BOSTON - January 1, 2002 - Hale and Dorr LLP ranked 5^th in the United States as one of the "Best 20 Firms to Work For," and 22^nd in "The Top 100 Most Prestigious Firms," according to a recent survey conducted by Vault, the Insider Career Network^TM. More than 9,000 associates nationwide and 123 law firms participated in the survey. In both categories, Hale and Dorr ranked first out of all Boston-based firms included.

For this year’s "Best 20 Firms to Work For," associates rated their firms on a scale of 1 to 10 in a series of ten quality of life categories. The categories rated include: satisfaction, hours, pay, retention, training, associate/partner relations, diversity, offices, social life and selectivity. Scores are calculated by taking the average of the scores associates gave for their firm in each area.

Before releasing its list of "The Top 100 Most Prestigious Firms," Vault made a preliminary list of 180 firms based on feedback from previous surveys, lists, media coverage and interviews with lawyers in the field. Survey respondents were asked to assign a score to each of the 180 firms on a scale of 1 to 10 based on its prestige. Scores for individual firms were averaged and then ranked according to the highest average score.

"The results of the Vault survey are a welcome recognition of the quality of our practice and, more importantly, the quality of the people who work here," said William F. Lee, managing partner, Hale and Dorr LLP. "We are grateful to everyone at Hale and Dorr, for everyone has helped us achieve this result."

Vault’s law firm rankings are the core of the Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms, 4/e, which is available on Vault’s web site (www.Vault.com) and will be available in bookstores in September.