Disappointed in Your Chambers Ranking (Or Lack of One)?
Lists and rankings of law firms have become ubiquitous, with some being more credible, prestigious, and sought-after than others. Chambers and Partners is among those at the top because they have built a reputation for their high degree of selectivity with only 2% of U.S. law firms getting ranked, and you cannot buy your way in.
Having decades of experience submitting Chambers nominations and getting firms listed, we’re sharing our pointers for securing that coveted ranking as the 2025 research season gets underway.
Who Does Chambers and Partners Consider for Rankings?
Chambers is a legal ranking developed by editorial and research teams to assess lawyers and law firms worldwide, covering more than 200 jurisdictions. Many consider Chambers the leading directory in the legal profession and one of the toughest lists to get on.
Currently, the lawyer ranking guides are by geographical area with well over one hundred different practice areas and subcategories. Chambers expands the range of practice areas every year.
While Chambers does not consider law firm size in its rankings, it has made a much stronger push to accommodate small firms in recent years.
10 Tips to Get Listed on Chambers
Tip #1: Submit the Right Referees (References)
Referees is the term Chambers uses for clients or others who can speak to the caliber of your work. One of the most heavily weighted aspects of Chambers’ research is talking to referees, so it’s important for you to submit names that are responsive to Chambers. While it’s great to name the general counsel of a Fortune 500 company as your referee, if they are not responsive, consider a second or third in command if they are more available. Too, you can submit 30 referees for Chambers USA so ideally, you should put forth the maximum number.
Referees can be a sticking point for some law firms and lawyers in that they don’t want to bug their clients year after year. Some law firm clients won’t participate due to the confidential nature of their legal matters. Given the many hurdles when deciding who to list, you may need to get creative – consider listing older clients that are used to the Chambers process, co-counsel or opposing counsel, etc.
Tip #2: Prepare Your Referees for the Chambers Process
Yes, we are still talking about referees. First, you want to ensure that referees know Chambers will contact them. Referees often ignore emails from Chambers because they think it’s spam or miss their email because they are unaware it’s coming. If you submit someone’s name, you must prepare them for the process. For example:
- Let them know that you’re submitting their name (this can be done if you get their approval first).
- Explain that Chambers researchers will email them to set up a phone call and give them the name of the researcher who will contact them.
- Explain what questions the researcher might ask (the researcher will give you this information in advance).
- Explain to your referees that it will take very little of their time; researchers usually want a 5 to 10-minute conversation.
- Let them know that email responses are an option if they don’t want to do a phone interview.
Second, you want to prepare referees as much as possible. In addition to giving them questions in advance, offer to help them hone their communication points.
Tip #3: Pursue a Regional Ranking First, Then National
Focus on getting a regional ranking before you pursue a nationwide one. Even if you have a national practice, securing a national ranking is rare if your firm hasn’t been ranked regionally (meaning wherever your offices are located).
If your firm has a regional ranking and it truly has a national presence, go after the national ranking right away; don’t wait a few years to submit.
If you are submitting for both regional and national ones, do not copy/paste. You need to differentiate your capabilities. For regional submissions, demonstrate your local market knowledge and strengths in the region. For national submissions, highlight your presence and successes across the U.S.
Tip #4: Deciding Who Should Be Nominated
Any lawyer can submit a nomination, and you can nominate yourself; however, not everyone warrants inclusion. Who you submit should be driven by the matters you plan to submit and your ranking objectives for Chambers. You must be judicious as you can only submit 20 attorney names and want to put forth the people who have had the most activity in the last year.
If, because of office politics, you must put someone in who isn’t putting forth any matters or doesn’t have a significant body of work, you need to address that in the B10 section (see tip #7). That section gives you the ability to talk about that lawyer. Don’t just list the lawyer’s name and their website bio. Explain what that lawyer has done in the last twelve months that could impress the Chambers researchers.
Tip #5: Give Yourself Enough Time to Complete the Nomination
Chambers is one of the most extensive nominations. It asks for great detail, and you’ll likely need to coordinate with multiple people to get the requested information. Rushing through it or starting a couple of weeks before the deadline usually results in a below-average submission. Start at least three months before the submission deadline so you can do justice to your nomination.
Berbay spends around 40 – 60 hours per submission, so you’re looking at up to 180 hours if you work on three submissions! If submitting for the first year, allow for even more time.
Tip #6: Introduce Yourself to the Researchers
Chambers has 200+ full-time editors and researchers. They are the ones conducting the interviews with your referees. They look at your website and your nomination submission and do extensive research in the legal area you are submitting for. The research process usually takes a couple of months. Every researcher is assigned to a different practice area, so they’re not always the same year after year.
