V100 vs. AmLaw 200: What Do Law Firm Rankings Actually Mean?

One of the first things you will notice as an incoming law student is that everyone talks about law firm rankings, and nobody agrees on which ranking matters. You will hear people say things like "that is a V10 firm" or "they are AmLaw 50 but not really elite" or "Chambers Band 1 in M&A" and you are supposed to nod along like you know what any of that means.

Here is what all of these rankings actually measure, where they are useful, and where they are misleading.

Vault 100: The prestige ranking

The Vault ranking is based on surveys of associates at other firms. Vault asks lawyers to rate firms on a scale of 1 to 10, specifically excluding their own firm. So the Vault ranking is essentially a measure of peer reputation. Which firms do lawyers at other firms respect the most?

The top of the Vault ranking has been remarkably stable for years:

1. Cravath, Swaine & Moore
2. Sullivan & Cromwell
3. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
4. Davis Polk & Wardwell
5. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom

When law students say "V10" they mean the top 10 firms on the Vault ranking. "V20" means top 20, and so on.

Where Vault is useful: It gives you a general sense of how prestigious a firm is perceived to be by the legal industry. If you care about brand name and resume signaling, the Vault ranking is relevant.

Where Vault is misleading: Prestige does not equal quality of life, training, or even the quality of work in a specific practice area. A V5 firm might have a mediocre restructuring practice while a V40 firm is the best in the country at it. Vault also tends to favor New York-headquartered firms and older, established names.

AmLaw 100/200: The money ranking

The American Lawyer ranks firms by financial performance. The two most commonly cited metrics are:

• Gross revenue. How much money the firm brought in total.
• Profits per partner (PPP). How much each equity partner takes home after expenses.

The AmLaw 100 is the top 100 firms by revenue, and the AmLaw 200 extends to 200. The biggest firms by revenue include Kirkland & Ellis, Latham & Watkins, and DLA Piper, all of which generate well over $5 billion annually.

Where AmLaw is useful: Revenue and profitability tell you about the economic health of a firm. A firm with high PPP can afford to pay market salaries, invest in technology and training, and generally run a more stable business. If a firm is not on the AmLaw 200, it is likely a regional or smaller firm that may not pay market rates.

Where AmLaw is misleading: Revenue does not tell you about culture, work quality, or prestige. Some very profitable firms have miserable associate satisfaction. And the revenue numbers can be inflated by large headcounts. A 4,000-lawyer firm will naturally have higher gross revenue than a 300-lawyer firm, but the 300-lawyer firm might be more profitable per person.

Chambers: The practice area ranking

Chambers is the ranking that matters most for understanding what a firm actually does well, and it is the one that law students pay the least attention to.

Chambers sends researchers to interview clients, partners, and associates about specific practice groups in specific geographies. They then rank firms in each practice area on a scale of Band 1 (the very best) to Band 6, with Band 1 being the most elite.

For example, you might see that Sullivan & Cromwell is Band 1 for M&A Nationwide, while Kirkland & Ellis is Band 1 for Private Equity Nationwide. That tells you something genuinely useful about where each firm's strengths lie.

Chambers also ranks by geography. A firm might be Band 1 in California for litigation but Band 3 Nationwide. This matters if you plan to practice in a specific market.

Where Chambers is useful: It is the most granular and practice-specific ranking. If you know you want to do restructuring, looking at which firms are Band 1 in Chambers for restructuring will tell you more than any Vault ranking.

Where Chambers is misleading: The bands can be confusing. A firm that is Band 2 is still excellent. And Chambers does not rank every practice area at every firm, so the absence of a ranking does not mean the firm is bad at something.

You can see Chambers rankings for every practice area on the BigLaw Bear firm directory. When you filter by a practice area, firms automatically sort by their Chambers band.

So which ranking should you use?

For general prestige and resume value: Look at Vault. If a firm is V20 or higher, it carries significant brand recognition.

For financial stability and compensation: Look at AmLaw. If a firm is AmLaw 100, it almost certainly pays market rate.

For practice area strength: Look at Chambers. This is where you figure out which firms are actually the best at the type of law you want to practice.

For overall assessment: Use all three together. A firm that is V30, AmLaw 50, and Band 1 in Chambers for your preferred practice area is probably a great fit. A firm that is V5 but Band 4 in your practice area might not be.

The mistake most students make is obsessing over one ranking, usually Vault, and ignoring the others. The truth is that a V50 firm that is Chambers Band 1 in your practice area will give you better training and better work than a V10 firm where that practice area is an afterthought.

Rankings are a starting point, not a destination

Rankings can help you build a shortlist, but they cannot tell you which firm is right for you. Culture, people, geography, practice area fit, and work assignment systems all matter more for your actual day-to-day happiness than whether a firm is ranked 15th or 25th on a prestige survey.

Use the BigLaw Bear directory to compare firms across all of these dimensions. Then, when OCI rolls around, you will be making informed decisions instead of guessing based on name recognition.