Legal Directory Submissions Guide 2024
2 Welcome To Tier One Rankings Tier One Rankings has only one focus: to see you succeed with your directories and awards submissions. Your firm is unique. Let our team of experts guide you in how to best demonstrate your assets and help you highlight what differentiates your lawyers from their peers. We will show you how to improve the odds of receiving the recognition your firm deserves. Powered by Nishlis Legal Marketing, Tier One Rankings us comprised of legal experts, strategists and legal journalists that will be by your side to help you focus on: • Preparation ahead of rankings • Submission guidance through strategic planning • Help during the submission writing stage We can manage your entire submissions process, edit your drafts; provide strategic advice to your partners on submissions best practices while also train your marketing teams on how to effectively produce submission content that is not just more strategic but also more impactful.
3 Contents Legal Directory: A lucrative and stalwart industry .............. 4 What are legal directories? ................................................. 4 Why do law firms work with them? .................................... 4 Which are the most worthwhile directories? ...................... 4 How do they research the market and how can we improve in the rankings?..................................................... 6 Chambers and Partners......................................................... 8 Legal 500 ............................................................................. 9 IFLR1000 ........................................................................... 10 Legal Awards and Deal Tables ............................................ 11
4 Legal Directory: A lucrative industry The legal directories business emerged as a distinct industry in the 1980s and 1990s, but this lucrative industry has flourished over the past four decades, with a spike in the number of legal directories, all striving for a larger share of a market of high-quality products, services and events aimed at lawyers and GCs, providing more depth of information to GCs, companies and entrepreneurs seeking legal advice. Such is the value of the industry, it was announced in November 2023 that Chambers & Partners, one of the pioneers, was sold by Inflexion Partners to Abry Partners, a leading U.S. headquartered middle market private equity firm. The value of the deal was believed to be around £400m. London newspaper City A.M. estimated that Inflexion had paid between £35m and £50m in 2018. What exactly are legal directories? The term “legal directories” describes a broad range of products and services that research, list, rank, analyze, and assess lawyers and law firms, from the largest global players to the smallest boutiques. From simple listings to the more detailed Chambers, Legal 500 and IFLR1000, each one carries its own weight and gravitas. With the latter three, among others, teams of researchers then examine the submissions, analyzing and assessing the qualities and differences between the law firms. Why do law firms work with them? A staple of the legal industry, legal directories have held their place in the market for more than three decades. The vast majority of law firms engage with the directories, in order to promote their practices to their target audience, with a ranking in the guides respected for:
5 • Showcasing your reputation and expertise, enhancing a firm's global presence, and helping to build a positive reputation. • Being an independent and objective verification of your abilities in the market. • Serving as a valuable third-party endorsement with usable quotes for tenders and marketing collateral. • Publicly championing the achievements and success of senior and junior lawyers on transactions and cases as they continue to celebrate or build their career. • Raising the profile of a law firm. Typically low key in the business media and news, legal directories are an outlet to broadcast law firms’ fields of activity. • Being useful for brochures, pitches, press releases, other award submissions, advertising, social media, and more. • Acting as a tool to benchmark yourselves. Firms can use legal directories to gain insights into market trends, competitor strengths and weaknesses, and client preferences – potentially valuable information for strategic planning and business development. • Being an advantage in driving lawyer recruitment – lateral hires, new hires, summer interns in fierce competition for the brightest legal talent of tomorrow. While directories are rarely the biggest factor that influences buyer behavior, many surveys of GCs do show that directories play a crucial role in helping them to select or confirm their desired legal partner. The most worthwhile legal directories A new style of directory emerged with the birth of Chambers & Partners and Legal 500, both requesting law firms to prepare written submissions to showcase their achievements. As systems for collating data became more sophisticated, these firms continued to pull clear of many rivals. Both Lee and Eleni at Nishlis worked as researchers and in senior roles as editors, among other roles, at Chambers and Partners, which today ranks over 80,000 lawyers and law firms by practice area in almost 200 jurisdictions. The Chambers/Legal 500 formula has been successful for the past three decades – in spite of the arrival of competition – not relying on gravitas and reputation, sufficiently agile to expand the number of guides, events, and awards and are constantly adding new products and services. Further directories of this type emerged, many focused on a particular industry or practice area. There is also Global Competition Review, Infrastructure Journal, Benchmark Litigation, IAM Patent 1000, IP Stars, WIPR, World Tax, and other emerging players.
