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Smaller firms often outscore larger ones on our annual survey of midlevel job satisfaction. It may be because a more intimate atmosphere breeds happiness. Maybe it’s because associates have more responsibility. Perhaps it’s because they have a better chance of making partner. In these charts, firms are grouped roughly according to size. In the first category are firms whose annual gross revenues are too low to qualify for the Am Law 200. These are the smallest firms that took part in our survey. In the second category are Am Law Second Hundred firms—numbers 101-200 on the most recent Am Law 200 survey (July.) In the final category are firms that appear on our most recent Am Law 100 (May) or Global 100 (October 2008) survey.

For a full methodology, click here. Non-Am Law 200 Firms Rank Firm Location Overall Score 1 Nutter McClennen Boston 4.607 2 Miles & Stockbridge Baltimore 4.540 3 Benesch, Friedlander Cleveland 4.287 4 Schnader Harrison Philadelphia 4.278 5 Susman Godfrey Houston 4.233 6 Linquist & Vennum Minneapolis 4.183 7 Harter, Secrest Rochester, New York 4.173 8 Stites & Harbison Louisville 3.992 9 Strasburger & Price Dallas 3.981 10 Lewis and Roca Phoenix 3.942 10 Young Conaway Wilmington 3.942 12 Carter Ledyard New York 3.915 13 Stradley Ronon Philadelphia 3.893 14 Morris, Nichols Wilmington 3.858 15 Nossaman Los Angeles 3.794 16 Montgomery, McCracken Philadelphia 3.617 Am Law Second Hundred Rank Firm Location Overall Score 1 Patterson, Belknap New York 4.349 2 Thompson Hine Cleveland 4.292 3 Thompson Coburn St. Louis 4.280 4 Vedder, Price Chicago 4.251 5 Chapman and Cutler Chicago 4.235 6 McKee Nelson Washington, D.C. 4.199 7 Quarles & Brady Milwaukee 4.161 8 Brown Rudnick Boston 4.101 9 Munger, Tolles Los Angeles 4.088 10 Haynes and Boone Dallas 4.087 11 Baker & Daniels Indianapolis 4.073 12 Hughes Hubbard New York 4.063 13 Holland & Hart Denver 4.049 14 Bracewell & Giuliani Houston 4.038 15 Irell & Manella Los Angeles 4.015 16 Fox Rothschild Philadelphia 3.986 17 Barnes & Thornburg Indianapolis 3.979 18 Fenwick & West Mountain View, California 3.966 19 Frost Brown Cincinnati 3.965 20 Cozen O’Connor Philadelphia 3.960 21 Manatt, Phelps Los Angeles 3.936 22 Andrews Kurth Houston 3.924 23 Michael Best Milwaukee 3.914 24 Arent Fox Washington, D.C. 3.913 25 Snell & Wilmer Phoenix 3.888 26 Robins, Kaplan Minneapolis 3.878 27 Gibbons Newark 3.856 28 Davis Wright Seattle 3.851 29 Crowell & Moring Washington, D.C. 3.841 30 Thompson & Knight Dallas 3.834 31 Dow, Lohnes Washington, D.C. 3.827 32 Foley Hoag Boston 3.809 33 Williams Mullen Richmond 3.807 34 Schiff Hardin Chicago 3.786 35 Carlton Fields Tampa 3.738 36 Wiley Rein Washington, D.C. 3.737 37 Saul Ewing Philadelphia 3.707 38 Nelson Mullins Columbia, South Carolina 3.673 39 Kelley Drye New York 3.666 40 Porter Wright Columbus 3.625 41 Akerman Senterfitt Miami 3.576 42 Wolf, Block Philadelphia 3.497 43 Luce, Forward San Diego 3.463 44 Day Pitney Hartford 3.419 45 Loeb & Loeb Los Angeles 3.370 46 Vorys, Sater Columbus 3.299 Am Law 100 and Global 100 Firms Rank Firm Location Overall Score 1 Finnegan, Henderson Washington, D.C. 4.444 2 