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I'm splitting this summer between a very highly ranked firm and a lower ranked firm. At both places, I will do patent law.
How does the rank of your firm affect your long-term career? Does it matter as much as law school rank? Do people not care at all but instead look at your book of business? Will it hinder exit/lateral opportunities?
The reason I ask is because the lower ranked firm may be a much better "fit."

If you're doing patents, then the reputation of each firm's patent department is what matters. Don't may pay too much attention to the general Vault ranking; these are mostly reflective of a firm's NYC corporate practice.

Law firm (and more importantly, practice area) reputation is critical for your career, but don't confuse that with rankings. Almost all rankings of law firms (by size, PPP, or 'prestige' surveys from vault) are garbage. The "rankings" of practice areas done by outfits like chambers & partners or industry/practice area specific publications can provide better info, but even that is hardly gospel.

Look at who the firm represents, what kind of work they do, and how well known the partners are. This is how you judge the reputation of a firm. As sealocust said, law firm rankings by Vault or other organizations really don't count for much.

Asking senior attorneys in my network really helped with this. Be careful asking younger attorneys—many have strong opinions, but sometimes they don't really know what they're talking about.