September 15, 2010 — Vinson & Elkins is recognized as a national, top-tier law firm in eight practice areas in the new U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” rankings, with a total of 17 national rankings. In addition, V&E ranks among the top 15 firms in the U.S. with the most first-tier metropolitan rankings. The results, ranking 8,782 firms across the United States, are featured in the October 2010 edition of U.S. News & World Report. U.S. News, well known for its annual rankings of colleges and graduate schools, partnered with Best Lawyers on this inaugural law firm ranking.

The methodology for the U.S. News – Best Lawyers rankings involved a range of different quantitative and qualitative criteria including six different survey instruments to garner feedback from clients and lawyers. Survey recipients included 52,480 clients, 43,900 lawyers, and 1,775 summer associates. All of the data was combined into an overall score for each firm by practice area. Firms with the highest overall scores were included on national lists covering 39 practice areas and on metropolitan lists covering 81 practices.

• Banking and Finance Law 
• Employment Law - Management 
• Energy Law 
• Mergers & Acquisitions Law 
• Oil & Gas Law 
• Project Finance Law  
• Securities / Capital Markets Law  
• Tax Law

• Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
• Corporate Law
• Derivatives and Futures Law
• General Commercial Litigation
• Intellectual Property Law
• Labor Law - Management
• Securitization and Structured Finance Law
• Venture Capital Law

• Antitrust Law

For a complete list of V&E's rankings, click here. View the full national results here.