Legal 500 has launched its 2025 US research, with Latham & Watkins, Kirkland & Ellis and Simpson Thacher emerging as the firms with the most tier 1 rankings in our definitive research into the best performing firms in the world’s largest legal market.
The latest rankings shows that over 340 firms have won rankings for their work across more than 120 different practice areas -an increase of nearly 4% on last year’s research. In total the latest research includes more than 3,500 unique rankings.
Top five firms by tier 1 ranking
| Firm | T1 rankings | Change year-on-year |
|---|---|---|
| Latham & Watkins | 59 | +3 |
| Kirkland & Ellis | 31 | +2 |
| Simpson Thacher | 24 | +2 |
| Cleary Gottlieb | 21 | — |
| Davis Polk | 18 | +1 |
Latham tops the table for tier one rankings by a significant distance, with its three additional rankings taking the firm to 59 T1 rankings, ahead of second-placed Kirkland, which has 31 top-tier rankings. Latham’s new top tier rankings were in general commercial disputes, capital markets advice to underwriters, and a brand new commercial lending ranking covering advice to direct lenders/private credit. Kirkland, meanwhile, added new tier-1 rankings in securitization and patent litigation (International Trade Commission).
Simpson Thacher gained two additional top tier rankings to hold onto third place, while Cleary remained in fourth with 21 rankings. Davis Polk is new in the top five after securing one additional T1 ranking to take it to 18. The firm has replaced Gibson Dunn, which went from 19 top-tier rankings last year to 17 this year, after the rankings for climate change litigation and congressional investigations were discontinued.
A total of 16 firms had 10 or more tier-1 rankings, down from 18 last year.
Top five firms by total rankings
| Firm | Total rankings | Change year-on-year |
|---|---|---|
| Latham & Watkins | 78 | +3 |
| DLA Piper | 70 | +5 |
| Mayer Brown | 69 | -1 |
| Morgan Lewis | 67 | — |
| Kirkland & Ellis | 64 | +1 |
Looking at total rankings brings other firms into the top five. While Latham also came first for total rankings with 78, DLA Piper comes in second, after climbing two spots thanks to the addition of five new rankings, taking its tally to 70. The increase nudges Mayer Brown into third place, down one ranking to 69.
Morgan Lewis features in fourth place with 67 rankings, while Kirkland rounds out the top five, up one ranking to a total of 64.
T1 and T2 firms for private credit
| Tier | Firm |
|---|---|
| Tier 1 | Davis Polk |
| Latham & Watkins | |
| Milbank | |
| Tier 2 | Paul Hastings |
| Paul Weiss | |
| Proskauer | |
| Simpson Thacher | |
| Skadden | |
| White & Case |
The US rankings also include a new category, recognising firms and lawyers for their expertise in private credit for the first time. The commercial lending: advice to direct lenders/private credit table features 29 firms across five tiers, with Davis Polk, Latham, and Milbank in tier 1, and a further six firms in tier 2.
The new ranking reflects the growing importance of private credit, which has gone from a multibillion-dollar to a trillion-dollar market over the last decade, becoming increasingly central to a range of legal work.
A total of 18 lawyers are also individually recognised in the private credit ranking, with four from Latham, three from Milbank, and two apiece from Davis Polk (both partners) and Winston & Strawn (both associates).
Five lawyers are ranked in the private client Hall of Fame: global hybrid capital practice head Stelios Saffos and global banking practice vice chair Alfred Xue and chair Daniel Seale from Latham, Davis Polk finance partner Nicholas Palumbo, and Proskauer global finance practice co-head Justin Breen.
Firms with most individual ranked lawyers for private credit
| Firm | Individual rankings | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Latham & Watkins | 4 | Hall of Fame (3); leading partners (1) |
| Milbank | 3 | Leading partners (3) |
| Davis Polk | 2 | Hall of Fame (1); leading partners (1) |
| Winston & Strawn | 2 | Leading associates (2) |
