Ranking the most liberal and conservative law firms among the top 140, 2021 edition
One of my most popular posts remains “Ranking the most liberal and conservative law firms.” That post is from 2013, and an update is long overdue.
At the outset, “ranking” a firm or calling it “conservative” or “liberal” is imperfect, I know, but I picked a title eight years ago and I’m sticking with it…. Better to call it, “which law firms contribute the most to Democrats or Republicans.” But I am updating the methodology, and I look forward to doing some even more interesting things with the data in the short term.
First, I looked at 140 law firms. I broke them out into two groups. The first are the AmLaw 100. The second are a group of 40 firms that fit the NLJ500 or Legal 500 plaintiffs’ firms. (Two firms appear in both lists, Paul Weiss and Quinn Emanuel.)
Second, unlike my 2013 ranking (where I looked at contributions to Barack Obama’s or Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns), I expanded the window. This time, I focused on contributions to the Joe Biden campaign (including “victory fund) and the Donald Trump campaign (including “victory fund” and “Make America Great Again Committee”); the major party organizations (DCCC, DSCC, DNC, NRCC, NRSC, and RNC); and two major aggregators of campaign contributions, ActBlue (Democratic) and WinRed (Republican). There’s a little asymmetry here—Trump had four years of campaigning to Biden’s shorter window, ActBlue is more established than WinRed, etc.—but I think it evens out. These accounted for about 1/3 of all campaign contributions. (Future research will look at more.) I looked at the 2017-2020 period, a four-year window.
Third, I did not look at just attorney contributions, but I looked at any contributions from those employed by these firms. (See update below.) There are often different titles for attorneys (partner, counsel, summer associate, etc.) that are self-reported and are tougher to capture. And I thought it would be useful to include all contributions, even from consultants, paralegals, administrative assistants, and others employed by the firm for a broader portrait of the firm. Again, a judgment call here. I also looked for common misspellings, abbreviations, or alternative names for the firm (e.g., separating out the two Steptoe & Johnsons, etc.) to capture the most contributions.
So, that said, I’m sure there are errors in the data, but it’s a fairly good snapshot.
All told, I captured about $61 million in contributions to Democratic-affiliated groups compared to about $11 million for Republican-affiliated groups in 2017-2020, nearly a 6-to-1 ratio. (See update below.)
Below is a visualization of the AmLaw100 law firms. (By “percentage of contributions,” I mean by dollar figures, not individual instances.)
Many firms had fewer than 10% of contributions go to major Republican outlets. A handful had at least 25%, and just three crossed 50%. Even among those the figures are deceptive. At White & Case, for instance, there was a single $500,000 contribution to the Trump Victory Fund, more than half of all Republican contributions in this four-year time period.
The 40 plaintiffs’ firms results are below (asterisks denote the second listing):
Nine of these firms had $0 in contributions to major Republican outlets in this four-year period; another 6 had less than $100. And while some firms’ contributions were relatively modest (Bernstein, for instance, logged less than $1000 in total giving to these outlets, another deceptive way of looking at this data), others had contributions in the high six figures. Two firms, however, skewed toward Republicans.
Among the ten firms that gave the most money in raw dollars to Democratic outlets (see update below):
Paul Weiss $2,084,171
Latham $1,877,357
Kirkland $1,820,246
Covington $1,794,277
Sullivan & Cromwell $1,579,112
Wilmer $1,424,903
Sidley $1,416,481
Morgan Lewis $1,352,160
Skadden $1,310,634
Boies Schiller $1,080,094
And among the ten firms that gave the most money in raw dollars to Republican outlets (note, of course, duplicates among the largest law firms, and the caveat for White & Case!):
White & Case $966,401
Kirkland $822,685
Proskauer $697,230
Gibson Dunn $468,283
McGuireWoods $383,280
Paul Weiss $353,148
Akin Gump $343,102
Womble Bond $330,725
Holland & Knight $297,266
Kasowitz Benson $291,990
Below is a table with all 138 firms (excluding the pair of duplicate listings), sorted by percentage of contributions to Democratic outlets. As I mentioned, there’s more to come in the months ahead—this is my first cut at many ways of slicing this data.
