What do associates at major law firms care about more than money? Prestige. But in times like these, when Biglaw firms are signing away their very legacies to appease Donald Trump’s unconstitutional whims, being a leader when it comes to compensation may not be enough to rescue a firm’s floundering prestige. Except, of course, when the surveys for the most consequential ranking on prestige, the Vault 100, were due a single day after the first major firm kissed Trump’s ring on March 20. As luck would have it, lawyers sending in their responses were blissfully unaware of what was yet to come. So, while the closely watched Vault rankings are here, they seem to reflect a time gone by, before some of the so-called most prestigious firms in the nation started flushing their reputations down a golden toilet.
While we predicted that at least several of the firms that signed deals with Trump could be negatively impacted in the Vault rankings, we suppose they’ll have to wait until next year to face the consequences of their actions. For now, travel with us through another dimension and suspend your disbelief as we examine a set of law firm rankings straight out of the Twilight Zone.
In last year’s Vault 100 rankings, Cravath — the firm that brought the associate salary scale all the way up to $415,000 back in February 2022 — managed to retain its number 1 spot, while Wachtell Lipton held steady in second place. Was Cravath able to keep its cachet as the most prestigious Biglaw firm in the country in this year’s Vault rankings?
Obviously. Cravath has now claimed a decade in the top spot in the Vault 100, which is a remarkable milestone. There was some movement when it came to the most elite firms in the rankings — including one major firm entering the Top 10 for the first time ever. Here are the Top 10 Most Prestigious Law Firms, based on Vault’s Annual Associate Survey for 2026.
Cravath Swaine & Moore
Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz
Skadden
Latham & Watkins
Kirkland & Ellis
Sullivan & Cromwell
Davis Polk & Wardwell
Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison
Milbank
Simpson Thacher
This is the eighth year in a row that the majority of these firms have been in the Top 10. As you can see, however, there were not only some fluctuations in rank among them, but one firm is also missing from the usual suspects, while a new one has entered to take its place. Kirkland switched places with SullCrom, and Gibson Dunn lost its place in the Top 10 to Milbank, debuting at No. 9 after introducing special bonuses to Biglaw in 2024 that eventually caught on like wildfire.
Yes, more than half of the firms in the Top 10 inked deals with Trump, but we will again note that Vault’s survey was conducted from January 28, 2025 to March 21, 2025, which left the platform unable to capture the battle for the rule of law in America. We still love Vault, but we will have to wait until next year to see how the response to Trump’s revenge tour against lawyers and law firms impacts Biglaw associates’ assessment of law firms.
Click here to see the rest of Vault’s prestige rankings.
Congratulations to all of the Biglaw firms that made the latest edition of the Vault 100 rankings. How did your firm do this time around? Email us, text us at (646) 820-8477, or tweet us @atlblog to let us know how you feel.
Vault’s Top 100 Law Firms For 2025 [Vault]
VAULT LAW RELEASES 2026 RANKINGS FOR ITS TOP 100 LAW FIRMS, BEST LAW FIRMS BY REGION, AND BEST LAW FIRMS BY PRACTICE AREA [PR Newswire]
Staci Zaretsky is a senior editor at Above the Law, where she’s worked since 2011. She’d love to hear from you, so please feel free to email her with any tips, questions, comments, or critiques. You can follow her on Bluesky, X/Twitter, and Threads, or connect with her on LinkedIn.
