Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, has garnered the highest number of first-tier metropolitan rankings of any law firm in the country in the inaugural U.S. News – Best Lawyers "Best Law Firms" list, a highly-anticipated annual analysis that includes 8,782 U.S. law firms. Baker Donelson earned 115 Tier 1 rankings across 10 metropolitan markets in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.
This is the second significant law firm ranking Baker Donelson has achieved in as many months. In August, Baker Donelson was the fourth highest ranked law firm in the country in the 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America, based on the number of attorneys named to the list. With 188 attorneys included, Baker Donelson was ranked in The Best Lawyers in America among an elite group of leading national firms, most of which have nearly twice as many total attorneys as Baker Donelson.
"Achieving these outstanding results on two such nationally prominent listings is a tremendous accomplishment for our Firm," said Ben Adams, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Baker Donelson. "These rankings highlight Baker Donelson as a leading national law firm and further our standing as a major player in the legal industry, not just in the Southeast but in the U.S."
The 2010 Best Law Firms rankings, produced by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers, are presented in tiers both nationally and by metropolitan area or by state. These inaugural rankings showcase 8,782 different law firms ranked in one or more of 81 major practice areas, providing a comprehensive view of the U.S. legal profession that is unprecedented both in the range of firms represented and in the range of qualitative and quantitative data used to develop the rankings.
In addition to its outstanding metropolitan rankings, Baker Donelson was one of the 583 firms with national rankings covering 39 practice areas. The Firm's national rankings include:
• Tier 1: Transportation Law
• Tier 2: Employment Law – Management and Venture Capital Law
• Tier 3: Bankruptcy and Creditor-Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law; Corporate Law; General Commercial Litigation; Labor Law – Management; and Mergers & Acquisitions Law.
To determine the rankings, U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers conducted national surveys in which major clients and leading lawyers were asked to rate the law firms they consider best in their practice area. In the end, 9,514 clients – including every Fortune 100 company and 587 of the Fortune 1000 companies – provided 194,370 firm practice-area evaluations; 6,190 clients provided 11,181 comments about law firm practice areas and individual lawyers; and 8,842 lawyers provided 594,012 firm practice-area evaluations. These reputational survey responses were combined with more than 3.1 million evaluations of individual lawyers in these firms in the most recent Best Lawyers survey of leading lawyers.
More information about the methodology and the full list of rankings are available online at www.usnews.com/bestlawfirms. The national first-tier rankings will be featured in the October print issue of U.S.News & World Report, which will go on sale September 27.
About the U.S. News Media Group
The U.S. News Media Group is a multi-platform digital publisher of news and analysis, which includes the monthly U.S. News & World Report magazine, the digital-only U.S. News Weekly magazine, www.usnews.com, and www.rankingsandreviews.com. Focusing on health, money and business, education and public service/opinion, the U.S. News Media Group has earned a reputation as the leading provider of service news and information that improves the quality of life of its readers. The U.S. News Media Group's signature franchises include its News You Can Use® brand of journalism and its "America's Best" series of consumer guides that include rankings of colleges, graduate schools, hospitals, health plans and more.
About Best Lawyers
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. For over a quarter century, the company has helped lawyers and clients find legal counsel in distant jurisdictions or unfamiliar specialties. The 2011 edition of The Best Lawyers in America includes 41,385 lawyers covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia and is based on more than 3.1 million detailed evaluations of lawyers by other lawyers. At www.BestLawyers.com, Best Lawyers also publishes peer-reviewed listings of lawyers in most of the world's major legal markets. Best Lawyers lists are excerpted in a wide range of general interest, business and legal publications worldwide, reaching an audience of more than 17 million readers.