A RumLine Recruiters Company
NEW YORK MARKET
New York is the largest legal market by headcount in the country. It is the financial center of the US (and many would argue the world), so much of the practice is driven by corporate work and all of the firms located in NYC have financial institutions as clients. Other potential clients may include consumer products companies and retail companies. A high percentage of the most highly regarded firms in the world call New York home and many of the most high profile clients go there for legal services. These clients may be large or small, but they likely have needs that cross practice areas from transactional to regulatory to litigation. As a result, the firms that service these clients tend to offer a broad range of services in their New York office. The average headcount of NLJ 350 firms in this market is 101. There are 234 NLJ 500 firms in New York who employ 23,649 attorneys.
New York also has many types of firms – large, international firms with several offices as well as smaller, prestigious boutiques. Large New York firms set the market for associate compensation – not only for the city, but for other major legal markets across the country. However, outside New York, only a small handful of firms match the high end of the New York pay scale.
Market Practice
•Transactional (M&A and Private Equity)
•Commercial Finance
•Real Estate
•Investment Funds
•Capital Markets / Securities
•Litigation / White Collar Bankruptcy
•Venture Capital
•Privacy / Cybersecurity
•Commercial Litigation
LOS ANGELES MARKET
Legal work in California is driven by the tech companies, real estate and entertainment industries, but corporate work thrives there as well (especially in Southern California). California firms have relatively small classes of associates compared to New York (think 5-7 summer associates in a class), and the market is highly competitive. The cost of living remains high in California with costs of renting in San Francisco and LA being 1st and 5th in the country, respectively. San Francisco has only two firms with over 200 attorneys while Silicon Valley has only 1. LA has five firms with more than 200 attorneys (but only one exceeds 300 attorneys). Historically, LA has been a general practice legal market but the tech industry is bleeding south and growing a bit. San Francisco and Silicon Valley are still dominated by the tech industry.
Market Practice
•Intellectual Property: Especially in areas concerning electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biotech.
•Corporate and Private Equity
•Privacy and Cybersecurity
•Real Estate
•Employment
•Litigation
Tech work is hot in LA as well, not just in the Bay Area. This includes work in entertainment, gaming, cloud-based e-commerce, and social networks. Microsoft, Facebook and Google all have increased their office space there recently.
SAN FRANCISCO MARKET
Legal work in California is driven by the tech companies, real estate and entertainment industries, but corporate work thrives there as well (especially in Southern California). California firms have relatively small classes of associates compared to New York (think 5-7 summer associates in a class), and the market is highly competitive. The cost of living remains high in California with costs of renting in San Francisco and LA being 1st and 5th in the country, respectively. San Francisco has only two firms with over 200 attorneys while Silicon Valley has only 1. LA has five firms with more than 200 attorneys (but only one exceeds 300 attorneys). Historically, LA has been a general practice legal market but the tech industry is bleeding south and growing a bit. San Francisco and Silicon Valley are still dominated by the tech industry.
Market Practice
•Intellectual Property: Especially in areas concerning electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, and biotech.
•Corporate and Private Equity
•Privacy and Cybersecurity
•Real Estate
•Employment
•Litigation
Tech work is hot in LA as well, not just in the Bay Area. This includes work in entertainment, gaming, cloud-based e-commerce, and social networks. Microsoft, Facebook and Google all have increased their office space there recently.
CHICAGO MARKET
The economic and cultural capital of the Midwest, Chicago has a diversified and vibrant economy that drives the nation’s third-largest legal market. Chicago is home to a large number of Fortune 1000 companies (particularly in the manufacturing, transportation, food, and insurance industries), a growing tech sector, and a large and important financial market with five major exchanges.
The structure of Chicago’s legal market is multi-layered, with home and satellite offices of multi-national firms, regional powerhouses, mid-size Chicago-based firms, and highly selective litigation and patent boutiques all finding a home within. The largest Chicago-based firms have historically been (and continue to be) the market leaders, but focused growth by East and West Coast-based firms has begun to heighten the competition for local hegemony. Overall, 94 NLJ 350 law firms have offices in Chicago, 22 of which have their largest office in the city.
While Chicago’s reputation as a friendly Midwestern city is well-deserved and is reflected in the culture of many local offices, do not mistake it for a “quality-of-life” market. Billable hours requirements and expectations tend to mirror those in other major markets, including New York.
Market Practice:
•Corporate and Private Equity
•Intellectual Property
•Real Estate
•Restructuring
•Tax
•ERISA
•Litigation -
•White Collar
•Government Investigations
•Commercial Litigation
WASHINGTON DC MARKET
Start by considering two facts about Washington, DC: 1) it is home to the federal government, meaning that many of its departments, agencies, and contractors are based here as well; 2) DC has nine times more lawyers per capita than New York City – about 80,000 total in the DC region. These two facts, as you may surmise, are closely related. Legal practice in the region is defined by its relationship to government work: DC litigation often has a government-facing component to it, “regulatory” practices draw attorneys interested in become specialists in a particular field, and even corporate work may have more of a regulatory overlay when being done in a DC office. As you’ll see below, many of DC’s major practices call on lawyers to work within the regulatory regime created by the federal government. This often means a heightened emphasis on administrative law and a deeper dive into a specific field. A boutique law firm may handle, for instance, only transportation issues; another may focus on food and drug matters. Large firms will employ lawyers to guide clients through the regulatory maze as clients try to start, expand, and operate businesses. Government attorneys might litigate or engage in rulemaking at an agency that focuses on a particular area of law (e.g., Environmental Protection Agency; Health and Human Services; Housing and Urban Development).
A recent trend in the area is the expansion of the market in terms of law firms entering the picture. Many firms based outside DC are establishing or enlarging their DC footprint. As competition for business among law firms increases, it has become increasingly important to have attorneys inside the firm who can offer clients regulatory services; therefore, more players are entering the market. With law practice becoming increasingly international at the same time as more firms build up DC offices, the market is undergoing change and expansion.
Market Practice:
•Government Investigations – DC is a hub for this work, as many of the regulators are located here
•Litigation - Growth in this practice area is flat in many places, but it’s a big practice in DC. Don’t expect trial work unless you are working for the government or a public defender office.
•Privacy
•Intellectual Property
•Antitrust
•International Trade
•Finance
•M&A
•Healthcare
•Project Finance
•Real Estate
•ERISA
•FDA
TEXAS MARKET
Texas has the second largest population in the US and offers a variety of options in terms of law firms and practice areas. There are multiple distinct legal markets, and the largest are Houston and Dallas. Austin closely follows, but is very difficult to break into without very strong ties to the area. There are over 50 Fortune 500 companies with headquarters in Texas and 46 firms opened offices in Houston between 2001 and 2017; 29 firms opened offices in Dallas during that same period.
Houston is the 4th largest city in the US and is the largest city and legal market in Texas. It is known as the “Energy Capital of the World” and this industry drives much of the legal work in this city. Half of the Am Law 100 firms have offices here.
Dallas is the 9th largest city in the US, with the second largest legal market in Texas. Dallas also has a diverse legal market and is not as energy-dependent as Houston. The Dallas legal market is also relatively open to newcomers who do not have strong ties to Texas
Market Practice:
•Energy - Still a top practice area for corporate and litigation, although oil and gas work has slowed down this past year
•Litigation
•Corporate
•Healthcare (Dallas)
•Retail (Dallas)
•Real Estate
•Banking
•Finance
•Technology
•Tax