Faegre & Benson Minneapolis 4.405 3 Gibson, Dunn National 4.311 4 Latham & Watkins National 4.300 5 Cleary, Gottlieb New York 4.261 6 Arnold & Porter Washington, D.C. 4.230 7 Ropes & Gray Boston 4.175 8 Weil, Gotshal New York 4.137 9 Fish & Richardson National 4.104 10 Sullivan & Cromwell New York 4.069 11 Patton Boggs Washington, D.C. 4.067 12 Covington & Burling Washington, D.C. 4.063 13 Cooley Godward Palo Alto 4.056 14 Pepper Hamilton Philadelphia 4.048 15 Allen & Overy International 4.046 16 Wachtell New York 4.045 17 Alston & Bird Atlanta 4.041 18 Hogan & Hartson National 4.040 19 Morgan, Lewis National 4.039 20 Paul, Weiss New York 4.021 21 Sonnenschein National 4.014 22 Morrison & Foerster San Francisco 4.008 23 Howrey National 3.993 24 Ballard Spahr Philadelphia 3.988 24 Proskauer Rose New York 3.988 24 Reed Smith National 3.988 27 Kirkland & Ellis National 3.970 28 DLA Piper US National 3.962 29 Mintz, Levin Boston 3.956 30 Dickstein Shapiro Washington, D.C. 3.955 31 Davis Polk New York 3.949 32 Goodwin Procter Boston 3.938 33 Orrick National 3.930 34 Kilpatrick Stockton Atlanta 3.928 35 Debevoise & Plimpton New York 3.923 36 Wilmer National 3.918 37 Duane Morris National 3.913 37 Heller Ehrman San Francisco 3.913 39 Willkie Farr New York 3.903 40 Bryan Cave St. Louis 3.896 41 Shook, Hardy Kansas City, Missouri 3.893 42 Bingham McCutchen National 3.890 43 Clifford Chance International 3.880 44 Perkins Coie Seattle 3.863 45 Holland & Knight National 3.859 46 Pillsbury Winthrop National 3.856 47 Linklaters International 3.853 48 Baker & McKenzie International 3.848 49 Jones Day National 3.847 49 Steptoe & Johnson Washington, D.C. 3.847 51 Kramer Levin New York 3.841 52 O’Melveny & Myers Los Angeles 3.838 53 Dorsey & Whitney Minneapolis 3.834 54 Vinson & Elkins Houston 3.813 55 Jenner & Block Chicago 3.808 56 Paul, Hastings National 3.806 57 Drinker Biddle Philadelphia 3.787 58 Winston & Strawn Chicago 3.785 59 Akin Gump National 3.779 60 Shearman & Sterling International 3.772 61 McDermott Will National 3.761 62 Sutherland Asbill Atlanta 3.760 63 Sidley Austin National 3.751 64 Cahill Gordon New York 3.738 64 Seyfarth Shaw National 3.738 66 King & Spalding Atlanta 3.727 66 Troutman Sanders Atlanta 3.727 68 Wilson Sonsini Palo Alto 3.715 69 Foley & Lardner Milwaukee 3.713 70 Cravath New York 3.703 70 Milbank, Tweed New York 3.703 72 Hunton & Williams Richmond 3.698 73 Sheppard, Mullin Los Angeles 3.694 74 Simpson Thacher New York 3.676 75 Mayer Brown National 3.668 76 Skadden National 3.666 77 Dewey & LeBoeuf New York 3.662 77 Schulte Roth New York 3.662 79 Chadbourne & Parke New York 3.658 80 Buchanan Ingersoll Pittsburgh 3.645 81 Katten Muchin Chicago 3.642 82 Blank Rome Philadelphia 3.639 83 White & Case International 3.627 84 Greenberg Traurig National 3.621 85 Venable Washington, D.C. 3.618 86 Baker Botts Houston 3.594 87 Nixon Peabody National 3.590 88 Fulbright & Jaworski Houston 3.552 89 Baker & Hostetler National 3.531 90 K&L Gates National 3.509 91 Fried, Frank New York 3.503 92 Kaye Scholer New York 3.492 93 Stroock & Stroock New York 3.407 94 Dechert National 3.403 95 Cadwalader New York 3.223 (The American Lawyer, August 2008)