UniCourt Powers Insights on Law Firm Transparency Directory

Data is the foundational element in the legal industry pushing leaders forward for progress and providing increased transparency in the ever-evolving legal profession.

In the interests of transparency and our continued mission to improve access to legal data, UniCourt is excited to share that we’ve partnered with Above the Law to supply data for their recently released Law Firm Transparency Directory. 

This project with Above the Law has been a long time in the making. We’re thrilled to see it go live on their site, and look forward to working with them to support their Law Firm Transparency Directory.

To give added background on what’s available in the Directory, we’ll share which law firms were included, detail the legal data UniCourt provided on those firms and other data points we have available for download, give a snapshot of the financial and recruiting data supplied by Above the Law and Leopard Solutions, and end by telling more about how you can access data on law firms, attorneys, and their clients with UniCourt’s Legal Data as a Service. 

Law Firm Transparency Directory

The 50 law firms selected by Above the Law for its Law Firm Transparency Directory include a who’s who of AmLaw firms, white shoe New York firms, litigation powerhouses, M&A firms, and much more. 

Here’s the full list of law firms:

1. Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, & Feld LLP	26. Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP
2. Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer LLP	27. Morrison & Foerster LLP
3. Boies Schiller Flexner LLP	28. Munger, Tolles & Olson LLP
4. Cahill Gordon & Reindel LLP	29. Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP
5. Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP	30. Paul Hastings LLP
6. Cooley LLP	31. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
7. Covington & Burling LLP	32. Perkins Coie LLP
8. Cravath, Swaine & Moore LLP	33. Pillsbury Winthrop LLP
9. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP	34. Proskauer Rose LLP
10. Debevoise & Plimpton LLP	35. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
11. Fenwick & West LLP	36. Ropes & Gray LLP
12. Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett & Dunner LLP	37. Schulte, Roth & Zabel LLC
13. Fish & Richardson PC	38. Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton LLP
14. Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP	39. Sidley Austin LLP
15. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP	40. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP
16. Goodwin Procter LLP	41. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP
17. Hogan Lovells LLP	42. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
18. Irell & Manella LLP	43. Susman Godfrey LLP
19. Jenner & Block LLP	44. Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz
20. King & Spalding LLP	45. Weil, Gotshal & Manges, LLP
21. Kirkland & Ellis LLP	46. White & Case LLP
22. Latham & Watkins LLP	47. Williams & Connolly LLP
23. Mayer Brown LLP	48. Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP
24. McDermott Will & Emery LLP	49. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP
25. Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP	50. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, PC

Litigation Data on Law Firms

As part of our initial contribution to the Law Firm Transparency Directory, UniCourt provided Above the Law with litigation data for each of the 50 firms on their top three (1) most common federal case types, (2) most active federal jurisdictions, and (3) most frequent federal litigation clients for all U.S. District Courts in 2019. We’ll also be providing updated litigation data for 2020 in the coming weeks.

To illustrate the data available in the Directory and provide a fuller snapshot of law firm litigation profiles beyond the top three case types, jurisdictions, and clients, we’ve included here below the expanded profiles for Skadden, Morgan Lewis, and Kirkland & Ellis. We’ve also included bonus data points on each firm’s top U.S. District Court litigators, so you can see who their rainmakers were. 

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Top Jurisdictions: U.S. District Courts

1. Northern District of Texas: 133
2. Southern District of New York: 44
3. Northern District of California: 26
4. District of Delaware: 14
5. Eastern District New York: 12
6. District of Massachusetts: 11
7. Central District of California: 11
8. Northern District of Ohio: 9
9. District of District Of Columbia: 9
10. Southern District of Texas: 8

Top Case Types: U.S. District Courts

1. Personal Injury – Medical/Pharmaceutical Product Liability: 71
2. Personal Injury – Other Product Liability: 67
3. Finance – Security/Commodity/Exchange: 51
4. Other – Antitrust: 27
5. Bankruptcy – Other Bankruptcy: 25
6. Personal Injury – Other Personal Injury: 12
7. Contract – Other Contract: 7
8. Civil Right – Other Civil Right: 5
9. Property – Real Property Product Liability: 5
10. Property – Personal Property Fraud: 5

