Directors & Boards 2012 top corporate governance law firms.

• Author: Shaw, David
• Position: LAW FIRM SURVEY - Survey

DIRECTORS & BOARDS presents its fifth annual ranking of top law firms specializing in corporate governance issues. These rankings represent the unaided ("fill in the blank") responses from 300 respondents to our legal services survey; which was conducted in June 2012.

We asked directors to name up to three law firms which they felt were best in each of the following categories: general corporate governance issues, director liability, and board-level M&A. The lists below represent law firms that are top-of-mind among our survey respondents.

Because of the broad base of governance professionals represented in our survey database, we used only the responses of public, private, and nonprofit company directors to create these lists.

Best in dealing with general corporate governance issues 2012 Rank 2011 Rank 1 1 Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz 2 2 Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom 3 6 Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher 4 4 Weil Gotschal & Manges 5 NR Holland & Knight 6 NR Davis Polk & Wardwell 7 NR Pepper Hamilton 8 8 Blank Rome 9 5 Drinker Biddle & Reath 10 NR Sullivan & Cromwell Best in dealing with director liability issues 2012 Rank 2011 Rank 1 4 Holland & Knight 2 1 Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz 3 3 Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom 4 5 Drinker Biddle & Reath 5 NR Davis Polk & Wardwell 6 NR Pepper Hamilton 7 NR Sullivan & Cromwell 8 7 Morrison Foerster 9 8 Weil Gotschal & Manges 10 NR Morvillo, Abramowitz, Grand, lason, Anello & Bohrer Best in dealing with board-level M&A issues 2012 Rank 2011 Rank 1 2 Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz 2 1 Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom 3 4 Sullivan & Cromwell 4 NR Holland & Knight 5 5 Cravath Swain & Moore 6 NR Simpson Thacher & Bartlett 7 6 Davis, Polk & Wardwell 8 10 Drinker Biddle & Reath 9 9 Shearman & Sterling 10 8 Debevoise & Plimpton Survey Conducted June 2012 * 300 Respondents * Unaided recall; director responses only. The DIRECTORS & BOARDS Survey Legal Services 2012 Methodology This Directors & Boards survey was conducted in June 2012 via the web, with an email invitation to participate. The invitation was emailed to the recipients of the Directors & Boards monthly e-Briefing. A total of 300 usable surveys were completed. About the respondents (Multiple responses allowed) A director of a publicly held company 29% A senior level executive (CEO, CFO, CxO) of a publicly held 12% company A director of a privately held company 32% A senior level executive (CEO, CFO, CxO) of a privately held 20% company A director of a...