Ranking tables

Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite | USA

District of Columbia

Our definition of general commercial litigation will always take into consideration the other practice areas that we cover in a given state. It is therefore a fairly broad interpretation of commercial litigation, perhaps more easily defined by what is not included within it. If, for example, we are looking at a state where we have coverage of IP, antitrust and bankruptcy litigation in standalone tables, we would not expect too much of this work to be included in a commercial litigation table and would be looking more for business disputes such as breach of contract claims. The work should be civil, and should involve disputes between business entities.

All Departments profiles

1

Band 1

  1. Covington & Burling LLP
    1
    Covington & Burling LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 1 | 6 Years Ranked

    Covington & Burling has a stalwart Washington, DC practice. The team's practitioners are adept at handling large-scale domestic and international disputes for a roster of significant corporate and financial clients. It is lauded for its market-leading healthcare practice, regularly appearing in False Claims Act cases. The firm can claim an impressive roster of practitioners offering extensive experience in government, as well as top trial skills. The team handles work across a variety of sectors, including sport, pharmaceuticals and technology.

  2. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
    1
    Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 1 | 6 Years Ranked

    Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has a formidable litigation practice with considerable experience in commercial matters, securities disputes and appellate work. It fields an enviable bench of talented lawyers who maintain sophisticated practices incorporating class action defense and constitutional law. The firm is adept across a range of sectors, with environmental and telecommunications among its particular specialties. It also has excellent capabilities in large cross-border litigation and investigations.

  3. Kirkland & Ellis LLP
    1
    Kirkland & Ellis LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 1 | 6 Years Ranked

    Kirkland & Ellis boasts an exemplary litigation practice with a national and global reach. It represents top-tier, multinational clients from a broad range of sectors, including financial services, energy and technology. The team is highly successful in class action defense, with significant victories in consumer, antitrust, securities and RICO class actions. It is particularly well regarded for its handling of major, nationwide product liability disputes and frequently acts for clients in complex multidistrict cases. The firm is recognized for the strength of its trial practice as well as its impressive track record in front of arbitration panels and appellate courts.

  4. Latham & Watkins LLP
    1
    Latham & Watkins LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 1 | 6 Years Ranked

    Latham & Watkins has an impressive team that features a number of prominent practitioners with considerable government experience and trial expertise. The firm offers real strength in a number of areas, including in environmental and toxic tort litigation, FCA violations and insurance coverage disputes. It also boasts a stellar securities practice with significant experience in high profile shareholder class actions. The team frequently represents clients across a diverse range of sectors, including highly regulated industries such as financial services, healthcare and energy. It fields substantial expertise in matters with cross-border elements, with support from the firm's international offices.

  5. Wilkinson Stekloff LLP
    1
    Wilkinson Stekloff LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 1 | 6 Years Ranked

    Wilkinson Stekloff is a leading litigation boutique that is noted for its expert handling of complex, bet-the-company cases and for leading corporate clients across a wide range of sectors, with a substantial market share in the pharmaceutical industry. The firm has noted strength in antitrust and trade secrets cases, as well as consumer class actions, securities and shareholder disputes. It has extensive trial experience on the defense side.

  6. Williams & Connolly LLP
    1
    Williams & Connolly LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 1 | 6 Years Ranked

    Williams & Connolly is a top-flight DC firm and litigation powerhouse with a legacy of excellence in contentious civil matters. Its deep and dynamic bench of talented litigators is consistently involved in major commercial disputes and securities litigation. The firm offers top-drawer advice and masterful trial expertise to an enviable list of clients that includes a whole host of high profile individuals as well as multinational companies, global financial institutions and media organizations. It houses recognized strength in litigating complex cross-border disputes, as well as nationwide class actions and mass torts.

2

Band 2

  1. Hogan Lovells US LLP
    2
    Hogan Lovells US LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 2 | 6 Years Ranked

    Hogan Lovells has a prominent litigation group that is recognized for its extensive expertise in multidistrict and class action litigation. It regularly features in cases involving healthcare and pharmaceutical clients, as well as in the automotive and technology spaces. The firm is highly adept in data breach and data privacy-related litigation, and product liability suits. It also possesses substantial experience representing clients in appeals and in the Supreme Court. The team draws on the firm's global footprint to handle large, multijurisdictional cases and investigations. It offers additional expertise in securities litigation.

  2. Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, PLLC
    2
    Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick, PLLC
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 2 | 6 Years Ranked

    Kellogg, Hansen, Todd, Figel & Frederick is a lean but highly effective litigation boutique known for its expertise in contentious civil matters, including bet-the-company cases in antitrust, business torts, white-collar crime and elsewhere. The firm provides highly sophisticated representation to a broad range of corporate clients, on the defense and plaintiff sides, with trial and appellate experience that extends across multiple jurisdictions and all the way up to the Supreme Court.

  3. Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
    2
    Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 2 | 6 Years Ranked

    Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison offers significant capabilities in high stakes litigation, with notable expertise representing large corporations from a wide range of industries, including the technology sector. Its primary areas of expertise include antitrust class actions, defamation cases and climate change litigation. The team has achieved significant victories before all levels of the courts, including the Supreme Court.

  4. Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
    2
    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 2 | 6 Years Ranked

    Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan is well regarded in the DC market, and noted for the strength and success of its trial practice, with a number of highly effective litigators among its ranks. It demonstrates real skill and capacity in large class actions, bankruptcy litigation and high value contract disputes. The team advises an enviable client list including major domestic and foreign corporations, financial institutions and high profile individuals. In addition, the team offers significant experience in cross-border matters, particularly in relation to Latin America and Asia.

