Welcome to “By the Numbers,” our annual fun data dive on all things 40 Under 40. In our 2024 edition, we take a look at the most popular law schools and practice groups for our honorees, the class at a glance, and other fun tidbits, like the top songs these young lawyers are jamming to this summer.
Harvard once again leads law schools in representation as the alma mater of the most honorees. This year, Harvard Law School has had the highest representation of honorees, with 10 — bringing the school’s three-year haul (represented in the chart below) to 27. Extending it to our inaugural issue in 2021, Harvard tops the list with 34 honorees.
Columbia Law School and Georgetown University Law Center tie for the second most represented schools this year with 5 honorees each. And Fordham University School of Law rounds out our top three, making its debut on our Top Law Schools chart with two graduates on our list this year.
Another 18 of our 2024 honorees hail from a wide variety of law schools with one honoree each, including Stanford Law School, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, University of Colorado Law School, Rutgers Law School, Auckland Law School, Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, and more. You can read more about all of them in our honoree Q&As.
Litigation tops our most represented practice areas for the fourth year, with seven young lawyers honored for their work in litigation in 2024, 2023 and 2022. In 2021, we honored 10 in this practice area.
Mergers & Acquisitions also made a strong showing in our top practice groups, with six honorees this year. The practice group had four honorees in 2023, seven in 2022, and six in 2021.
Appellate, Banking & Finance and Energy each came in with three honorees this year. Energy makes its 2024 debut as a top practice area for honorees. Banking & Finance also claims three honorees for the second year in a row. Appellate is also steady, with three honorees in both 2023 and 2022, and four honorees in 2021. (Editor’s note: The 2024 Top Practice Areas chart tracks practice areas with three or more honorees.)
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This year, 12 law firms, two companies and one non-profit make their first appearance on our honoree list. They include: Akerman, Beveridge & Diamond, Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, Covington & Burling, Hogan Thompson Schuelke, King & Spalding, McDermott Will & Emery, McGuireWoods, Neufeld Scheck & Brustin Hoffman & Freudenberger, Perkins Coie, Wigdor, Zuckerman Spaeder, Google, Rinchem Company and Earthjustice.
The median age of honorees this year is 39, up slightly from the 2023 median age of 38. Once again, most honorees (36) have the title partner, with four others listed as vice president, general counsel; director of strategic legal advocacy; senior legal counsel, and senior associate.
This year, we see great geographic diversity, with our honorees hailing from 15 metropolitan areas — including Boston, Los Angeles, Miami and Albuquerque, New Mexico. New York lays claim to the largest concentration of honorees with 13, followed by Washington, D.C. with 11. In 2023, New York and Washington, D.C. represented 18 and 12 in the pool respectively, along with eight other geographic areas.
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It’s become a fun tradition for us to ask our honorees to tell us what they are listening to this summer when they’re out of the office or on the drive home. In the last few years, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have each had a turn at the top. And this year, the nod goes to the Swifties. Taylor had seven unique song mentions, including “Cruel Summer,” “Last Great American Dynasty” and “22.” Bey had four songs mentioned including “Cozy” and “Texas Hold’Em.” Chris Stapleton also had a strong showing with three mentions, including “Tennessee Whiskey.” Listed to our 2024 40 Under 40 Spotify playlist below.
Acknowledgments: Thank you to all the fantastic Bloomberg Industry Group news editors who carefully reviewed nominations for the 2024 “They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40"; our audience team, led by Molly Ward, who along with Tiffany Johnson and David McCombs spearheaded outreach. Special thanks to our graphics team Dave Evans, Jonathan Hurtarte, and Cordelia Gaffney; and editors MP McQueen and Rachael Daigle. Your contributions were key to our success. — Lisa Helem, executive editor, Bloomberg Industry Group.
Continue ReadingTo contact the reporter on this story: Lisa Helem at lhelem@bloombergindustry.com
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