A new survey from BTI Consulting Group asked 300 GCs in a free form question which law firms they would least like to see as opposing counsel. This year’s top four are, in alphabetical order: Dentons; Jones Day; Kirkland & Ellis; and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom.
Quinn Emanuel
Jones Day, Kirkland, and Skadden have all made the list in previous years, but the appearance of Dentons means Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has lost its seat on this high-powered train.
Unrelenting
So what is it about these firms that strikes fear in the hearts of GCs? Respondents highlighted a few things that the quartet has in common, the first of which, according to CEO Michael Rynowecer, is an unrelenting approach: ‘They have several strategies in place at once and keep coming at the issue. Not only do they overturn every rock, but they find new rocks to overturn and keep coming up with new ways to act in their clients’ interests.’
Other feared firms
Other firms feared by GCs included Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld; Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft; Cravath, Swaine & Moore; Davis Polk & Wardwell; Fish & Richardson; Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher; K&L Gates; Latham & Watkins; Morgan Lewis; Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman; and White & Case.
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