Top Corporate Clients: U.S. District Courts

1. Depuy Orthopaedics, Inc.: 135
2. Johnson & Johnson: 130
3. Depuy International Limited: 70
4. Depuy Products Inc.: 61
5. Willow Springs Solar 3, LLC: 18
6. Mojave Solar LLC: 18
7. First Solar Inc.: 18
8. Depuy Synthes Inc.: 18
9. Purdue Pharma LP: 16
10. The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc.: 16

Top Litigators: U.S. District Courts

1. Jessica D. Miller: 134
2. Scott D. Musoff: 20
3. Amy S. Park: 19
4. Noelle M. Reed: 19
5. John H. Beisner: 17
6. J. Eric Ivester: 16
7. James R. Carroll: 13
8. Lance A. Etcheverry: 11
9. Jay B. Kasner: 11
10. Caroline Williams Van Ness: 10

Morgan, Lewis & Bockius LLP

Top Jurisdictions: U.S. District Courts

1. Central District of California: 110
2. Southern District of New York: 93
3. Northern District of California: 82
4. Northern District of Ohio: 74
5. Southern District of Florida: 49
6. District of New Jersey: 46
7. Eastern District of Pennsylvania: 45
8. Northern District of Illinois: 36
9. District of Delaware: 28
10. Southern District of Texas: 24

Top Case Types: U.S. District Courts

1. Civil Right – Employment Discrimination: 122
2. Civil Right – Other Disability Discrimination: 111
3. Personal Injury – Medical/Pharmaceutical Product Liability: 101
4. Contract – Other Contract: 88
5. Labor – Other Labor: 54
6. Personal Injury – Other Personal Injury: 37
7. Personal Injury – Asbestos Product Liability: 36
8. Labor – Employee Benefit: 34
9. Intellectual Property – Patent: 33
10. Bankruptcy – Other Bankruptcy: 32

Top Corporate Clients: U.S. District Courts

1. Actavis LLC: 118
2. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.: 116
3. Actavis Pharma, Inc.: 99
4. Cephalon, Inc.: 99
5. Watson Laboratories, Inc.: 95
6. Watson Pharma, Inc.: 75
7. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries LTD.: 42
8. Amazon.com, Inc.: 41
9. BMW of North America, LLC: 41
10. RITE AID of Maryland, Inc.: 30

Top Litigators: U.S. District Courts

1. Michael Friel Fleming: 58
2. Jeff Goldman: 41
3. Molly Moriarty Lane: 32
4. Anne Marie Estevez: 27
5. Steven A. Reed: 24
6. Brian M. Ercole: 23
7. Ezra Dodd Church: 21
8. Esther Kyungmin Ro: 21
9. J. Kevin Fee: 20
10. Douglas T. Schwartz: 18

Kirkland & Ellis LLP

Top Jurisdictions: U.S. District Courts

1. Southern District of Illinois: 136
2. Northern District of Florida: 100
3. Northern District of Illinois: 56
4. Central District of California: 51
5. Eastern District of Louisiana: 48
6. Northern District of California: 42
7. Northern District of Ohio: 42
8. Southern District of New York: 41
9. Eastern District of Michigan: 31
10. District of Maine: 19

Top Case Types: U.S. District Courts

1. Personal Injury – Other Product Liability: 142
2. Personal Injury – Other Personal Injury: 136
3. Personal Injury – Medical/Pharmaceutical Product Liability: 50
4. Other – Environment: 47
5. Other – Racketeer Influenced & Corrupt Organizations Act: 34
6. Intellectual Property – Patent: 29
7. Bankruptcy – Other Bankruptcy: 28
8. Contract – Other Contract: 22
9. Property – Personal Property Fraud: 22
10. Other – Antitrust: 19

