LawyerWatch

What became of a law firm’s clients?

Law firms and lawyers named in SEC filings since 1995, ranked by what later happened to the companies linked to them, against what comparable companies went through. Updated Nov 7, 2026.

These figures describe clients, not conduct. A lawyer or firm can serve many companies that later had trouble for reasons that have nothing to do with their work, and nothing here says any lawyer or firm did anything wrong.

Rank by

Reading the first row: Dewey Ballantine is linked to 228 companies. 47 of them later showed signs of SEC or DOJ scrutiny and had another red flag. Comparable companies would show 21.7, so that is 2.16× what you would expect.

What this measures, and each column

SEC or DOJ scrutiny and another red flag. The SEC or DOJ took an interest, and the company also fell 95%, restated its accounts, restructured or went bankrupt.

Companies: Those linked to this firm or lawyer by a filing or a text search, so not all are clients. A corporate family counts once.
Named: The share of those companies a filing names them for. The rest come from a text search, which also finds a firm on the other side of a deal.
Later: Companies where the outcome began after the link. What happened before it does not count.
Expected: What comparable companies would show: the same era, type and size.
× expected: Later divided by expected. The tick on each bar marks 1×, no more than expected.
q: How far chance could explain the row, allowing for how many rows were tested: those with at least one such company, each on that condition. Below 0.05 is the usual bar, shown in bold, and a row near it can move with the method.

Law firms ranked by SEC or DOJ scrutiny and another red flag. Click a column to sort.
#
1	Dewey Ballantine	228	59%	47	21.7	2.16	<0.001	2.03	0.29	0.87
2	Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP	1,051	60%	104	68.9	1.51	0.016	1.31	0.27	0.91
3	Richards, Layton & Finger, P.A.	995	59%	132	91.2	1.45	0.016	1.46	0.37	0.80
4	Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati	1,468	66%	139	100.9	1.38	0.017	1.09	0.60	1.42
5	Shearman & Sterling	2,649	22%	260	198.0	1.31	0.024	1.21	0.13	0.87
6	Olshan Frome Wolosky LLP	390	61%	41	23.0	1.78	0.040	1.38	0.86	1.22
7	Jones Day	686	29%	79	54.1	1.46	0.048	1.25	0.54	1.12
8	Glast, Phillips & Murray, P.C.	27	89%	8	1.9	4.26	0.048	2.91	1.08	0.96
9	Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz	889	68%	96	67.5	1.42	0.051	1.31	0.07	0.59
10	Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP	1,125	68%	105	76.1	1.38	0.054	1.23	0.20	0.96
11	Cravath Swaine & Moore	839	52%	97	68.1	1.43	0.054	1.29	0.03	0.85
12	Sidley Austin	1,210	62%	114	82.8	1.38	0.059	1.30	0.14	0.93
13	Morris James	95	40%	18	7.5	2.42	0.059	1.62	0.42	0.86
14	Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP	2,607	70%	224	181.8	1.23	0.178	1.15	0.19	0.85
15	Winston & Strawn	585	60%	54	37.0	1.46	0.178	1.18	0.60	1.02
16	Irell & Manella	76	62%	15	6.4	2.34	0.178	1.73	1.09	1.23
17	Akin Gump	582	58%	59	40.6	1.45	0.187	1.24	0.52	1.25
18	Fried Frank	540	48%	56	38.5	1.45	0.187	1.33	0.24	0.94
19	Baker Botts L.L.P.	495	69%	55	34.5	1.60	0.187	1.32	0.09	1.03
20	STEPHEN A. ZRENDA, JR., P.C.	25	88%	6	1.5	3.92	0.203	2.61	1.06	1.11
21	Davis Polk	1,694	61%	152	120.2	1.26	0.226	1.26	0.06	1.02
22	MORRIS NICHOLS ARSHT & TUNNEL	17	18%	6	1.8	3.35	0.226	3.17	0.00	0.48
23	RAY, QUINNEY & NEBEKER	22	64%	6	1.8	3.35	0.260	2.04	1.33	1.74
24	Sichenzia Ross Ference LLP	1,005	94%	77	57.2	1.35	0.276	1.27	1.62	1.26
25	WILMER, CUTLER & PICKERING	662	52%	71	53.4	1.33	0.276	1.14	0.33	1.26
26	Willkie Farr	539	54%	51	36.2	1.41	0.276	1.23	0.40	0.84
27	David Wagner & Associates, P.C.	41	100%	8	2.9	2.79	0.276	2.38	1.56	1.43
28	Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell	256	40%	34	22.6	1.50	0.295	1.51	0.21	0.89
29	/ S / O M ELVENY & M YERS	19	26%	5	1.3	4.01	0.295	2.29	0.00	1.35
30	Riordan & McKinzie	39	100%	8	3.2	2.51	0.322	1.74	1.13	1.22
31	Jones Walker	161	67%	18	10.0	1.79	0.323	1.34	0.23	0.94
32	Atlas Pearlman, P.A.	81	91%	11	5.0	2.21	0.323	1.99	1.89	1.75
33	Cutler Law Group	40	88%	7	2.5	2.77	0.330	1.87	1.89	1.25
34	Baker & McKenzie	587	46%	52	38.0	1.37	0.332	1.07	0.72	1.00
35	Simpson Thacher & Bartlett	1,396	65%	124	99.4	1.25	0.374	1.28	0.11	0.92
36	Troutman Sanders LLP	335	72%	38	25.9	1.47	0.374	1.15	0.61	1.16
37	Munger Tolles & Olson	80	44%	11	5.4	2.03	0.374	1.57	0.00	0.87
38	Crowell & Moring	59	32%	9	4.0	2.26	0.374	1.69	2.10	1.49
39	H. DAVID HENKEN	10	50%	4	1.0	4.04	0.374	3.18	0.00	3.25
40	Shartsis Friese LLP	52	19%	8	3.4	2.35	0.375	1.28	0.00	1.62
41	Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle	35	37%	7	2.9	2.45	0.412	1.49	0.00	2.03
42	Brown & Wood	299	33%	43	30.1	1.43	0.418	1.53	0.47	0.58
43	Brewer & Pritchard, P.C.	46	94%	8	3.5	2.32	0.418	1.57	1.64	1.74
44	Stearns Weaver Miller Weissler Alhadeff & Sitterson, P.A.	41	73%	8	3.6	2.23	0.418	1.78	1.52	1.05
45	Adorno & Yoss, P.A.	49	69%	8	3.5	2.30	0.429	1.62	1.01	1.22
46	Gunderson Dettmer	333	49%	29	19.6	1.48	0.431	1.17	0.66	1.32
47	Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP	138	87%	8	3.4	2.33	0.444	1.29	4.29	1.16
48	Locke Lord	179	62%	19	10.2	1.86	0.454	1.70	0.54	1.00
49	Winstead PC	121	54%	15	8.7	1.73	0.454	1.19	0.85	1.27
50	Drinker Biddle & Reath	213	46%	23	15.2	1.52	0.467	1.46	0.77	1.25

Updated Nov 7, 2026, from 7,672 days of EDGAR’s daily filings through Nov 6, 2026: 219,793 links to 33,019 companies.

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