2025 Vault Rankings Results

Ben Thomson, LawFuel contributing editor

For the ninth consecutive year, Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP has topped the Vault 100 ranking as the most prestigious law firm in the United States.

The Vault 100 ranking is based on scores from over 20,000 law firm associates surveyed earlier this year.

Eric Stutzke, SVP & General Manager of Vault, commented on Cravath’s continued dominance: “Cravath continued its position as the most prestigious firm according to associates in our survey, as the firm continued to set a high bar across compensation and in the quality of lawyering across multiple practice areas.”

Associates referred to Cravath as “the gold standard,” cementing its prestigious status. While Cravath maintained its top spot, there was some movement within the top 10 firms.

Vault’s methodology incorporates extensive feedback from associates on factors like firm culture, compensation, work-life balance, and training. Firms that score well in these areas are seen as more desirable workplaces, giving them an edge in recruiting efforts, especially with students and laterals prioritizing quality of life.

Here are the most prestigious law firms according to Vault’s 2025 rankings:

Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP
Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
Skadden
Latham & Watkins
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
Kirkland & Ellis (up 1 spot from 2024)
Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP (down 1 spot)
Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP (up 1 spot)
Simpson Thacher (down 1 spot)
Gibson Dunn

The top 5 firms remained unchanged from the previous year. Kirkland & Ellis climbed to #6, likely boosted by its status as the world’s largest firm by revenue and major lateral partner hires. Davis Polk fell one spot to #7, while Paul Weiss rose to #8, potentially due to its strong lateral hiring.

Practice Area and Regional Rankings

Beyond the overall Vault 100, the rankings also highlighted top firms in various practice areas and regions:

Kirkland & Ellis took the #1 spot in General Corporate and Banking & Financial Services practices, giving it a total of 5 #1 practice area rankings.
Cravath moved up to #1 in Securities Litigation, while Quinn Emanuel and Williams & Connolly maintained their #1 rankings in General Commercial Litigation and Appellate Litigation, respectively.
Paul Weiss ranked #1 in White Collar for the first time.
Gibson Dunn claimed the #1 spot in Real Estate and the Mountain States region.
King & Spalding became #1 in the South Atlantic region.

The top firms in major markets like New York, Washington D.C., California, Texas, Chicago, and Boston remained unchanged from 2024.

Compensation and Prestige

While prestige is the primary focus of the Vault rankings, compensation remains a key factor influencing a firm’s standing.

The ‘Cravath Scale’ and the prestige and big money offers coming with it sees its prestige ranking high, just as we have on LawFuel’s ‘prestige law firm list’.

Cravath was the firm that kicked off the 2022 salary wars by raising associate pay to $415,000, solidifying its reputation as an industry leader. Compensation plays a role, sustained excellence across multiple areas is crucial for attaining and maintaining elite status in the legal industry.

Milbank, which initiated those salary increases in 2022, climbed four spots to #13 in the Vault 100, potentially reflecting associates’ recognition of its compensation leadership.

6 Key Factors Affecting Vault Law Rankings

Among the key factors that contribute to a law firm’s prestige in Vault’s rankings are:

Peer reviews from associates: Vault’s rankings are primarily based on surveys of associates working at law firms, who are asked to rate firms other than their own in terms of prestige. This peer review from insiders is a crucial component in determining a firm’s prestige ranking.
Compensation and salary scale: Firms that are leaders in associate compensation, like Cravath setting the standard with high salaries, tend to score higher in prestige rankings. Compensation is seen as a reflection of a firm’s prestigious status.
Quality of work and high-profile deals/cases: Firms that handle significant M&A transactions, high-stakes litigation, and other prestigious matters are viewed as more prestigious by associates. The caliber and complexity of the work contributes to perceptions of prestige.
Firm reputation and legacy: Long-established firms with strong historical reputations, like Cravath, Wachtell, and others in the “V10”, tend to rank highly due to their enduring prestigious status in the legal industry. Prestige is seen as “sticky” and hard to change quickly.
Practice area strength: Vault also ranks firms based on prestige within specific practice areas like M&A, litigation, bankruptcy, etc. Excellence in a particular field enhances a firm’s overall prestige.
Associate satisfaction and quality of life: While not the primary driver, factors like work-life balance, mentorship, and firm culture that impact associate experience are considered in Vault’s broader assessment of law firm prestige and desirability.

So in essence, peer perception, compensation leadership, high-profile work, historical reputation, practice area dominance, and associate satisfaction all feed into Vault’s calculation of a law firm’s overall prestige ranking.

Vault Rankings & Recruitment

The Vault rankings can also play a key role in recruitment campaigns. The rankings provide transparency into compensation scales across firms.

Top-ranked firms tend to be market leaders in associate pay and firms use this compensation data to ensure their pay remains competitive for recruitment purposes.

Highly-ranked firms are better positioned to recruit laterals seeking to join prestigious firms, particularly with the Vault ranking factors like training, mentorship, diversity, and work-life which work to boost associate satisfaction scores.

Law students heavily rely on the Vault rankings when deciding which firms to apply to during campus recruitment. It is very clear that law firms ranked highly overall and in specific practices have a significant advantage in attracting top law school talent and as the war for talent grows more intense, so too does the impact of key ranking data like the Vault law firm rankings.