| Firm | D | R | D% |
| Berger Montague | $563,692 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Grant & Eisenhoffer | $379,781 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Kaplan Fox | $77,572 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Hagens Berman | $71,775 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Hausfeld | $35,142 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Berman Tabacco | $21,182 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Joseph Saveri Law | $6,284 | $0 | 100.0% |
| MoginRubin LLP | $5,231 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Bernstein Liebhard | $635 | $0 | 100.0% |
| Lief Cabraser | $764,357 | $30 | 100.0% |
| Herman, Herman | $284,946 | $15 | 100.0% |
| Bernstein Litowitz | $205,015 | $15 | 100.0% |
| Simons Hanley Conroy | $424,296 | $50 | 100.0% |
| Baron & Budd | $472,147 | $95 | 100.0% |
| Kessler Topaz | $200,699 | $55 | 100.0% |
| Cohen Milstein | $294,106 | $135 | 100.0% |
| Susman Godfrey | $489,486 | $500 | 99.9% |
| Seeger Weiss | $131,268 | $230 | 99.8% |
| Boies Schiller | $1,080,094 | $2,045 | 99.8% |
| Burg Simpson Eldredge | $103,696 | $262 | 99.7% |
| Fenwick | $849,559 | $2,970 | 99.7% |
| Seledny & Gay | $68,150 | $305 | 99.6% |
| Levin Papantonio | $32,177 | $151 | 99.5% |
| Beasley, Allen, Crow | $123,253 | $585 | 99.5% |
| Zelle | $28,104 | $162 | 99.4% |
| Labaton Sucharow | $82,877 | $546 | 99.3% |
| Kramer Levin | $384,389 | $2,845 | 99.3% |
| O'Melveny | $948,486 | $8,382 | 99.1% |
| Perkins Coie | $964,601 | $10,769 | 98.9% |
| Dicello Levitt | $8,632 | $100 | 98.9% |
| Morgan & Morgan | $290,895 | $3,555 | 98.8% |
| Shearman & Stearling | $332,843 | $5,047 | 98.5% |
| Pomerantz | $19,756 | $300 | 98.5% |
| Weitz Luxenberg | $139,621 | $2,245 | 98.4% |
| Schulte Roth | $361,008 | $6,081 | 98.3% |
| Debevoise | $688,869 | $11,802 | 98.3% |
| Covington | $1,794,277 | $33,529 | 98.2% |
| Robbins Geller | $220,058 | $4,157 | 98.1% |
| Reed Smith | $536,807 | $10,284 | 98.1% |
| Cleary Gottlieb | $715,532 | $15,909 | 97.8% |
| Jenner & Block | $456,977 | $11,051 | 97.6% |
| Crowell & Moring | $448,249 | $10,893 | 97.6% |
| Arnold & Porter | $1,010,582 | $27,555 | 97.3% |
| Morrison & Foerster | $686,565 | $20,164 | 97.1% |
| Gibbs Bruns | $34,679 | $1,200 | 96.7% |
| Goodwin Procter | $633,974 | $22,821 | 96.5% |
| McDermott | $645,730 | $24,701 | 96.3% |
| Fried Frank | $343,140 | $13,632 | 96.2% |
| Motley Rice | $204,325 | $8,147 | 96.2% |
| Orrick | $512,834 | $21,077 | 96.1% |
| Wachtell | $781,376 | $33,328 | 95.9% |
| Squire Patton | $452,120 | $19,432 | 95.9% |
| Milbank | $226,005 | $9,768 | 95.9% |
| Ballard Spahr | $466,882 | $20,190 | 95.9% |
| Napoli Shkolnik | $14,702 | $706 | 95.4% |
| Willkie | $382,835 | $19,520 | 95.1% |
| Robins Kaplan | $119,526 | $6,498 | 94.8% |
| Cooley | $666,688 | $36,707 | 94.8% |
| Skadden | $1,310,634 | $80,853 | 94.2% |
| Jackson Lewis | $168,690 | $11,035 | 93.9% |
| Morgan Lewis | $1,352,160 | $88,704 | 93.8% |
| Wilson Sonsini | $419,257 | $28,105 | 93.7% |
| Mintz Levin | $161,211 | $10,974 | 93.6% |
| Davis Wright | $400,839 | $27,564 | 93.6% |
| Latham | $1,877,357 | $135,776 | 93.3% |
| Wilmer | $1,424,903 | $104,317 | 93.2% |
| MoloLamken | $22,682 | $1,687 | 93.1% |
| Weil | $304,943 | $22,734 | 93.1% |
| Loeb & Loeb | $253,448 | $19,305 | 92.9% |
| Venable | $515,986 | $40,034 | 92.8% |
| DLA Piper | $1,023,423 | $80,517 | 92.7% |
| Fragomen | $147,320 | $11,746 | 92.6% |
| Cahill | $260,935 | $24,916 | 91.3% |
| Ropes & Gray | $524,768 | $51,262 | 91.1% |
| Bryan Cave | $466,366 | $48,313 | 90.6% |
| Kilpatrick Townsend | $188,884 | $19,787 | 90.5% |