  5. WilmerHale
    2
    WilmerHale
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 2 | 6 Years Ranked

    WilmerHale has a respected team with an excellent roster of litigators and regulatory lawyers. It is regularly involved in high stakes commercial litigation and class actions, with real expertise in a wide range of areas, including qui tam cases. The firm also handles a number of civil RICO and consumer protection matters. The team advises leading names in the banking, aviation, telecoms and defense sectors, among others.

3

Band 3

  1. Arnold & Porter
    3
    Arnold & Porter
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 6 Years Ranked
    Arnold & Porter boasts a versatile litigation group with substantial expertise in civil disputes. It is recognized for its established class action defense practice, with notable capabilities in large product liability and data breach cases. The firm also has considerable expertise in securities matters, including derivative suits. It has a broad client base that includes pharmaceutical, industrial and financial services companies, along with individual executives, public officials and healthcare professionals.
  2. Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP
    3
    Dunn Isaacson Rhee LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 1 Years Ranked

    Dunn Isaacson Rhee is an elite litigation boutique recognized for its breadth and depth of disputes expertise. The team has handled a wide array of commercial disputes and class actions, with strengths in antitrust, intellectual property and securities-related litigation. It acts for both plaintiffs and defendants, which includes notable names in the technology, finance and pharmaceutical sectors.

  3. Jenner & Block LLP
    3
    Jenner & Block LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 6 Years Ranked

    Jenner & Block offers significant expertise in complex commercial litigation and acts for large corporations in federal and state trials. It retains a standout practice in IP litigation, with a specialty in music royalty disputes. The team is active across a number of sectors, including energy and financial services. It can also draw on the firm's notable experience in appellate matters and investigations.

  4. Jones Day
    3
    Jones Day
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 6 Years Ranked

    Jones Day has an accomplished commercial litigation practice with a broad array of resources at its disposal, including impressive appellate capabilities. The team has significant expertise in disputes arising out of commercial agreements, including antitrust and breach of contract claims. It is capable of handling high profile MDLs and other nationwide litigation. The firm houses recognized trial expertise, with experience defending clients before state and federal courts across the USA as well as the Supreme Court.

  5. King & Spalding LLP
    3
    King & Spalding LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 6 Years Ranked

    King & Spalding is a prominent national firm with an increasingly significant presence in DC. It is particularly strong in putative class actions, antitrust cases and constitutional challenges, at both the trial and appellate levels. The firm's clientele regularly stems from the healthcare, energy and finance sectors. It is also highly accomplished in product liability litigation.

  6. 3
    O'Melveny & Myers LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 6 Years Ranked

    O'Melveny & Myers has a strong trial and appellate practice, highlighted for its expert handling of complex securities law and ERISA class action cases. The firm also takes on cases arising out of alleged FCA violations and product liability. It represents a raft of major clients in the banking, healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. The team has further expertise in complex antitrust matters.

  7. Sidley Austin LLP
    3
    Sidley Austin LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 3 | 6 Years Ranked

    Sidley Austin has a reputable practice with ample litigation capabilities across the gamut of commercial law. It is known for its deft handling of complex intellectual property, product liability and class action matters. The firm is also recognized for its excellent appellate offering and a leading regulatory practice. An impressive client list includes major pharmaceutical companies and leading global corporations, along with their senior management and executives.

4

Band 4

  1. Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
    4
    Boies Schiller Flexner LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 4 | 3 Years Ranked

    Boies Schiller Flexner offers experience in representing both plaintiffs and defendants at trial in courts across the country, with significant expertise in handling multidistrict class actions. The firm is noted for its expert handling of a wide array of disputes concerning antitrust, price-fixing and IP matters, among others. It advises clients in industries as diverse as healthcare, aviation and financial services.

  2. Crowell & Moring LLP
    4
    Crowell & Moring LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 4 | 2 Years Ranked

    Crowell & Moring is a broadly experienced firm that handles a variety of litigation matters, including antitrust, intellectual property, constitutional and environmental disputes. The team is often recognized in the market for its particular strengths in healthcare litigation. It also regularly handles class actions and mass torts.

  3. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates
    4
    Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 4 | 6 Years Ranked

    Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom has a talented team that is regularly involved in trial and investigative proceedings. The firm offers real strength in the consumer protection area, regularly defending clients against alleged violations of the Consumer Protection Act and handling consumer class actions. It also maintains significant expertise in the False Claims Act area. The team is experienced in handling multijurisdictional cases within the USA, as well as those concerning international law. It regularly defends clients in the finance and technology sectors, including international banks and e-commerce companies.

  4. Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
    4
    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 4 | 3 Years Ranked

    Sullivan & Cromwell's DC team is highly regarded for its trial and investigations acumen. Complementing the firm's well-known expertise in banking and finance litigation, is a strong practice in energy and natural resources litigation and in litigation for automobile manufacturers. The firm also boasts an excellent reputation in nationwide appeals, regularly appearing before state and federal courts, including the Supreme Court.

  5. Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
    4
    Zuckerman Spaeder LLP
    Litigation: General Commercial: The Elite
    2026 | Band 4 | 6 Years Ranked

    Zuckerman Spaeder is an impressive litigation boutique that demonstrates excellence in both individual and company representations. The firm offers a sizable plaintiff-side practice, acting for single plaintiffs and classes, particularly in health insurance-related matters. It is also a go-to on the defense side for law firms facing allegations of malpractice or employment disputes. The firm has a deep bench of experienced trial lawyers, many of whom also handle a range of civil and commercial disputes to great effect. The team is also skilled at representing clients in Congressional investigations and securities class actions.