The most prestigious. The highest-rated. The best firms to work for.  We have compiled all the info into one  handy guide on the 100 largest legal employers.

By Michelle Weyenberg

Students weighing their options for firm-life have a lot to consider before signing on the dotted line. With fall recruitment in full swing, now is the time for students to gather the facts.

Consistent with the relative strength of the overall legal economy, all of the markers that measure the strength of hiring new lawyers, such as recruiting for summer programs and summer program outcomes, remained strong over the last four years, though they have not matched the high levels seen 8-10 years ago, according to the National Association of Law Placement.

Based on information provided by NALP members about fall 2007 recruiting, the market for entry-level legal employment maintained its fast pace despite some overall weakening of the national and legal economies in late 2007. This is according to Perspectives on Fall 2007 Law Student Recruiting, an annual report on selected aspects of fall recruitment activity and the experiences of both legal employers and law schools published by NALP.

So from now until December, these firms will attempt to gain student interest. But what factors should you take into consideration before choosing the firm that best fits you?

Experts agree that your best option is to use all the information available. We pulled information from NALP, Vault and The American Lawyer and put it into one chart. In our Ultimate Guide to Legal Employers, we give you a one-stop shop to who’s hiring, the most prestigious, the best to work for and the highly rated.

How to read the chart

Overall, we ranked the Top 100 Legal Employers based on the total number of entry-level attorneys hired in 2007 per firm with information derived from NALP. Also listed is the total number of attorneys firm-wide.

In the chart, you’ll see that Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP is ranked No. 1 with a reported 263 entry-level attorneys hired in 2007. All of the firms in the Top 10 hired 100 or more entry-level attorneys.

In winter and spring 2007, Vault surveyed more than 18,800 associates at more than 167 major law firms across the country and asked them to rank firms in terms of how prestigious it would be to work for them.

An online survey asked attorneys to score each of the 167 law firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how prestigious it is to work for the firm. Associates were asked to ignore any firm with which they were unfamiliar and were not allowed to rank their own firm. Over 18,800 attorneys returned anonymous surveys to Vault.

In the Best Firms to Work For ranking, Vault analyzed their initial list of 167 firms using a formula that weighed the most relevant categories for an overall quality of life ranking. Each firm’s overall score was calculated using the following formula: 40 percent satisfaction, 10 percent hours, 10 percent pay, 10 percent associate/partner relations, 10 percent diversity, 10 percent formal training, 5 percent information training and 5 percent pro bono.

If you are looking for an overall rate of what summer and mid-level associates think of their firm, you can turn to The American Lawyer’s annual survey.

Judging from the scores that summer associates gave their firms (see the chart on page 32 and 34), most had a good time and some had a great time, according to the publication. The rankings are based on feedback from more than 7,300 law students, each of whom worked at least three weeks at one of these 169 law firms.

Scores are based on nine key areas, including the interest level of the work and how much of it was “real,” the training and guidance, interactions with partners and full-time associates, how well the firm communicated its goals, how accurately it portrayed itself in interviews, how it rated overall as a place to work, and the respondents’ inclination to accept a job if one were offered. All responses were scored on a 5-point scale, with 5 being the highest score.

The annual midlevel survey (see the chart) examined 11 areas that contribute to job satisfaction. They include relations with partners and other associates, the interest and satisfaction level associates have in their work, training and guidance, policy on billable hours, management openness about firm strategies and partnership chances, compensation and benefits and the respondents’ inclination to stay at their firm for at least two more years. Respondents graded their firms on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being the highest score.

For some law graduates, the top priority is the future — making partner at a good firm. Sometimes a search of available data can tell a lot about chances to make partner.

Many other factors can tip the balance from one employer to another in a job seeker’s decision-making process — whether an employer offers a variety of legal work, adequate training programs or bonuses. A firm that offers associates the chance to try different kinds of law could be the right choice for a law graduate who has not decided on a particular practice area.

Aside from all the rankings, the most important resource is the face-to-face meeting with an attorney.

The formal firm interview usually provides the biggest opportunity to get information. Candidates should remember that they are not on a simple fact-finding mission — the way they frame their questions can create a good or bad impression on employers. An equally important resource is talking to other attorneys at the office in a less formal setting.