Top Corporate Clients: U.S. District Courts

1. Abbott Laboratories: 138
2. 3M Company: 120
3. Aearo Technologies LLC: 77
4. Allergan Finance LLC: 68
5. Actavis LLC: 65
6. Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: 60
7. BP Exploration & Production, Inc.: 49
8. BP America Production Company: 49
9. BP plc: 47
10. Allergan plc: 44

Top Litigators: U.S. District Courts

1. Martin R. Martos, II: 182
2. Kimberly O. Branscome: 110
3. Donna M. Welch: 70
4. J. Andrew Langan: 47
5. Renee D. Smith: 36
6. Katherine W. Warner: 26
7. Mark Edward McKane: 22
8. Michael Phillip Esser: 21
9. David Richard Seligman: 19
10. Allison A. Ray: 18

Insights from Leopard Solutions and Above the Law

In addition to highlighting the data UniCourt provided to power the Law Firm Transparency Directory, we also want to put a spotlight on the other insightful data points provided by Leopard Solutions and Above the Law. 

Leopard Solutions started in 2002 as a single database of New York Associates, and has grown into one of the most recognized legal market data providers in the United States. Leopard Solutions offers in-depth insights into the relative “health” of law firms, and was the principal data partner for the Law Firm Transparency Directory, providing data on (1) Top Feeder Schools, (2) Percentage of Women Partners, (3) Promotion Rate, and (4) Average Lawyer Tenure. 

For added background on the data provided by Leopard Solutions, here are the definitions included in Above the Law’s methodology for the Directory: 

• Promotion Rate is defined as the percentage of eligible members of an associate class promoted to partnership in the most recent year. 
• Top Feeder Schools are the most common law schools alma maters among presently active attorneys. 
• Average lawyer tenure refers to the average time employed at the firm of presently active attorneys. 
• Percentage of women partners is calculated as a proportion of the total U.S. attorney headcount. 

On top of the data provided by UniCourt and Leopard Solutions, Above the Law’s internal team also conducted research and polling to provide other additional data points to round out the law firm profiles: 

• U.S. Lawyer Headcount
• Headcount Change Since 2016
• Salary Scale
• Bonus Category
• Hours Required
• Revenue Per Lawyer Change Over Five Years (Source: The American Lawyer)

Leveraging Legal Data for Business Development & Intelligence

In the context of using legal data for business development and intelligence in the legal industry, innovation happens at the intersections. 

Just knowing the top case types, jurisdictions, clients, or litigators for a law firm isn’t enough. To really reach the insights needed for successful biz dev and competitive intelligence requires unlocking the connections between those data points and the broader universe of available data.

While it’s interesting to know that Kirkland & Ellis, the highest grossing law firm in the world, handled 34 RICO cases and 19 antitrust cases in 2019, to get a complete picture of the firm’s litigation profile, you’d want to know what clients they represented in those practice areas, which lawyers handled those cases, where those cases were litigated in the US, whether those volumes represent a year over year increase or decrease, and much more.

Similarly, if you were looking at a litigator like Skadden’s Jessica D. Miller as a lateral prospect for your firm, you’d also want to know more than just that she handled 134 new cases in U.S. District Courts in 2019. You’d want to know whether that high volume of cases came from one client or a diverse range of clients, whether she has a track record of overseeing large caseloads over time, and you’d also likely want to dig down deeper into some of her bigger cases to see how she managed those cases and how her clients fared in court.

With Legal Data as a Service, you can explore the intersections that matter to you to find new business opportunities, to make your legal recruiting more data driven, and to uncover strategic and tactical intelligence for your firm. UniCourt’s industry leading suite of Legal Data APIs give you the option to download all the structured law firm data, attorney data, client data, judge data, and court data you need, so you can drill down into those critical intersections and slice and dice the data for your own particular use cases.

Contact Us to learn more about accessing litigation data for firms included in the Law Firm Transparency Directory or to schedule a demo and see how easily you can download data in bulk via our Legal Data APIs.

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