For the second year in a row, WilmerHale has earned the number two spot on The American Lawyer’s “A-List” of 20 major law firms, one of the legal industry’s most widely watched rankings.

The American Lawyer announced its 2019 A-List on July 24, scoring WilmerHale a mere one point lower than the top-ranked firm.

The announcement quoted WilmerHale Co-Managing Partner Robert Novick on the firm’s holistic approach to success: “We’re a firm that has always balanced economic goals and success with professional success and maintaining an environment that has people wanting to come and stay with us,” he said. “Investing in employees outside of the economic development of the firm and retaining people, these things are all mutually reinforcing.”

The American Lawyer says its A-List “doesn’t measure size or profits. Rather, it highlights the best of the best law firms for their commitment to a variety of financial and cultural markers: revenue per lawyer, pro bono work, associate satisfaction, racial diversity and gender diversity among the partnership.”

In its announcement, The American Lawyer cited WilmerHale’s commitment to pro bono work as an example of how the markers measured by the A-List work together to build a successful firm. According to Novick, “97% of US-based attorneys, including 82% of attorneys at the partner level, completed at least 20 pro bono hours last year. The experience improves associates’ satisfaction because they are working on causes they care about, and it also allows them to gain experience with more challenging and engaging assignments.”

“The metrics are not considered in isolation, but as a cohesive set of elements,” Novick said. “If you do those right, they’re fostering the kind of environment you want to have.”