I think you are grasping for a unified concept under which you can put this generalized sense in the profession that some careers or organizations have more value, or more to offer, or are the goal to which students (or even young lawyers) should strive.

The concept, the word, I think, is “prestige”. And of course, as well all know, even within those large firms, there are gradations of prestige.

Just as there are gradations of prestige within each market, and within each sector. Federal government lawyers do look down on municipal government lawyers, after all (once you get those couple of beers in them), and don’t pretend they don’t.

I do think that prestige one of the main reasons why students buy into a hierarchy of law firms with the big firms at the top. It’s probably about #6 in the list. The top five are money, money, money, money, and money. Of course, the prestige largely comes from the look and scent of money that these firms exude, so it’s hard in many cases to separate the two.