The recent release of Vault’s Top 25 Firms for Associates has named Paul Hastings as the new overall #1. The survey jumps Paul Hastings ahead of DC-based Williams & Connolly, which held the top spot last year. The remainder of the top 10, along with individual category winners and other notables are listed in the chart below:

RANK   FIRM                            CATEGORY WINS
1          Paul Hastings                 Overall Ranking; Hours
2          Ropes & Gray                 —
3          Williams & Connolly        Satisfaction; Culture; Work; Outlook; Relations; Hiring
4          Irell & Manella                 —
5          Gibson Dunn                  —
6          Foley Hoag                     —
7          Patton Boggs                  Pro Bono
8          Patterson Belknap           —
9          Fish & Richardson           —
10         Baker Donelson             Transparency
—          Quarles & Brady             Informal Training, Mentoring & Sponsorship
—          Wachtell                         Compensation

As you can see, even though Williams & Connolly fell from the top spot, the firm is still clearly doing right by its associates. It finished as the category winner in a whopping seven categories: satisfaction, culture, work, career outlook, business outlook associate/partner relations, hiring.

In a recent blog article for The Careerist by Vivian Chen, Chen spoke with Vault’s director of research, Vera Djordjevich, about the findings. Says Djordjevich, “I think there can be a perception that the firms that have the biggest and best-known names are great for an attorney’s resume but not the most pleasant workplaces, and our quality of life rankings demonstrate that isn’t necessarily the case…a lot of firms have it all—great reputation, quality work, congenial atmosphere, and partners who take associate development seriously.”

Chen goes on to note that Wachtell’s #1 ranking in pay is no surprise given profits per partner of $4,975,000. Interestingly, Quinn Emanuel is nowhere to be found in the top 25, which is somewhat shocking given similar sky high profits per partner of $4,435,000. Chen also gave special recognition to New York-based Patterson Belknap’s for their appearance in the top 10 at #8. Not bad in the city that never sleeps—their associates seem to be sleeping just fine.