The on-campus interview

Overall, rates of on-campus interviewing and participation in job fairs generally either increased or at least remained relatively constant. The average number of offers made by employers to current second-year law students for summer 2008 positions was 39 offers per firm, a level not seen since before 2001.

The acceptance rate for summer programs was very close to that of the prior year, at 29.1 percent. The median class size for summer 2007 was six, unchanged from summer 2006, although the average size increased from 11 to 13, driven by a few very large programs of more than 100. Among the report’s findings:

• Over half of schools reported an increase of 5 percent or more in the number of employers on campus, and 32 percent reported a change of less than 5 percent, according to NALP. These percentages varied somewhat by region.

• On the employer side, 39 percent reported visiting the same number of schools in their recruiting efforts. The nationwide median number of schools at which employers recruited was eight, with firms of 100 or fewer attorneys and those reporting from the Midwest and Southeast most likely to have maintained the number of schools they visited.

Fielding offers

Approximately 93 percent of summer program participants received an offer for an associate position, according to NALP, with 77 percent of these offers accepted. Both the offer and acceptance rates increased compared with 2006, when the figures were 91 percent and 73 percent, respectively.

Employers issued a median of 46 and an average of 93 callback invitations to current second-year students for summer 2008 programs. Nationwide, 72 percent of these callback invitations were accepted. Overall, 60 percent of callback interviews resulted in an offer, with a median of 15 offers per employer. About 29 percent of the offers made to Class of 2009 students for 2008 summer programs were accepted, a figure that has fluctuated some over the past 10 years and is now at a level similar to that of the late 1990s.

This level of callback activity is somewhat higher than in 2006, when the average and median number of callback invitations were 82 and 42, respectively. Despite the overall upward trend over the past seven years, the volume of interviewing has not yet returned to the level of 2000, when the average was 95 and the median was 55.

For large firms of 251 or more attorneys, about two-thirds of callback invitations to second-year students resulted in offers, compared with about 39 percent in firms of 100 or fewer attorneys. However, acceptance rates were higher at firms of 100 or fewer attorneys, almost half, compared with about 27 percent in firms of 251 or more attorneys.

Analyses at the city level revealed wide variations. For example, employers in New York City, not surprisingly, reported by far the highest level of activity in callback invitations and interviews of second-year students, making an average of 133 offers to second-year students for summer 2008.

About 38 percent of survey respondents, or 179 employers, reported recruiting of third-year students not previously employed by them. This level of activity is similar to that for the prior four years. However, it is not at the level of 1999 and 2000, when almost two-thirds of respondents recruited third-years.

What does the market look like?

The vast majority of Class of 2007 law school graduates — 91.9 percent — were employed as of February 15, 2008. This rate increased for the third year in a row and was at its highest in 20 years, according to findings reported in NALP’s newly released “Jobs & JD’s: Employment and Salaries of New Law Graduates — Class of 2007.”

Moreover, it was the first time since 2000 that the employment rate exceeded 91 percent. Since 1997 the employment market for new law graduates has remained relatively strong and remarkably stable, standing close to or above an 89 percent employment rate. It is also clear, however, that a strong employment market does not mean that every new graduate started work at a large firm at one of the much-publicized $160,000 salaries.

In fact, just 16 percent of salaries were $160,000. Far more, 38 percent, were $55,000 or less. Many more graduates started work in small firms of 50 or fewer lawyers or in non-firm settings than at firms of more than 100 lawyers.

Among the findings:

•Of the graduates for whom employment status was known, 76.9 percent obtained a job for which bar passage is required. An additional 7.7 percent obtained jobs for which a J.D. degree is preferred, or may even be required, but for which bar passage is not required.

•Similar to prior years, just over 2 percent of graduates for whom employment status was known were pursuing an advanced degree, typically an LL.M.

•The most common employment setting was that of private practice within a law firm. Of the graduates employed, 55 percent obtained their first job in a law firm.

From the outside, one law firm looks pretty much like another. Yet it’s the little differences between firms that can radically shape an associate’s experience.