The 2023 40 Under 40 Honorees—By the Numbers

In “By the Numbers,” we like to have a little fun with “They’ve Got Next: the 40 Under 40" data. In our 2023 edition, we take a look at the most popular law schools and practice groups for our honorees, along with other fun tidbits, like the top songs honorees have on their summer playlists.

Most Popular Law Schools

Cue “Fair Harvard!” Since our first publication of “They’ve Got Next: the 40 Under 40" in 2021, Harvard Law School has had the highest representation of honorees, with 24 total over the three-year period. This year, the law school has nine honorees, up slightly from eight honorees in 2022 and seven in 2021.

This year, Columbia Law School takes the second spot, with six of our 2023 honorees. (Last year, Georgetown had the second highest number of honorees, with four. And in 2021, Cornell, Yale and New York University tied for second, with each school posting three honorees.)

Law schools with two or more honorees on our 40 Under 40 lists since 2021.

Jonathan Hurtarte / Bloomberg Law

For the third spot this year, Stanford and Cornell tie, with three honorees each. (USC Gould took third in 2022, and in 2021, Duke, Georgetown, UCLA, UC Berkeley and University of Virginia had a five-way tie for third with two honorees each.)

Each year, we have newcomers to our most-represented law schools list. This year, the University of Chicago and George Washington both make their debut on our list tying Yale for the fourth spot with two honorees each. (Last year, we had a four-way tie at fourth between Columbia, Howard, New York Law School, and NYU. Each school had two honorees.)

Most Popular Practice Areas

Litigation tops our honoree practice areas for the third year, with seven litigators in both the 2023 and 2022 classes. In 2021, we honored 10 in that practice area.

Intellectual property, which has appeared on the most popular practice areas list each year since 2021, comes in at second this year with five honorees. In 2022 and 2021, IP came in third. (In the latter year, it was tied with appellate and labor & employment, with four honorees each.)

Mergers & acquisitions and white collar came in as the third most popular practice areas for 2023, tying with four honorees each. In 2022 and 2021, we honored seven and six from M&A along with 2 and 3 from white collar, respectively. (Editor’s note: the 2023 Top Practice Areas chart below tracks practice areas with three or more honorees.)

Leading practice areas for the 40 Under 40 from 2021 - 2023.

Jonathan Hurtarte / Bloomberg Law

Fun Factoids

We decided to mix things up this year, adding in some fun, new data points about our 2023 honorees.

This year, the median age of our honorees is 38. Thirty-seven are partners and 1 is of counsel at their firms. New York scored the most honorees on the list, with 18; followed by Washington, D.C., with 12; Los Angeles, with two; and Chicago, with two. Forty honorees described their pro bono work, mentorship of other lawyers and/or other service in their nominations.

Fun facts, work stats, and where our 2023 honorees are based across the country.

Jonathan Hurtarte / Bloomberg Law

Sounds of Summer

When we asked our 2023 honorees to share two songs on their summer playlists, Beyoncé was the artist mentioned most, with honorees citing six songs including “Cuff It,” “Cozy” and “Before I Let Go.” Next, Taylor Swift took second place with four playlist tunes including “Shake It Off” and “Fearless.”

The most mentioned song was “Calm Down,” by Rema and Selena Gomez, which was mentioned twice. However, some version of the phrase “whatever my kid wants to hear” scored the most mentions of all. Fifteen honorees responded in that way, citing kid-friendly favorites include “Elmo’s Song” and the “Sponge Bob Square Pants Theme Song.”

Our 2023 honorees shared what’s on their summer playlists.

Jonathan Hurtarte / Bloomberg Law

For those who prefer those classic jazz and throwback hip-hop tunes, Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong’s “Dream a Little Dream of Me” and “Summertime” by DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince, scored high marks from some honorees. May Ella, Elmo, and others find their way onto your summer playlist rotation, too. Listen to our 2023 40 Under 40 Spotify playlist below.

Acknowledgments: Thank you to the Bloomberg Law, Bloomberg Tax and Bloomberg Government editors who reviewed nominations for this project and to our social media team who created our playlist and social outreach. Your teamwork was invaluable. Special thanks to Jonathan Hurtarte, senior graphics designer, and MP McQueen, special reports content editor. Your contributions were key to our success.
— Lisa Helem, executive editor, Bloomberg Industry Group