You can find information on which researcher is assigned to what practice area and research schedules on the Chambers website. In our experience, researchers appreciate it if you reach out to them to introduce yourself and offer to help them through the process.
Tip #7: Sell Yourself in the B10 Section
The B10 section is where you describe why your firm and lawyers should be ranked. Often, firms will include generic descriptions of their practice area from their website, repeat the matters they’ve already outlined in the matter section, or not spend enough time on this section entirely, but this is the only part of the nomination that gives you the ability to sell yourself.
Chambers wants substantive information, not marketing fluff. For example, quantify the amount of work you’ve done over the years (e.g., you’ve worked on more than $4 billion in deal transactions, or you’ve secured close to $100 million in verdicts and settlements), along with highlighting the attorneys that you want to get listed. This is the kind of information Chambers looks for when considering firms and attorneys to rank.
Don’t forget to put yourself in the shoes of the researcher reading thousands of submissions. Keep their attention! Describe the significance of each matter. Why was it important? What was the outcome? What impact did it have? Don’t just describe it. Think about telling a story beyond providing a basic description.
Also, don’t tailor the form in any way. Chambers hates when firms do this.
Tip #8: Get Feedback from Chambers Through Their Reports
Chambers Client & Market Intelligence Report (formerly Insight Report) is available for purchase via Chambers, which provides data and analytics into your firm’s rankings and market feedback. The report gives you information on who Chambers deems your competitors, why these firms are ranked, personalized submission guidance from researchers, market averages for referee response rates and full access to editorials (the good, bad and ugly). If you struggle to obtain a ranking or move up in bands, it may be worth trying out for a year to see if it can help your efforts.
Tip #9: Stay in Front of Researchers All Year Long
Even though researchers often change every year, one of the ways you can keep in front of them is through the editorial staff (a list of all their editorial staff). It’s always a good idea to keep them apprised of what’s going on, whether it’s newsworthy or something you want them to note, so you’re not coming in cold during the research process.
Tip #10: Set Realistic Expectations
Do we need to go on? There is no formula for this, but we often see inflated expectations. Don’t expect Chambers to rank five new attorneys in one year. Like most things, it takes work and time.
The Billion-Dollar Question: Who is Using These Directories
Most firms want to know if anyone pays attention to the Chambers directories; in our experience, the answer is 50/50. One answer you will commonly hear is that general counsel uses it to help short-list lawyers or find lawyers in unfamiliar jurisdictions or practice areas. This can be particularly beneficial for law firms with specialized practices such as gaming, international trade or cannabis.
All that being said, pursuing a Chambers ranking should fit into your larger business and marketing objectives. If your clients are typically individual consumers, it’s unlikely they are turning to Chambers to find a lawyer. It’s not a “general public” type of directory. Another reason Chambers may not make sense for your firm is if you have highly localized legal services and receive most of your leads from personal referrals and word of mouth. While a ranking is prestigious, it may not be a fit for your local marketing approach. The bottom line is that a submission requires substantial time and effort, so you want to make sure your input matches the ROI.
The Million-Dollar Question: How Can I Leverage My Ranking?
You’ve gone through this entire process. It’s extensive. It takes a lot of time. So why submit?
One important consideration is that Chambers is one way to level the playing field. If you’re a small firm stacked against larger firms and get ranked, you can use it for marketing purposes — put it on your website, in proposals and capabilities, etc. There’s a lot of mileage that you can get out of the ranking.
Another benefit is that once you’re ranked, you can augment your presence as Chambers offers an expanded profile on its website (paid feature). With an expanded profile, you can get more traction out of the ranking by paying Chambers annually to describe your firm and your practice more. There are other ways to extend the visibility of your ranking. Chambers has logos, plaques, ranking brochures and a variety of products that you can purchase or subscribe to.
Resources:
- Website: www.chambers.com
- Twitter: @ChambersGuides
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/company/chambers-and-partners
- Facebook: facebook.com/Chambersandpartners
Partner with a Trusted Los Angeles Marketing and PR Firm
Berbay Marketing & Public Relations has nearly three decades of experience providing law, real estate and financial firms with marketing and public relations services that propel your business forward. Berbay’s dedicated team has demonstrated success securing media placements, achieving nominations and rankings, revitalizing websites, and social media, obtaining speaking engagements and more.
Are you looking to secure a coveted legal ranking with Los Angeles’ proven Marketing and PR team? Contact Berbay at 310-499-2584 or info@berbay.com
