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Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:18 pm**

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but what is the difference between Vault 100 firms and NLJ 250?

Are they just two separate rankings?

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:21 pm**

edit: n/m

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:25 pm**

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:28 pm**

thesealocust wrote:Vault 100: Vault, a company with no redeeming values except that they like ranking things, distributes a survey to attorneys. It asks for firms to be rated from 1-10 in terms of 'prestige'. Vault then lists the top 100 firms in that ranking. It is based on that single metric and nothing else.

NLJ 250: These are the 250 biggest law firms in the country. That's it, no other criteria. It's an ordinal list of... really big law firms.

Am Law (100? 250? I always forget) ranks firms based on their profits. I think it's overall, and not per partner, but I could be wrong.

Each ranking is shitty, but they will still give you a rough sense of who the Most Prestigiousest firms are. Since they tend to be big, profitable, and held in high esteem.

This, but I think AmLaw is by per partner profits... but I'm too lazy to google it.

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 1:46 pm**

Vault has some good information in it if you actually read the descriptions of the firms (major cases, strengths, etc.). Probably the best source is Chambers though.

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:12 pm**

mallard wrote:Vault has some good information in it if you actually read the descriptions of the firms (major cases, strengths, etc.). Probably the best source is Chambers though.

yeh chambers is actually helpful if you know what area of interest you have because it ranks firms based on more general bands according to each area of law they practice and within geographic regions.

basing decisions on vault rankings is just a lazy way of determining which firms to work for. Sure the ones on the top will be more well known in the legal community but that doesn't mean they'll be the right fit for your goals.

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:13 pm**

This is especially true because some of the top firms produce good work by virtue of being sweatshops.

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:14 pm**

and have high PPP b/c they're so highly leveraged to the point where you have about a 1/25 shot of becoming partner as an associate.

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:14 pm**

I think Mallard is saying, and I agree, that the Vault rankings aren't always useful, but if you actually read some of the firm profiles and survey answer summaries, they can be helpful.

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:29 pm**

legends159 wrote:and have high PPP b/c they're so highly leveraged to the point where you have about a 1/25 shot of becoming partner as an associate.

lol yes, exactly. You don't want to be two years in and then realize your firm keeps showing up on ATL and almost nobody is made partner from within the firm, they're all laterals. (I've got a specific firm in mind...)

Posted: **Sat Jan 16, 2010 2:32 pm**

mallard wrote:almost nobody is made partner from within the firm, they're all laterals. (I've got a specific firm in mind...)

Do tell.

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