Slaughter and May Named Top London Law Firm for Prestige, Says New Vault Guide to the Top 50 London Law Firms; Firm Takes Top Ranking in First UK Edition of Vault's Best-Selling Law Guide

Business Wire, July 31, 2006

NEW YORK -- Career publisher Vault Inc. (www.vault.com) has released the first-ever edition of the Vault Guide to the Top 50 London Law Firms, and Slaughter and May ranks highest in overall prestige. Vault is renowned in the United States for its yearly Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms. With the opening of its UK operation last year, Vault has now turned its expert eye on the top firms in London.

Nearly 1,000 practicing solicitors in London rated law firms on a scale from one to ten, based on how prestigious it is to work for each firm. Solicitors were not permitted to rank their own firms.

The top 10 London law firms for prestige are ranked as follows:

1. Slaughter and May
2. Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
3. Allen & Overy
4. Linklaters
5. Clifford Chance
6. Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom
7. Herbert Smith
8. Sullivan & Cromwell
9. Macfarlanes
10. Shearman & Sterling

In addition to prestige, the Vault Guide to the Top 50 London Law Firms includes other rankings based on quality of life issues. These categories include compensation, diversity, hours, training, office space, selectivity, pro bono and overall satisfaction. Each firm ranked is profiled extensively in the guide.

The Vault Guide to the Top 50 London Law Firms is the only updated insider guide to the city's top law firms. It is available at bookstores or by ordering through www.Vault.co.uk.

About Vault Inc.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary, Vault Inc. is the leading media company focused on careers. Vault offers over 100 nationally distributed books, from the best-selling Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms to the Vault Guide to Schmoozing. Vault is celebrated for its online resource, www.vault.com -- which offers surveys and "insider" information on more than 4,500 employers, 4,000 colleges and universities, and hundreds of industries and occupations -- as well as the much-praised Electronic WaterCooler(TM), the Internet's first-ever network of message boards for professionals with nearly 2,000,000 searchable posts. Vault was founded in 1996 by Hussam Hamadeh, Samer Hamadeh, and Mark Oldman.