“One from Column A,….”

Here are three rankings of top firms, all published this month.  Any
ideas on which is what?

I’ll be merciful:  "A" is profits per partner, courtesy of the
AmLaw 100; "B" is Vault’s annual
"prestige" rundown, as ranked by partners; and "C" is Vault’s prestige
tally as ranked by associates.   Now, the sizable overlap/identity
between "B" and "C" is no surprise; if associates don’t entirely get
their opinions about things like this from partners, that is surely their
primary source.

The newsworthy item to me is how PPP correlates with perceived prestige:  7
of the 10 firms with the highest PPP also figure in the top 15 most prestigious
in the view of both partners and associates.  The three exceptions?  Well,
I would argue they’re truly exceptions:

• Cahill Gordon has always followed
  its own muse, and thumbed its nose at convention with the certainty
  and finality that their internal performance is all they need to care
  about.  (Their website, almost
  shockingly simple and quaint, caveats in a fashion both prissy and
  inarguable, that
  it "is primarily intended for use by law school students
  considering a career at our firm.")
• Milbank and Cadwalader, on the other hand, while Household Names
  in anyone’s book, are strongly on the comeback from some years in the
  wilderness, and perception may not yet have caught up to reality.

Overall, a triumph of the marketplace.