Norton Rose Fulbright and DLA Piper have powered past Magic Circle firms in a league table which claims to identify the "world's strongest law brands".

The rankings are based on a survey of 1,185 "senior legal buyers across the world's largest multinantionls". Interviewees were asked to name the first law firms to come to mind, those most considered for multi-jurisdictional deals, those most considered for multi-jurisdictional litigation and those they felt most favorable towards. In other words, the firm which provided the branded mousemat they stared at during the call.

    "And when I say 'bill', what's the first thing that comes to mind?"

For the fifth year running, and ever since the survey began, Baker & McKenzie came top. Which is perhaps not surprising given that it is the world's biggest firm by revenue. Chairman Eduardo Leite emphasised his firm's size in a statement that stopped just shy of pulling it out and slapping it on the table, expressing what an honour it was to be selected "on behalf of all the 10,900 people of Baker & McKenzie".

But there was a shake-up in other top spots in the survey, which leans heavily towards firms with a strong US presence. Thanks to its international mergers, Norton Rose Fulbright took bronze for the first time, while DLA Piper moved up from fifth to fourth. Their rise displaced Magic Circle firms Linklaters, Freshfields and Allen & Overy, though Clifford Chance kept its spot at number two.



Meanwhile Slaughter and May, despite being a sterling brand within the UK, was almost invisible in 19th place. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing in what is essentially a poll of name recognition. After all, everyone's heard of ebola and the Krays, but you wouldn't want them showing up for tea.
 
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Comments

Anonymous 03 October 14 10:59

Who can it be that neither Bond Dickinson nor Pennington Manches made this list when their brands are in the top 25 most admired of all companies, not just law firms? #Baffling

Anonymous 03 October 14 11:24

RoF, when you are using someone else's information, please can you say who it is (in this case, Acritas) or link to it. Thanks

Anonymous 04 October 14 00:58

Surely a better way to analyse this would be to take into account the size of the firm so that the brands which are doing well are those which are disproportionately well known.