DLA has sunk 53 places in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For list.
DLA was one of the highest ranked law firms at 35 in 2004, but the now-merged DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary languishes at 88 in this year’s list.
DLA’s decline comes from a heady height. In 2003 it was the highest-placed law firm in the list at 16. Now, with a record 12 law firms in the charts, only the South-West’s TLT stands below it. TLT made its first appearance in the list, finishing at 96.
Olswang also made its debut in the charts, steaming in at number 40. Olswang was also the first with the press releases, trumpeting itself as the highest-ranked London firm. Chief executive officer Jonathan Goldstein claimed: “What set us apart was our commitment to ‘thinking beyond the obvious’ and our non-hierarchical approach.”
Eversheds and Mills & Reeve both improved their rankings. Eversheds was up 17 places to 63, while Mills & Reeve shot up 51 places to 43.
DLA was not the only firm to drop down the list. Keoghs dropped out of the top 100 altogether, having finished 22nd in 2004. Cobbetts also did not figure after ranking twelfth last year, but is understood to have been ineligible this time around as a result of its mergers with Lee Crowder and Fox Brooks Marshall. Newcastle’s Dickinson Dees dropped from 55 to 70 and Simmons & Simmons sank to 86.
CMS Cameron McKenna climbed back in at 87 having dropped out of the chart last year. Birmingham firm Martineau Johnson made its debut at 71.
Top place among law firms was reserved for Pannone & Partners. Pannone, run by senior partner Joy Kingsley, climbed two places to number four.
