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Top BigLaw Firms for Banking & Finance

Drafting and tracking credit agreements, security documents and closing checklists for loans and acquisition financings, representing lenders or borrowers. Chambers USA 2026 ranks 42 firms in our directory nationwide for banking and finance, 7 of them in Band 1. Pick a city for the local tables.

Ranked nationwide
42
Cities with 3+ ranked firms
26

Banking & Finance by city

Ranked nationwide, Chambers USA 2026

  1. 1.Latham & Watkins LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  2. 2.Kirkland & Ellis LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  3. 3.Davis Polk & Wardwell LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  4. 4.Milbank LLPFirst-year base $235,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  5. 5.Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  6. 6.Paul Hastings LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  7. 7.Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 1 · Banking & Finance
  8. 8.Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 2 · Banking & Finance
  9. 9.Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 2 · Banking & Finance
  10. 10.White & Case LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 2 · Banking & Finance
  11. 11.Ropes & Gray LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 2 · Banking & Finance
  12. 12.Debevoise & Plimpton LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 2 · Banking & Finance
  13. 13.Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 3 · Banking & Finance
  14. 14.Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 3 · Banking & Finance
  15. 15.Sidley Austin LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 3 · Banking & Finance
  16. 16.Proskauer Rose LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 3 · Banking & Finance
  17. 17.Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & KatzFirst-year base $450,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  18. 18.Sullivan & Cromwell LLPFirst-year base $235,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  19. 19.Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  20. 20.Goodwin Procter LLPFirst-year base $255,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  21. 21.Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  22. 22.King & Spalding LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  23. 23.Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  24. 24.Mayer Brown LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  25. 25.Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  26. 26.Dechert LLPFirst-year base $225,000Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  27. 27.A&O Shearman LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  28. 28.McGuireWoods LLPFirst-year base $215,000Band 4 · Banking & Finance
  29. 29.Cooley LLPFirst-year base $255,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  30. 30.Jones DayFirst-year base $240,000Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  31. 31.Morrison & Foerster LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  32. 32.Winston Taylor LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  33. 33.DLA Piper LLP (US)First-year base $225,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  34. 34.McDermott Will & Schulte LLPFirst-year base $255,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  35. 35.Holland & Knight LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  36. 36.Vinson & Elkins LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  37. 37.Greenberg Traurig, LLPFirst-year base Varies by officeBand 5 · Banking & Finance
  38. 38.Alston & Bird LLPFirst-year base $225,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  39. 39.Katten Muchin Rosenman LLPFirst-year base $235,000+Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  40. 40.Haynes and Boone, LLPFirst-year base $225,000Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  41. 41.Blank Rome LLPFirst-year base $210,000Band 5 · Banking & Finance
  42. 42.Husch Blackwell LLPFirst-year base $200,000Band 5 · Banking & Finance

Is banking and finance a fit?

Who tends to thrive

  • Precise drafters who like getting the details exactly right
  • People who enjoy capital structure and how companies borrow
  • Those who like repeat clients and recognizable deal patterns

What a 1L can do this year

  • Take Secured Transactions (UCC Article 9) when you can
  • Read a public company's credit agreement filed with the SEC to see the structure
  • Ask finance associates how lender-side and borrower-side work differ
Not sure this practice fits? Take the quiz Filter the directory by banking and finance

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