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I am currently a Fed COA clerk and I am in the process of applying to DC law firms. I'm curious if there are any firms that are not in Vault's top 25 DC firms that I should consider applying to. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Part of the problem might be that people aren't quite sure which firms are on the list that you referenced. Maybe put a list here and people can add to it? What kind of law do you want to do?

I'm told that these are the top D.C. firms according to vault. I'm interested in litigation, appellate, and white collar. If anyone has any suggestions of other firms I should add to my list, I'd appreciate it.


1. Williams & Connolly
2. Covington
3. WilmerHale
4. Arnold & Porter
5. Skadden
6. Gibson Dunn
7. Kirkland & Ellis
8. Latham
9. Hogan
10. Sidley
11. Jones Day
12. Akin Gump
13. O’Melveny & Meyers
14. Mayer Brown
15. Patton Boggs
16. Steptoe
17. Crowell & Moring
18. Wiley
19. Ropes & Gray
20. Willkie Farr & Gallagher
21. McDermott Will & Emery
22. Arent Fox
23. K&L Gates
24. dla piper
25. Winston & Strawn

Off the top of my head, you might also consider applying to:

-Robins Russell
-Kellog Huber
-Miller Chevalier
-Jenner & Block (for appellate lit)
-Firms like Cohen Milstein if interested in plaintiff's work
-Firms such as sanford wittels & heisler; Katz, Marshall Banks; Hausfeld if interested in plaintiff's class actions / whistleblower / civil rights stuff (and probably much lesser pay).
-Any other branch of a major firm with a DC office that is reputable for whatever practice group you're interested in. See the chambers guide, though I would imagine the 25 you listed above probably will cover most firms that would meet your interest.

Not sure how easy or hard any of the above are to get into (Kellog, for instance, has a large stock of SCOTUS clerks). There are probably a couple other good lit boutiques that I just don't remember off the top of my head.

Some of these firms have told me they didn't have any positions available. Does anyone know if any of them are still hiring?

@Metaread, are you referring to the top 25 firms or the other firms?

2009 Prospective wrote:Off the top of my head, you might also consider applying to:

-Robins Russell
-Kellog Huber
-Miller Chevalier
-Jenner & Block (for appellate lit)
-Firms like Cohen Milstein if interested in plaintiff's work
-Firms such as sanford wittels & heisler; Katz, Marshall Banks; Hausfeld if interested in plaintiff's class actions / whistleblower / civil rights stuff (and probably much lesser pay).
-Any other branch of a major firm with a DC office that is reputable for whatever practice group you're interested in. See the chambers guide, though I would imagine the 25 you listed above probably will cover most firms that would meet your interest.

Not sure how easy or hard any of the above are to get into (Kellog, for instance, has a large stock of SCOTUS clerks). There are probably a couple other good lit boutiques that I just don't remember off the top of my head.

If OP wants white collar lit, s/he should also look at Kobre & Kim and Zuckerman Spaeder.

Anonymous User wrote:@Metaread, are you referring to the top 25 firms or the other firms?

Referring to the top 25.