| Simpson Thacher | $531,328 | $55,795 | 90.5% |
| Faegre Drinker | $165,891 | $17,446 | 90.5% |
| Troutman Pepper | $411,574 | $43,744 | 90.4% |
| Cozen O'Connor | $450,877 | $50,052 | 90.0% |
| Blank Rome | $419,866 | $47,306 | 89.9% |
| Haynes and Boone | $187,019 | $21,364 | 89.7% |
| Paul Hastings | $651,679 | $80,412 | 89.0% |
| Seyfarth | $316,918 | $41,631 | 88.4% |
| Steptoe | $444,029 | $58,651 | 88.3% |
| Sidley | $1,416,481 | $188,789 | 88.2% |
| Sullivan & Cromwell | $1,579,112 | $213,897 | 88.1% |
| Dorsey | $236,890 | $32,327 | 88.0% |
| Quinn Emanuel | $706,382 | $104,250 | 87.1% |
| Hogan Lovells | $720,025 | $110,101 | 86.7% |
| Nixon Peabody | $279,456 | $42,747 | 86.7% |
| Norton Rose | $240,355 | $36,880 | 86.7% |
| Paul Weiss | $2,084,171 | $353,148 | 85.5% |
| McKool Smith | $95,052 | $16,652 | 85.1% |
| Nelson Mullins | $317,407 | $57,335 | 84.7% |
| Cadwalader | $147,453 | $26,716 | 84.7% |
| Olgetree Deakins | $156,117 | $29,215 | 84.2% |
| Greenberg Traurig | $774,034 | $144,995 | 84.2% |
| Baker McKenzie | $278,722 | $57,845 | 82.8% |
| Polsinelli | $194,899 | $40,510 | 82.8% |
| Jones Day | $825,506 | $180,284 | 82.1% |
| King & Spalding | $831,622 | $182,858 | 82.0% |
| Duane Morris | $351,147 | $81,164 | 81.2% |
| Littler | $283,479 | $66,001 | 81.1% |
| Fox Rothschild | $207,568 | $48,615 | 81.0% |
| Davis Polk | $580,987 | $144,977 | 80.0% |
| Katten | $235,807 | $59,367 | 79.9% |
| Mayer Brown | $584,028 | $149,546 | 79.6% |
| Sheppard Mullin | $292,187 | $76,171 | 79.3% |
| Locke Lord | $131,402 | $37,901 | 77.6% |
| Lewis Brisbois | $149,093 | $44,052 | 77.2% |
| Cravath | $347,924 | $103,555 | 77.1% |
| Pillsbury | $321,200 | $99,733 | 76.3% |
| Akin Gump | $1,064,087 | $343,102 | 75.6% |
| Dechert | $359,039 | $118,551 | 75.2% |
| Baker Botts | $203,823 | $67,908 | 75.0% |
| Akerman | $336,528 | $116,927 | 74.2% |
| Husch Blackwell | $169,494 | $60,715 | 73.6% |
| Foley & Lardner | $224,329 | $82,964 | 73.0% |
| Winston & Strawn | $575,472 | $242,797 | 70.3% |
| Kirkland | $1,820,246 | $822,685 | 68.9% |
| Vinson & Elkins | $213,491 | $97,663 | 68.6% |
| Alston & Bird | $22,338 | $10,362 | 68.3% |
| Baker Donelson | $169,876 | $80,649 | 67.8% |
| Gibson Dunn | $933,762 | $468,283 | 66.6% |
| Baker & Hostetler | $187,262 | $105,942 | 63.9% |
| Gordon Rees | $89,923 | $51,160 | 63.7% |
| Holland & Knight | $467,830 | $297,266 | 61.1% |
| K&L Gates | $387,345 | $254,137 | 60.4% |
| Fish | $122,748 | $85,136 | 59.0% |
| Womble Bond | $408,260 | $330,725 | 55.2% |
| Hunton Andrews | $170,952 | $143,421 | 54.4% |
| Barnes & Thornburg | $219,289 | $189,661 | 53.6% |
| McGuireWoods | $295,863 | $383,280 | 43.6% |
| Proskauer | $417,600 | $697,230 | 37.5% |
| White & Case | $493,656 | $966,401 | 33.8% |
| Kasowitz Benson | $129,835 | $291,990 | 30.8% |
| The Lanier Law Firm | $51,399 | $269,337 | 16.0% |
UPDATE 11/8: Some have asked about whether it makes sense to include all contributors, regardless of job title, into this framework. As I mentioned, attorneys use a variety of titles, and others are ambiguous (e.g., “consultant”). I ran tests at a few of the larger law firms, and I looked at only those who unambiguously identified themselves in some attorney capacity. At these firms, they are 97.5% to 98% of the dollars given. It does not strike me that at many firms—if any—it would materially change the allocation if I did another refinement to include only those who unambiguously identified themselves in some attorney capacity.
UPDATE 11/11: Due to a data entry error, some Perkins Coie contributions were double-counted, which led to an inflated count. The data has been corrected.