Rankings – Page 10

The OpenAI Defense: Inside the Wachtell Trial Team That Just Beat Elon Musk

BigLaw, Featured, Rankings, US Law / May 26, 2026

While Elon Musk’s legal team tried to transform a federal courtroom in Oakland, California into an existential debate about the fate of human civilization and a “stolen charity,” Sam Altman’s defenders quietly built a procedural guillotine.

A unanimous nine-member federal advisory jury took less than two hours to reject all of Musk’s claims against OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman, and President Greg Brockman, which presumably was both surprising and disappointing for the multi-billionaire.

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers immediately adopted the verdict from the bench, dismissing the case in full. The same statute-of-limitations finding wiped out Musk’s aiding-and-abetting claim against Microsoft, an early backer of OpenAI’s for-profit arm.

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From 40 Hours To 4: Is AI Forcing A $200 Billion Rewrite Of The BigLaw Billable Hour?

BigLaw, Law Firm Marketing, Rankings / May 26, 2026

Norma Harris The short answer: When AI cuts a doc review from 40 hours to 4, BigLaw does not lose 90% of the revenue — at least not yet. Firms are absorbing the productivity gain into higher effective rates, expanding scope, and pushing the saved hours onto more matters. Aggregate Am Law 100 revenue rose

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The $8 Billion Fight That Shows Why Litigation Is Still the City’s Ultimate Blood Sport

BigLaw, Rankings, UK Law / May 25, 2026

A monster battle is unfolding in the sprawling claim against audit powerhouse PwC, born from the spectacular implosion of Chinese property behemoth China Evergrande, the most indebted property group in the world.

Senior silks like Richard Handyside KC, the Fountain Court Chambers’ Head, are facing off against those from 3 Verulam Buildings (3VB) where Adrian Beltrami KC represents the liquidators as they battle over allegations of negligence and misrepresentation in the $8.4 billion battle.

The numbers are eye-watering, even by City standards. Evergrande’s liquidators (led by Alvarez & Marsal’s Edward Middleton and Tiffany Wong) are pursuing 57 billion yuan (roughly $8.4 billion) in damages from PwC International, PwC Hong Kong, and PwC’s mainland China arm. They allege serious audit negligence and misrepresentation in the years leading up to Evergrande’s historic collapse, a King-sized property failure in a long list of major property failures.

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Australian Firm Thomsons Bets on AI With Launch of New AI Legal Brand

Australia Law News, Featured, Law Firm Marketing, Rankings / May 25, 2026

Australia’s legal market has its latest sign that AI is moving from conference-room buzzword to business model as national law firm Thomsons (formerly Thomson Geer) unveils a major rebrand alongside the launch of Faculti Lawyers, a new incorporated legal practice built to handle high-volume legal work using proprietary AI technology. The move reflects a growing

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The Happiest Lawyers In America Work At These Firms — And The Race For #1 Is Now A Photo Finish

BigLaw, Rankings, US Law / May 17, 2026

Vault’s 2026-2027 rankings reveal O’Melveny still leads on satisfaction by a hair, Morgan Lewis took the overall crown, and Ropes & Gray jumped 36 spots.

Vault just dropped its 2026-2027 Best Law Firms to Work For rankings, and for anyone watching BigLaw’s talent map, the satisfaction data is the most useful slice on the platter. It tells you, in cold associate-survey numbers, where lawyers are actually happy versus merely well-paid — and right now those two things are diverging at the top end of the market in interesting ways.
Log in to see who won the industry record . .

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How a Box of Hong Kong Cupcakes Triggered a $36m Law Partner Meltdown

Rankings / May 15, 2026

Quick question: “If a star rainmaker built ‘their’ office, do they get to secretly take it with them – or does the partnership own everything they touch?”

When the Australian Financial Review recently devoted a major feature to “the $36 million box of Hong Kong cupcakes”, it wasn’t really about baked goods – it was about how a high‑performing litigation boutique managed to blow itself up in plain sight.
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How Many Lawyers Are in the US? (2026 Statistics)

Featured, Featured, Lawyer Salaries, Rankings, US Law / May 14, 2026

1,374,720 Active Lawyers in 2026 – Salaries, Demographics, State Rankings & BigLaw Trends Sonia Hickey, LawFuel contributing editor Knowing how many lawyers are in the US tells you more than just a headcount. It shows where the legal job market is heating up, how the profession is shifting demographically, what new graduates can realistically expect

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NZ Law – MinterEllisonRuddWatts appoints two new partners to its Band 1 Construction and Infrastructure practice

New Zealand Law News, Press Releases, Rankings / May 13, 2026

MinterEllisonRuddWatts is celebrating the promotions of Natasha Hood and Vimal Nair to Partner in its market leading Construction and Infrastructure practice. The promotions highlight the depth of talent within the firm and its ongoing investment in developing high performing teams for the benefit of clients. Chief Executive Aaron Hockly said: “Natasha and Vimal’s promotions recognise their individual

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FNZ’s US$4.6b Class Action – Inside the Employee Shareholder Revolt

New Zealand Law News, New Zealand Law News, Press Releases, Rankings / May 13, 2026

A colossal US$4.6 billion (about NZ$7.7 billion) class action against global wealth‑tech group FNZ has opened in the New Zealand High Court, immediately triggering a fierce procedural fight over whether the dispute belongs in Wellington’s courtroom or behind closed doors in offshore arbitration rooms in London. Billed as one of the largest corporate shareholder actions

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Quinn Emanuel’s John Quinn Steps Down — The Man Who Built a $2.8 Billion Litigation Empire

Featured, Law Firm Marketing, Rankings, US Law / May 12, 2026

John B. Quinn, the Harvard-trained litigator who turned a scrappy four-lawyer Los Angeles firm into the world’s most feared litigation powerhouse, which also achieved ‘fearsome profits’, has stepped down from the helm of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan after four decades at the top.

The announcement was made to partners on Sunday and described by some in the legal press as arriving “abruptly”, bringing to a close one of the most remarkable leadership tenures in Big Law history.

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