLC lawsuit was won by MedTronic.
5. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett
John W. Simpson, Thomas Thacher and William M. Barnum founded Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in January 1884. The firm has over 1,000 attorneys with 10 offices in different cities of the world.
Awards:
- It ranked 6th among the most prestigious law firms in the United States by Vault Law 100 in the year 2015 and 2016.
- The firm got recognition in 33 various categories which also includes 18th rank in the National Tier 1 category, in U.S. News 2016 Law Firm Rankings.
Read More: Virtual Bookkeeping
Take Away!
We have shared five top law firms in New York City. Hopefully, the listicles helped you to choose the most suitable one for you. While hiring or approaching a legal firm, make sure that it has a speciality in the genre you want to hire it for. Also, prepare your own requirement list. After hiring one, ask all possible questions that you might be thinking. It is always best to keep things clear and straight from the very beginning.