Honors and Awards — The American Lawyer

2007

A-List

Orrick made The American Lawyer's A-List, which measures the performance of Am Law 200 firms in four areas: revenue per lawyer, pro bono, associate satisfaction, and diversity. In The American Lawyer's own words, "This is the cream of the crop among the nation's elite law firms," and it is, by definition, difficult to make the cut: the A-List is composed of just 20 firms, or 10 percent of the Am Law 200."

Corporate Scorecard

The American Lawyer named Orrick one of the leading U.S. firms in its annual review of corporate practices.  The "Corporate Scorecard" cites Orrick as one of 15 firms with the most top-ten rankings in several transactional practice areas. This is the third consecutive year Orrick has placed among the firms with the most rankings.

Specific practices where Orrick was ranked among the leading firms include:

• Asset-Backed Securities, Issuer's Counsel
• Asset-Backed Securities, Underwriter's Counsel
• Mortgage-Backed Securities, Issuer's Counsel
• Mortgage-Backed Securities, Underwriter's Counsel
• Municipal Bonds, Underwriter's Counsel

The rankings are compiled using data from BankruptcyData.com, Corporate Control Alert, Dealogic, mergermarket and Thomson Financial.

2006

Litigation Department of the Year

Orrick was profiled in The American Lawyer's "Litigation Department of the Year" survey ("A Distinguished Dozen," January 2006), which focuses on the leading litigation practices in the United States. The list distinguishes "firms that made their mark in courtrooms across the country" between January 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005.

The publication highlighted several major Orrick litigation wins, including:

• the acquittal on securities and criminal conspiracy charges against the former chief financial officer for McKesson Corporation;
• the defeat of a $40 million patent infringement claim brought by a "patent troll;"
• a defense win in a rare securities class action bench trial; and
• a complete defense verdict from a Texas jury in an asbestos liability case involving more than $5 billion in potential damages.

Other Orrick wins mentioned include: a successful Daubert challenge in a case involving childhood vaccines which led to the dismissal of the case; and the procurement of a $325 million settlement payment to Orrick's client, which was the original defendant in the litigation before turning the tables on the plaintiff through aggressive counterclaims.

Midlevel Associates Survey

In the August results of The American Lawyer's "Midlevel Associates Survey," Orrick ranked 11th for "Best Places to Work" among New York law firms and 10th among the The Am Law 100 firms.

Mortgage-Backed Securities

Orrick ranked fifth as issuer's counsel and seventh as underwriter's counsel in the area of mortgage-backed securities.

Municipal Bonds

Orrick ranked fifth as underwriter's counsel and second as bond counsel in the nation, based on the number of issues (long-term new issues only).

This Year's Leaders: Firms with the Most Top Ten Rankings

Orrick tied for 10th place for the most top ten rankings (six) in this year's league tables.