The next-generation lawyers in the 2026 They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40 excel in a legal profession being reshaped by AI and new avenues for leadership, service and success.
So this year, we asked the honorees how they are taking on this brave, new world. They each answered two of these questions: How has AI impacted their strategic approach to work? How would more junior lawyers on their teams describe their leadership style? How has their pro bono service made them better lawyers? And is there a connection between the classes they fancied in law school and their current practice areas?
As in past years, we also asked them to tell us how they move the needle for their clients, what they’ve learned from their mentors, and how they define success.
The 40 young lawyers emerged triumphant from an extensive evaluation process, where our editors closely reviewed their records of success, recommendation letters, and the impact of their leadership on colleagues, clients and communities.
Collectively, they’re advancing the business objectives of their clients in complex deals and litigation, and a range of practice areas. We honor their work in antitrust, appellate, banking & finance, bankruptcy & restructuring, corporate governance, education, emerging technology transactions, healthcare and life sciences, intellectual property, litigation, M&A, privacy & cybersecurity, private equity, product liability, public finance, real estate, securities & shareholder actions and tax.
Sullivan & Cromwell’s Peter Jones advised xAI on its $250 billion acquisition by SpaceX in February. “The deal required us to navigate sophisticated financing issues and differing capital structures, multiple stakeholder interests, and the intersection of cutting-edge technology, data, and platform-related considerations,” he said.
Ropes & Gray’s Andrew Todres counts it a career highlight to have served on the team “that helped secure Nippon Steel’s historic $14.9 billion partnership with US Steel.” Lawsuits that he and his team filed in 2025 paved the way for the transaction to close.
Baker McKenzie’s Laura Estrada Vásquez worked on Johnson & Johnson’s $50 billion spinoff of Kenvue in 2023. “I led the contractual workstream and coordinated the North American separation, which was a truly global effort, spanning 65 jurisdictions and requiring coordination across hundreds of lawyers and business stakeholders,” she said. In the end, it was “incredibly rewarding” to see it result in “two standalone publicly traded companies.”
Though their time is in high demand, many still use their legal talents to serve others in need.
“I’m most proud of the good I’ve been able to do,” said Skadden’s Parker Rider-Longmaid, who delivered the oral argument in a 2023 US Supreme Court win on behalf of Texas death-row inmate Rodney Reed, who continues to claim his innocence. In a 6-3 opinion, the high court agreed with his argument that his client’s Section 1983 lawsuit seeking DNA testing of the crime scene was timely. (In March, Reed’s appeal seeking to secure post-conviction DNA testing was rejected. Rider-Longmaid continues to represent Reed.)
When it comes to success, these young lawyers play the long game.
“The measure is whether the people who trusted you with their most difficult problem are better positioned, whether the chief legal officer can walk into the boardroom with confidence, whether the outcome aligned with what they needed rather than simply what they asked for,” said trial lawyer Donnie King of Akerman. King secured a $30 million unanimous jury verdict win in 2024 on behalf of industrial manufacturer Eaton Corp., affirmed in February by the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.
Presenting the 2026 honorees.
Read more about this year’s class, then check out our data dive, “The 2026 40 Under 40 Honorees—By the Numbers,” revealing the most represented practice areas, law schools and songs of summer. And former honorees share their best practice tips in “What Past 40 Under 40 Honorees Want Young Lawyers to Know.”
Edited by Lisa Helem and Andrea Platten. Art direction by David Evans, graphic design by Jonathan Hurtarte, and web development by Irfan Uraizee.
