Welcome to The Legal 500 United States.

Current rankings and information online are taken from The Legal 500 United States 2024 edition, which was published on 12 June 2024. Please use the menu to navigate through the practice areas.

The US edition of The Legal 500 is now in its 17th year and, like the other established editions of the guide, is relied upon by millions of buyers of legal services worldwide when they need to instruct outside counsel.

What’s new in the 2024 edition?

In the latest 2024 edition of the Legal 500 United States, we are delighted to have continued the expansion of our coverage of the US legal market, highlighting new trends and developments across the jurisdiction’s elite firms.

We are pleased to recognize a total of 313 firms in this year’s edition, including members of the Amlaw 100 – showcasing our commitment to recognizing firms handling high-level, nationally significant work across practice areas.

Individual recognitions have shot up in the new rankings, including a grand total of 246 new Leading Individuals – an increase of 14%. We are also delighted to rank 15 new Rising Stars – an increase of 5%.

The basis for inclusion

Our team of experienced researchers – which includes both qualified journalists and lawyers – spend several months each year conducting in-depth research into the market. The primary source of our information is the law firms themselves, and the information they provide is often not for public consumption. This allows us to properly assess them against one another, practice area by practice area. We also gather feedback from peers and clients to assess their overall visibility and reputation. The process culminates in detailed rankings and editorial, providing buyers of legal services with an objective analysis of the US market that is updated annually.

Elite approach

Where other guides to the market seek to be exhaustive, we are exclusive, deliberately focusing on the true superstars of the profession. We organise each practice area into a single national ranking, eschewing a state-by-state approach. Only a small number of firms in the US have a truly national presence coupled with the capability to handle sophisticated and complex work; these are the ones we choose to highlight here. This is not a game of numbers – indeed many of the firms included are small, single-office firms – but simply a question of quality.

Emphasis on teams, not individuals

With the notable exception of our leading trial lawyers list, we do not rank individual lawyers. We do highlight certain key individuals within the editorial paragraphs and in our individual rankings, but our principal aim is to provide a snapshot of the market based on our assessment of the overall strength and depth of a practice group.

As your US editor, I would welcome your feedback and ideas about how we can further develop the rankings and evolve the guide to ensure it appropriately reflects this largest legal market in the world. Please do get in touch.

Barnaby Merrill

Editor, The Legal 500 United States

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