Las 10 más prestigiosas despachos de abogados en USA

The 10 Most Prestigious Law Firms In America

Business Insider 

#1 Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz

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244 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "We get the best work"
• "Every single day, I learn something new"
• "Excellent compensation"

Downers

• "On-call 24/7"
• "More pressure than you would find at a lot of other firms"
• "It's life-consuming"

The Buzz

• "The gold standard"
• "Huge bonuses"
• "Bring a sleeping bag"
• "Intense"

This is the smallest firm in the top 20, but it handles a major portion of the world's mergers and acquisitions. Martin Lipton, one of the firm's founders, created the "poison pill," a popular strategy to prevent hostile takeovers in publicly traded companies.

#2 Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP

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Cravath associates serve on a Dow Jones panel.

434 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "Early responsibility"
• "Top-tier work"
• "Amazing exit opportunities"

Downers

• "Lack of transparency"
• "Uneven mentoring"
• "Endlessly on call"

The Buzz

• "Corporate powerhouse"
• "Market leader"
• "Annoyingly prestigious"
• "Among the most demanding"

Every Monday at 1:00 p.m., Cravath's entire New York partnership sits down for lunch together, a tradition dating back to the 1920s.

#3 Sullivan & Cromwell LLP

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816 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "Commitment to excellence"
• "Headline-grabbing cases"
• "Early responsibility"

Downers

• "Hierarchical structure"
• "There is always more work to be done"
• "Always being on call"

The Buzz

• "Amazingly smart people"
• "Goldman's lawyers"
• "Interviews are difficult"
• "Pretentious but good at what they do"

Sullivan & Cromwell has tasked its Diversity Committee with attracting and retaining female and minority lawyers. As of January 2012, of the 44 partners elected worldwide in the past six years, fifteen are women, eleven are minorities, and two are openly gay.

#4 Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP and Affiliates

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1,700 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "Endless training resources"
• "The work is top-notch"
• "Global presence of the firm"

Downers

• "Hours tend to be long"
• "Too few counsel and partner positions available for associates"
• "An intense place to work"

The Buzz

• "King of M&A"
• "Top dog"
• "Workaholics"
• "Cutthroat"

Skadden was the first law firm to report $1 billion in annual revenue.

#5 Davis Polk & Wardwell

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809 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "Respectful culture"
• "The work is cutting-edge"
• "Opportunity to learn from the top people in the field"

Downers

• "Hours and stress"
• "Unpredictable workflow"
• "Formal mentoring system has limited utility"

The Buzz

• "Classy"
• "Excellent work, even better people"
• "Stuffy"
• "Conservative"

#6 Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP

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1,200 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "Exposure to complex, varied and interesting transactions"
• "Laid-back culture"
• "Brilliant colleagues"

Downers

• "Always being on call"
• "Unclear future opportunities"
• "Lack of transparency"

The Buzz

• "Elite restructuring group"
• "Underrated"
• "Fratty"
• "Highly competitive"

Weil Gotshal recently made headlines when it had mass layoffs for the first time in its history.

#7 Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

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845 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "Extremely collegial atmosphere"
• "Wide exposure to a lot of impressive deals"
• Complex work and real responsibility at an early level"

Downers

• "Firm governance is a little opaque to associates"
• "Modest partnership potential"
• "Unpredictable and long hours"

The Buzz

• "Best M&A and private equity lawyers"
• "Thanks for $160K!"
• "Smug"
• "Crazy hours"

#8 Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LPP

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1,200 employees

Chicago headquarters

Uppers

• "Incredible culture of collegiality"
• "No face-time requirement"
• "Transparent management"

Downers

• "Hours can be unpredictable"
• "People can be passive-aggressive"
• "Unclear expectations"

The Buzz

• "Good at everything"
• "Incredible for international law"
• "Nerdy"
• "Brutal hours"

Cleary represented Greece in the largest ever sovereign debt restructuring and bond exchange.

#9 Kirkland & Ellis

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1,660 employees

Chicago headquarters

Uppers

• "Run your own practice"
• "Cash money, baby"
• Training is excellent"

Downers

• "No transparency"
• "Hours can be brutal"
• "Lack of mentorship"

The Buzz

• "Excellent training"
• "Best in Chicago"
• "Crazy hours but huge bonuses"
• "Arrogant"

#10 Latham & Watkins LLP

Facebook/Latham & Watkins

2,000 employees

New York City headquarters

Uppers

• "It's all about the people — they're fantastic"
• "Involvement of associates in management of the firm"
• "Unassigned program allows young associates to try a great deal of different things"

Downers

• "Billable hours requirement"
• "Have to be available 24/7"
• "The sheer size of the firm makes some things very inflexible"

The Buzz

• "Increasing energy presence"
• "Relaxed for a big firm"
• "Fratty"
• "Overworked associates"

Latham is only firm in the top 20 that doesn't offer automatic pay raises.