More than 1,000 lawyers in key markets across the West Coast, Salt Lake City and Detroit have been recognised in Legal 500’s latest US Elite rankings.
This latest release is the largest set of US Elite rankings to date, with 1,111 leading lawyers at 348 firms receiving a ranking, including 249 firms that were not previously ranked by Legal 500.
The US Elite recognises the best lawyers at firms outside of the global elite, with dedicated rankings for the most prominent practice areas in a wide range of key markets across the country.
The first set of US Elite rankings was released by Legal 500 in February last year, recognising lawyers in New York, Chicago and Washington DC. These rankings were followed by Boston, Miami and Charlotte in April, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Ohio in June and key markets in Texas and the Midwest in October.
The latest Legal 500 US Elite rankings include:
- Los Angeles: commercial disputes
- Los Angeles: white collar crime
- Los Angeles: real estate
- Los Angeles: media and entertainment
- Los Angeles: corporate and M&A
- Los Angeles: IP
- Los Angeles: banking and finance
- Los Angeles: tax
- San Francisco: corporate and M&A
- San Francisco: finance and restructuring
- San Francisco: real estate
- San Francisco: data protection
- San Francisco: IP
- San Francisco: commercial disputes
- San Diego: real estate
- San Diego: corporate and M&A
- San Diego: commercial disputes
- Detroit: corporate and M&A
- Detroit: commercial disputes
- Portland: commercial disputes
- Portland: corporate and M&A
- Salt Lake City: commercial disputes
- Salt Lake City: corporate and M&A
- Salt Lake City: energy and natural resources
- Salt Lake City: IP
- Seattle: commercial disputes
- Seattle: corporate and M&A
- Seattle: real estate
Of all the new markets covered, Los Angeles was the biggest, with 381 individual lawyers recognised across eight practice areas, including key areas for the city including media and entertainment and intellectual property.
San Francisco was the second largest ranking, with 251 lawyers across six practice areas, with key areas for the tech-focused market including intellectual property and data protection.
Top Performers
The firm that achieved most rankings across the entire cohort was Greenberg Glusker, a single-office full-service firm headquartered in Los Angeles, with 27 lawyers ranked across seven of LA’s eight practice areas, including 14 in tier 1.
The other top firms in the Los Angeles rankings were LA-founded US national firm Buchalter, with 20 ranked lawyers including nine tier 1, and Glaser Weil, another LA-bred full-service firm with four offices across California, which notched 16 individual rankings, with 13 in tier 1.
Elsewhere in California, in San Francisco, SF-based Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass scored highest, with 16 rankings in total, including 3 in tier 1. Second place went to fellow San Francisco full-service firm Shartsis Friese, which came just below with 15 individual rankings, five of which were in tier 1.
The final rankings in California were for San Diego, and here Procopio saw the most lawyers ranked, with nine individuals recognised, of which four were in tier 1.
In Detroit, Honigman, a full-service firm founded in the city, came out on top, with seven lawyers receiving a ranking, all bar one of which were in tier 1.
Seattle-headquartered Foster Garvey and Oregon-headquartered Miller Nash shared the top spot in the Portland rankings, each with seven rankings. Foster Garvey also performed well in Seattle, where it topped the rankings with 10 lawyers recognised, including two in tier 1.
Finally, in Salt Lake City, top spot went to Parsons Behle & Latimer, a locally headquartered firm with offices across Utah and into Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. The firm saw 15 lawyers recognised across commercial disputes, corporate and M&A, and natural resources & environment,
Also performing well in the Utah capital was Dorsey & Whitney, a full-service firm founded in Minneapolis with a raft of offices across the US, Canada, China, and London. The firm received 14 rankings across all four of the Salt Lake City practice areas, including six in tier 1.
Legal 500 is continuing to build out its US Elite coverage, with rankings covering key markets across the country. Check the US Elite page to learn more.
Top performing firms by ranking
| Location | Practice | Firm | Rankings |
|---|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | Banking and finance | Greenberg Glusker | 4 |
| Banking and finance | Frandzel Robins | 4 | |
| Commercial disputes | Susman Godfrey | 5 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Buchalter | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Greenberg Glusker | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Massumi + Consoli | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Rutan & Tucker | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Stubbs Alderton | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Thompson Coburn | 4 | |
| IP | Doniger / Burroughs | 4 | |
| IP | Glaser Weil | 4 | |
| IP | Irell & Manella | 4 | |
| IP | Lowenstein & Weatherwax | 4 | |
| IP | Munger, Tolles & Olson | 4 | |
| IP | Russ August & Kabat | 4 | |
| IP | Rutan & Tucker | 4 | |
| Media and entertainment | Greenberg Glusker | 5 | |
| Real estate | Greenberg Glusker | 5 | |
| Real estate | Manatt, Phelps & Phillips | 5 | |
| Tax | Greenberg Glusker | 4 | |
| Tax | De Castro, West, Chodorow, Mendler, & Glickfield | 4 | |
| White collar crime | Bienert Katzman Littrell Williams | 4 | |
| White collar crime | Bird Marella | 4 | |
| San Francisco | Commercial disputes | Alto Litigation | 4 |
| Corporate and M&A | Coblentz | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Gunderson Dettmer | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Cox, Castle & Nicholson | 4 | |
| Corporate and M&A | Shartsis Friese | 4 | |
| Data protection | Lieff Cabraser | 4 | |
| Finance and restructuring | Pachulski Stang Ziehl & Jones | 5 | |
| IP | Bozicevic, Field & Francis | 4 | |
| Real estate | Coblentz | 5 | |
| Real estate | Cox, Castle & Nicholson | 5 | |
| Real estate | Shartsis Friese | 5 | |
| Real estate | SSL Law Firm | 5 | |
| San Diego | All | Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch | 9 (four commercial litigation, three corporate and M&A, two real estate) |
| Detroit | All | Honigman | 7 (four commercial disputes, three corporate and M&A) |
| Portland | All | Foster Garvey | 7 (four commercial disputes, three corporate and M&A) |
| All | Miller Nash | 7 (three commercial disputes, four corporate and M&A) | |
| Salt Lake City | All | Parsons Behle & Latimer | 15 (two commercial disputes, two corporate and M&A, four IP, seven natural resources and environment) |
| Seattle | All | Foster Garvey | 10 (two commercial disputes, four corporate and M&A, four real estate) |
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