| Gibbs & Bruns | Standout | Resolving RMBS claims | 8 | 8 | 9 | 25 | The firm's work on claims relating to residential mortgage-backed securities was a critical contribution to resolving the fallout from the 2008 credit crisis. Achieved a legal settlement of $8.5bn, the second largest in US history. |
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| Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton | Standout | Setting the strategy in Madoff-related cases | 8 | 8 | 8 | 24 | Strategy of challenging early on the over reaching nature of claims proved effective in defending financial institutions against the fallout from the Bernard Madoff fraud. |
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| Debevoise & Plimpton | Standout | Providing certainty for the housing market | 7 | 8 | 8 | 23 | Led negotiations between federal and state attorneys and five large banks over a number of foreclosure errors. The firm's leadership and collaboration helped bring about a settlement in 49 states that was considered a success for the government and the banks. |
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| Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom | Standout | Creating the strategy to defeat the AT&T/T-Mobile merger | 8 | 7 | 8 | 23 | Bringing a private challenge on behalf of client Sprint to stop the $39bn telecoms merger, resulting in a reshaping of the industry. |
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| Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz | Standout | Using a contract to avoid a hostile takeover bid | 7 | 8 | 8 | 23 | This was the first time a contract had been used to stop a hostile bid under US law, for Vulcan Materials, the US construction company. |
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| Kirkland & Ellis | Highly commended | Victory for generic drug manufacturers | 6 | 7 | 8 | 21 | Represented generic drug manufacturers in an important test of their liability. The Supreme Court's decision effectively dismisses many product liability cases and is expected to save the generic drug industry millions. |
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| Mayer Brown | Highly commended | Extending the boundaries of the Freedom of Information Act | 7 | 7 | 7 | 21 | In pro bono work for the National Day Laborer Organising Network, secured an order that will set a precedent for the manner in which the government must produce documents under the Freedom of Information Act. |
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| Cravath, Swaine & Moore | Highly commended | Advanced the "tranche-level standing" argument in mortgage-backed securities class actions | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 | Acting for JP Morgan, the firm furthered and successfully implemented a strategy that restricts the size and number of claims plaintiffs can bring in residential mortgage-backed securities litigation. |
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| Crowell & Moring | Highly commended | Pricing model innovation | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 | Adopted a unique system that marries attorneys' judgments with data and analytics tools to provide partners with a pricing model that can cope with complex litigation matters and meet clients' business needs. |
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| Paul Hastings | Highly commended | Protecting industries that use outside sales representatives | 6 | 6 | 8 | 20 | Successfully defended client GlaxoSmithKline in an action over overtime pay. The decision had profound implications for the pharmaceutical industry, and at the same time redefined a key aspect of administrative law. |
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| Paul Hastings | Highly commended | Protecting its clients in the Homestore.com in federal securities class action case | 6 | 7 | 7 | 20 | Success in a securities class action established new standards for how a jury should assess individual liability, loss causation and damages under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. |
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| Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison | Highly commended | Winning against Judge Rakoff for Citigroup | 6 | 6 | 8 | 20 | Successfully defended Citigroup's settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission against a challenge from the court of Judge Jed Rakoff. |
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| Ropes & Gray | Highly commended | Defended a card payment processor in the largest ever date security breach | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 | Defended client Heartland Payment Systems against legal claims arising from a criminal attack on its systems – reportedly the largest data breach in history. |
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| Seyfarth Shaw | Highly commended | Mitigating risk in employment cases | 7 | 7 | 6 | 20 | Developed specialised tools for United Technologies that capture and analyse data on employment law, helping to mitigate risk, avoid litigation and cut costs. |
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| White & Case | Highly commended | Pursuing litigation against conventional wisdom in antitrust case | 7 | 6 | 7 | 20 | Used a "reverse whipsaw" strategy to defy conventional wisdom in antitrust litigation against client Toshiba. It addresses some of the uncertainty about how far US law applies to overseas conduct. |
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| Cravath, Swaine & Moore | Commended | Victory for client in significant environmental lawsuit | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 | An effective theory to relieve the client of more than $100m of liability in a case concerning river pollution. Will have implications for other cases |
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| Edwards Wildman Palmer | Commended | Saving client from jail in white-collar criminal prosecution | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 | Successfully defended Mark Philip, former president of Stryker Biotech, against Federal Drug Administration charges that included wire fraud. |
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| Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher | Commended | Advising on securities fraud claims in more than 65 civil actions | 7 | 6 | 6 | 19 | In what has been hailed as a landmark ruling for securities law, the firm successfully argued that its client could not be held responsible for the contents of its mutual funds' prospectuses. |
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| Holland & Knight | Commended | Collaboration with Deutsche Bank to re-engineer legal process and transfer it to a new location | 7 | 7 | 5 | 19 | Working with in-house lawyers from client Deutsche Bank, the firm used a project management approach to re-engineer the process of dealing with third-party subpoena responses, making it more efficient and cutting costs. |
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| Jones Day | Commended | Successful defence under the False Claims Act | 6 | 6 | 7 | 19 | Successfully defended a client charged with falsely claiming payments from the US government. The decision that the size of the proposed penalty was unconstitutional could change the way similar cases are handled. |
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| Latham & Watkins | Commended | BioMed Realty Trust "say-on-pay" litigation | 7 | 6 | 6 | 19 | Achieved a notable victory in say-on-pay litigation, obtaining a dismissal of claims against client BioMed Realty Trust despite previous court decisions upholding complaints against other companies. |
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| McDermott Will & Emery | Commended | World Trade Center disaster site litigation | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 | In one of the largest mass torts in US history, the firm settled insurance claims relating to those injured cleaning up the aftermath of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York. |
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| Ropes & Gray | Commended | Adopting a unique defence approach in mergers and acquisitions shareholder litigation | 6 | 7 | 6 | 19 | Successfully defended TPG Capital against litigation arising from the company's $3bn acquisition of retailer J. Crew, one of the most contentious mergers and acquisition cases of 2011. |
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| Seyfarth Shaw | Commended | One of the first cases to defeat a class action ruling using Dukes v Wal-Mart in federal wage-hour case | 7 | 7 | 5 | 19 | Acting for Farmers Insurance, the third-largest US insurer, in a wage-and-hour case, the firm was the first to successfully apply a new Supreme Court ruling under the Fair Labour Standards Act. |
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