The names emerge in a survey of general counsel carried out by US-based BTI Consulting Group. The other two practices are Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan and Kirkland & Ellis. The firms 'strike fear in the hearts of corporate counsel more than any others', says Law360. The characteristics which inspire such fear are their relentlessness and having teams of lawyers that 'go for the jugular'. 

Detroit guardian

Jones Day, for instance, has been advising its former partner Kevyn Orr who is now the manager of the bankrupt city of Detroit. He is involved in precedent-setting bankruptcy litigation which could change the way other towns and cities deal with insolvency and treat their creditors in future.