6 “Research-led directories such as Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 are considered to be the most sophisticated type of legal directory and are most favored by large business law firms because of their more rigorous methodology and selection process” Today, multilingual researchers sift through and examine thousands of submissions each year, with law firms using in-house resources or external consultants in varying roles to coordinate and add value to the submission process, often tapping into our experience to help firms prioritize, strategize, manage, write, edit and review – all to improve visibility. Chambers, Legal 500, and others draw their revenue from firms advertising profiles in the directories, although the placement of profiles does not influence the performance of the firm in the independent research assessment, with the profile and research departments purposefully kept separate during the research process. Other jurisdictions Similar products were established in markets such as Canada (Lexpert), Germany (Juve), Italy (TopLegal), Latin America (Latin Lawyer 250), and others. There are domestic guides also in Israel – BDI and Dun’s. Meanwhile in the U.S., there is also the reputable Best Lawyers, which was also established over 40 years ago and is a seasoned player in the market. Built around the methodology of “peer review,” lawyers would only get labeled a “Best Lawyer” and listed in the directory if they received enough recommendations from other private practice lawyers. In that way, it differs from Chambers USA, Legal 500 United States. Best Lawyers has also expanded and has been present in the UK market (as well as others) for over a decade. Other businesses followed their lead, and by the 1990s, the likes of Super Lawyers, Who’s Who Legal, Expert Guides and others. How do directories research the legal market and how can my firm enter/improve? Each of the guides you will work on has a distinct methodology, as well as their own definitions and timeframes for research. Whether you are meeting with lawyers to collect information, drafting a submission or writing a *shop window within a submission, it is important to focus on the needs of the guides: It’s about what they need to see, not what you want to say. So we must be familiar with their methodology, meet their submission criteria, and submit before the deadlines. Between the guides, there are slightly different ranking weights but a firm’s chances hinge on the: 1) quality of work 2) client feedback 3) peer feedback and acknowledgement. Let’s take each of these in turn: 1) The quality of work is showcased in “matter descriptions” or “work highlights” which ask the lawyer for some basic facts, as well as the key factor: What made it complex or innovative? This can be determined by a range of factors. It is very important to be clear here when writing as the researchers will
7 often scan these documents, as they receive so many submissions with so many matters to review. The more confusing or long the text is, the less likely they are to reread it and try to understand. 2) Client feedback comes from referees selected by the law firms. They should be willing, enthusiastic and keen to speak to the researcher for 10-15 minutes by phone or via email. There are stronger referees, such as GCs and other lawyers, as well as other professionals, such as accountants, surveyors, etc. Depending on the guide, a good general recommendation is not to go over 20 referees. Referees will be contacted by the researcher once the submission research has started. Often at the start, they will be contacted a few times if there is time. One stumbling block why there is limited progress with rankings can be lack of client feedback, denying the researcher the evidence to justify any changes, but understanding the role of referees is key. Here we can help. 3) While the work and client feedback are paramount, there still needs to be market acknowledgement from other law firms in the field or sector that you are active. Your visibility can be based on attendance at network or industry events, hosting seminars, posting valuable posts on LinkedIn and expanding your followers. As part of our own services, we run training sessions for partners / associates to leverage their social media footprint throughout the year.
8 Today owned by private equity firm, Abry Partners, Chambers and Partners (“Chambers”) was the pioneer in legal publishing. Starting over 30 years ago, today the London-based company conducts over 185,000 interviews and surveys annually, with a team of over 200 professional researchers, speaking multiple languages. Since the firm’s founding, the company’s independent research and rankings are valued in over 200 jurisdictions where it operates. Website: https://chambers.com First published: 1990 Ranks: Multiple practice areas and sectors across most of the world’s jurisdictions. Check which sections they will research in the research schedule here Main guides: Chambers Global, Chambers Europe, Chambers UK, Chambers USA, Chambers Canada, Chambers Asia Pacific, Chambers Greater China, Chambers Latin America, Chambers Brazil, as well as Chambers FinTech and Chambers High Net Worth. SUBMITTING What? One work highlights document (in Word) and one referee spreadsheet. How? The submissions are uploaded through the Chambers website. You can create an account, log in or request a password here. Methodology: Research process and other information is here Definitions: As an example, the categories and their definitions for Global are listed here and for Europe are listed here. TIMEFRAMES Timetable: Research schedule by country and the name/contact details for the researcher can be found here Submission Deadline:See research schedule - here Research interviews conducted: Typically in the month following the submission deadline Research publication dates: They vary – and can be seen here – but Chambers Global 2023 is published on 16 February 2023, Chambers Europe on 16 March, 2023.
