Best Lawyers

Best Lawyers
Name	Best Lawyers
Type	For-profit company
Founded	1981
Founder	Eliot Birnberg
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Services	Legal peer-review publication, rankings, awards

Best Lawyers

Best Lawyers is a peer‑review publication and legal ranking product founded in 1981 in Philadelphia. It publishes annual lists of leading lawyers across jurisdictions and practice areas, informs legal directories, and is cited by law firms, media outlets, and legal institutions. The organization interfaces with bar associations, law schools, corporate counsel offices, and professional societies in producing its lists.

History

Eliot Birnberg founded the company in 1981, drawing on networks that included litigators, partners from firms such as Cravath, Swaine & Moore, corporate counsel from General Electric, and professors from Harvard Law School. Early adoption by publications like The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal helped extend visibility into markets served by firms such as Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and Jones Day. Expansion in the 1990s brought collaborations with regional bar associations including the New York State Bar Association and the American Bar Association, while international growth engaged offices in London, Toronto, and Sydney with ties to Allen & Overy and McCarthy Tétrault. The organization’s trajectory paralleled developments in legal marketing exemplified by firms like DLA Piper and legal directories including Martindale-Hubbell.

Selection Criteria and Methodology

The publication uses a peer‑review survey sent to thousands of nominated attorneys, many partners from firms such as Latham & Watkins and Baker McKenzie, general counsel at corporations like Microsoft and ExxonMobil, and academics from institutions such as Yale Law School and Columbia Law School. Methods reference norms employed by directories like Chambers and Partners and rely on voting from practitioners with experience in practice areas represented by judges from courts including the United States Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal of England and Wales. Criteria include professional expertise recognized by peers at firms such as Sidley Austin and Hogan Lovells, disciplinary history tracked through state bars like the State Bar of California and regulatory filings involving entities such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. The methodology incorporates editorial review comparable to processes at The American Lawyer and statistical weighting used by corporate ranking services working with groups like Association of Corporate Counsel.

Rankings and Categories

Annual lists cover hundreds of practice categories from corporate matters seen in transactions at Goldman Sachs to litigation work handled before the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Categories include specialties such as antitrust, intellectual property linked to firms like Finnegan, tax law relevant to firms like Skadden, and labor law engaging unions such as the AFL–CIO. Jurisdictional breakdowns span countries with legal markets influenced by firms like Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Norton Rose Fulbright, and cities where major firms maintain offices in New York City, London, Toronto, Sydney, and Hong Kong. The publication also lists "Lawyer of the Year" selections and offers law firm rankings utilized by marketers at firms such as Morrison & Foerster.

Impact and Reception

Law firms frequently cite placement in promotional materials alongside accolades from Vault and rankings by U.S. News & World Report; marketing departments at firms like WilmerHale and Kirkland & Ellis use listings to recruit associates from programs at Stanford Law School and Georgetown University Law Center. Corporate counsel at companies such as Apple and Procter & Gamble consult the lists when engaging outside counsel, while legal journalists at outlets including Reuters and Bloomberg reference the lists in coverage of prominent litigators. Legal academics from institutions like University of Chicago Law School and think tanks such as the Brookings Institution have cited the lists in studies about reputation and market structure.

Controversies and Criticisms

Critics compare the peer‑review approach to methodologies at Chambers and Partners and Martindale-Hubbell, arguing about potential biases toward large firms such as Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and regional market leaders like Cooley LLP. Concerns include self‑promotion by firms, vote solicitation reminiscent of disputes involving directories like Super Lawyers, and the opacity of weighting similar to debates around rankings by U.S. News & World Report. Disciplinary records leveraged by watchdogs including state bars and investigative reporters from The New Yorker have prompted scrutiny of individual listings. Some scholars at Fordham University School of Law and critics writing for The American Prospect have questioned whether prominence in lists correlates with measurable outcomes such as case success rates in courts like the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Notable Listings and Alumni

The lists have featured partners and counsel who later held public offices or high‑profile roles: attorneys from firms such as Sullivan & Cromwell and Covington & Burling who moved to positions at the United States Department of Justice, alumni from corporate legal departments at Google and Facebook who assumed leadership roles, and academics from Harvard Law School and NYU School of Law who have been recognized. Prominent litigators and transactional lawyers listed have included figures associated with landmark matters before tribunals like the International Court of Justice and arbitration venues such as the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes. Many alumni have been quoted in media outlets including The Washington Post and The Economist.

Category:Legal directories