What Is the Vault Law 100? A Student Guide to the Ranking Everyone Quotes

Vault is one of the most quoted rankings in BigLaw recruiting. Students say "V10," "V20," and "V100" as if those labels explain everything.

They do not.

The Vault Law 100 is useful, but only if you understand what it measures. Vault's own 2024 Law 100 methodology page describes the ranking as a national prestige ranking based on assessments by lawyers at peer firms. In other words, associates rate the reputation of firms other than their own.

That is very different from ranking firms by profits, training, hours, partnership odds, practice strength, or whether you would actually enjoy working there.

What Vault measures

Vault starts with a list of prominent law firms and surveys associates. The prestige score comes from how those associates rate other firms on a 1 to 10 scale. They are told not to rate their own firm and to skip firms they do not know.

The result is a peer-prestige ranking.

That explains why the same names stay near the top: Cravath, Wachtell, Skadden, Latham, Sullivan & Cromwell, Kirkland, Davis Polk, Paul Weiss, Simpson Thacher, Gibson Dunn, and similar firms. These are firms lawyers recognize quickly.

Prestige matters. It can affect exit options, lateral market signaling, clerkship perceptions, and how quickly a name registers with another lawyer.

But prestige is not fit.

What Vault does not measure

Vault's overall prestige list is not trying to answer the most personal questions:

• Will juniors get good training?
• Will I work mostly with one partner or many?
• Is the office I want actually important inside the firm?
• Is the practice group strong in my city?
• Are associates happy?
• Does the firm support clerking, pro bono, or parental leave?
• Will I be staffed in the work I came there to do?

Some of those questions show up in other Vault surveys, such as quality of life or practice-area rankings. They are still survey-based. Useful, but not complete.

Why students care so much about V10 and V20 labels

The labels are shorthand. They let students communicate quickly about broad prestige bands.

That shorthand can help when you are sorting a huge list. A V10 firm is probably a national elite firm. A V50 firm is still almost certainly a serious BigLaw platform. A V100 firm is still a major law firm by student-recruiting standards.

The mistake is treating the bands like a personal hierarchy.

If you want appellate litigation, Williams & Connolly or Gibson Dunn may matter more than a generic Vault band. If you want emerging companies and venture capital, Cooley's practice reputation can be more relevant than its overall prestige slot. If you want Texas energy work, the best answer may be a firm whose regional and practice reputation matters more than its national Vault number.

How to use Vault correctly

Use Vault for three things.

First, use it to understand market perception. If lawyers consistently rate a firm as prestigious, that tells you something about brand power.

Second, use it to spot practice-area leads. Vault's practice rankings can help you build a research list before you dig into Chambers, firm matters, and attorney bios.

Third, use it to prepare better interview questions. If a firm is high in prestige but lower in quality-of-life surveys, ask associates how staffing works. If a firm is high in a practice area you care about, ask how juniors enter that group.

Do not use Vault as a substitute for thinking.

What to say in interviews

Never tell a firm, "I am interested because you are ranked highly on Vault."

That answer says you did not research the firm. It also says your interest might disappear if the ranking changes.

Use Vault as a starting point, then turn it into something specific:

• "I noticed the firm is consistently recognized for securities litigation. I wanted to understand how junior associates enter that group."
• "Your New York reputation is obvious, but I am interested in how the D.C. office fits into the broader platform."
• "I saw the firm move in the corporate rankings, and I wanted to understand what kind of deal work juniors are seeing."

That is how rankings become useful.

Vault gives you a map of reputation. It does not tell you where to live.