9 Owned by Legalease, the Legal 500 has been analyzing the capabilities of law firms across the world, with a comprehensive research schedule revised and updated every year to bring the most up-to-date vision of the global legal market. The Legal 500 produces a wide ranging series of resources for in-house lawyers including roundtables, client insight reports, and recognizes and rewards the best in-house lawyers through our GC Powerlist series and The Legal 500 Awards. There is also a recently announced Legal 500 Green Guide, aimed at the sustainable practices implemented by law firms. Website: https://www.legal500.com/ First published: 1987 Ranks: Multiple practice areas and sectors in the EMEA guide – see here for more details. The Legal 500 United States guide focuses on national tables only. Main guides: Legal 500 EMEA, Legal 500 UK, Legal 500 United States, among others. SUBMITTING What?One work highlights document and one referee spreadsheet. How? To send your submissions to Legal 500, it is done via a portal. Please visit submissions.legal500.com and follow the onscreen prompts to send new documents. If you don’t have log in details or having problems logging in, contact the guide. Methodology: Methodology and FAQs are listed here. Definitions: The categories and their definitions are listed here. TIMEFRAMES Timetable: Research dates can be found here. Submission Deadline: They vary but are listed here but Legal 500 EMEA’s deadline is in August. Research interviews conducted: They vary but can be seen here but Legal 500 EMEA interviews are in September and October. Research publication dates: They vary but can be seen here - Legal 500 EMEA in April 2024
10 Owned by Euromoney, International Financial Law Review (IFLR) is the marketleading financial law publication for lawyers specialising in international finance in financial institutions, corporates and in private practice. Its IFLR1000 guides rank 5,000 law firms and more than 21,000 lawyers across 12 practice areas and 250 jurisdictions. Website: https://www.iflr1000.com/ First published: 1982 Ranks: Only Banking; Capital markets; Financial services regulatory; Investment funds; M&A / transactional private equity; Project development; Project finance; and Restructuring and insolvency Main guides: IFLR1000 US, IFLR EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), IFLR China, and others. SUBMITTING What? One work highlights document and one referee spreadsheet. How? The submissions are uploaded through a portal. You can create an account or log in to do that here. Methodology: Methodology and FAQs are listed here Definitions: The categories and their definitions are listed here TIMEFRAMES Timetable: Research dates can be found here Submission Deadline: Feb 2024 Research interviews conducted: January – August 2024 Client Referee Feedback Survey: March – April 2024 Peer Feedback Survey: March – April 2024 Research publication dates: to be announced in coming months
11 Awards: So many – what is the point? Awards are indeed distinct from directories to some extent, but are often produced by the same publishers and draw on the same resources. Like the rankings themselves, there are also many credible awards, as well as some meaningless ones. The most credible will shine a light on the firm in a very public way, demonstrating the excellence you strive for, celebrating the achievements of teams of lawyers, a boost to morale and a useful recruitment tool. There are many awards catering to almost every legal practice, industry, and market. The Financial Times “Innovative Lawyers” has blazed a trail but there are many worthwhile ones to consider, each with their own criteria, timeframes and independent panels of judges. Awards include: • Mergermarket Awards • IFLR Awards • Asia Legal Business Awards • Infrastructure Journal Awards • LMG Life Sciences Awards • The Lawyer Awards • Women in Business Law Awards Outside of legal publishing, most industry sectors have a healthy trade press. As well as covering news and features, many produce an annual survey or supplement akin to a directory — and they will often include lawyers. While the circulations of such journals and magazines are lower than the more comprehensive, multipractice, multi-country directories, their
12 focus can be a huge strength – and it is always worth having a list of the most reputable publications and their respective media kits and editorial calendars. Lawyers want to get noticed by the people who work in the industries that they advise on, so with dedicated teams of journalists who know their field, such surveys and directories can be influential within a certain niche. There are too many to mention, but whether it’s private client or healthcare or intellectual property, lawyers should always consider promoting their practice to industry-focused publications. Part of our own services to law firms is identifying the most appropriate target press for a practice area or industry. QUANTATIVE LEAGUE TABLES League tables can be broadly described as those products that measure law firm deal activity through factual data rather than more subjective methodologies Seasoned publishers, Mergermarket, Thomson Reuters, Bloomberg, Infrastructure Journal and others are well known in this space. For many deal-focused firms, league table performance is important and can be an “easy win” if you have the data already compiled. M&A, finance, capital markets, project finance are areas often captured in this way.
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