Should law firms participate in legal rankings?

Participating in legal rankings and awards is a lengthly and time consuming process. However, the exposure and positive recognition that comes from a credible ranking can have a strong impact on how the firm and its professionals are regarded in the market.

Below are some of the main reasons why law firms should make participating in legal rankings and directories a priority.

1.Establish Credibility / Strengthen Reputation

Having a third-party research team endorsement for your firm often holds more weight and credibility in the market than endorsing one’s own firm. Being able to leverage an endorsement from a well-respected media outlet (ie. Chambers and Partners, Legal500, Leaders League) will go a long way.

2. Build Relationships with Key Industry Contacts

The publishers of legal rankings and awards have strong media and industry presences that extend beyond the directories. By engaging in submissions, your firm can form closer relationships with journalists who might quote them in articles, be featured on news postings published by the company, get in the know about events that the company is hosting, and build connections with people who are well immersed in your network, and may be able to help you leverage a new business relationship in the future.

3. SEO optimization

The more places where your firm’s name appears, the better your chances are of being found by potential clients. While legal rankings will not be the make or break deciding factor that clients use to hire legal teams, they are one of the first places where clients go to research firms that they are interested in working with. Often times, people will also do simple google searches like “top tax firms in Brazil”, which will pull up all of the most relevant rankings on the internet. If your firm is not participating in directories, they will not be found in these google searches, which can mean that clients who may want to work with you, will not be able to find you.

4. Free advertising

The publishers that produce these rankings make considerable efforts to promote their rankings and research efforts, and in the process promote all of the firms and professionals included in their published research. In addition, the research teams who produce the rankings often include summaries and highlights of each ranked firm (at no cost), and so potential clients can gain more detailed insights on your firm from each of these third party sites.

5. Attract better talent

Establishing a competitive reputation and strong brand is a key way to ensure that your firm is attracting the best talent across all levels and positions. Lawyers early in their career are often especially eager to sign with firms with high brand name recognition and top tier status, and so the better that your firm can position itself in the rankings.

Click here to learn more about how LETS Americas can help law firms across the Americas to manage their participation and increase their exposure in legal rankings: LETS Americas Rankings Solutions

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Cómo Navegar por los Rankings y Directorios Legales

RANKINGS LEGALES: LO QUE LOS ABOGADOS DEBEN SABER

Los rankings legales son un proceso largo y, a menudo, complejo. Encontrarlos y saber cuales se debe enviar, reunir las presentaciones, confirmar a los árbitros de los clientes es una tarea que parece no tener fin. Sin embargo, si no dedicas tiempo o recursos al proceso de envíos, incluso para las empresas y personas más respetadas del mercado se pueden pasar por alto cuando se publican los rankings.

En los casos de los despachos de abogados más grandes, especialmente aquellas con múltiples áreas de práctica, se pueden contratar a un miembro del equipo para dedicarse casi el 100% de su tiempo y esfuerzo solo para administrar los envíos de los ciclos de investigación, además de las responsabilidades legales. Esta persona, que usualmente formar parte del equipo de marketing, es responsable de supervisar los calendarios, revisar y enviar formularios de investigación, donde estarán los casos más importantes y costosos junto con las listas de clientes de referencia elaboradas por los abogados en sus despachos.

Sin embargo, este no es un proceso estándar para todas las empresas. En muchos casos, incluso para las empresas con equipos dedicados a la investigación de rankings, las personas que supervisan las clasificaciones y la investigación aún pueden encontrar agobiados por el hecho de mantenerse al día en todas las clasificaciones, premios y directorios.

Se estima que ya existen más de 80 instituciones especializadas en el ranking del sector legal, y cada día aparecen otras nuevas. Entre estas publicaciones se encuentran: Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, Leaders League, Latin Lawyer, Latin Finance, ITR, IFLR1000 e IP Stars, por nombrar algunas. Estos directorios no solo tienen clasificaciones estándar, sino que también tienen ceremonias de premios distintas que requieren presentaciones y solicitudes adicionales para los clientes de referencia.

Por lo tanto, muchos bufetes de abogados de todos los tamaños eligen trabajar con un equipo externo dedicado de consultores de marketing legal, como es LETS Americas, para ayudarles a administrar sus calendarios de investigación, comunicarse con directorios de investigación en su nombre, investigar y evaluar la legitimidad de los nuevos rankings del mercado, producir los formularios de envío de investigación de la mejor manera posible y ayudar con la creación de sus perfiles de empresas en numerosos directorios.

¿POR QUÉ SON IMPORTANTES LAS CLASIFICACIONES LEGALES?

Las clasificaciones legales y los premios brindan un respaldo de terceros a su empresa y aumentan la exposición de la empresa en los mercados internacionales. Cualquier empresa puede presumir de ser la mejor del mercado, pero los directorios pueden separar la experiencia de las empresas por área de práctica y profesionales para mostrar dónde se destaca cada empresa, y utiliza sus propias reseñas (recopiladas a partir de su proceso de investigación) y, a menudo, cotizaciones de clientes para resaltar los conocimientos más relevantes sobre la empresa / o sobre personas del mercado. Los rankings internacionales tienen una importancia particular, ya que permiten encontrar empresas y promocionarlas a una amplia audiencia, de una manera estandarizada para que los usuarios globales puedan acceder y comprender la información con mayor facilidad.

Las clasificaciones legales son un recurso clave para que los abogados corporativos e internos recurran al tomar decisiones de contratación, son una métrica importante que los profesionales individuales pueden usar para compararse con otros en el mercado, conectan empresas con otras internacionales que buscan socios en el extranjero para hacer negocios, y aseguran a los clientes que su negocio está en manos de una firma confiable y respetada.

¿CÓMO FUNCIONA EL PROCESO DE CLASIFICACIÓN?

La metodología más común para el proceso de investigación sigue los siguientes pasos:

– El directorio publica el calendario de investigación (generalmente las fechas de investigación corresponden a diferentes áreas de práctica legal)

– El directorio crea una plantilla de formulario de investigación (o un formulario web) para que las empresas lo completen com el máximo de informaciones disponibles.

– El directorio comparte el formulario de investigación e invita a las empresas a participar y enviar su investigación antes de la fecha límite correspondiente.

– El equipo editorial del directorio revisa a los formulario de envío y organiza entrevistas con la firma, así como con sus clientes y pares (otros abogados) para obtener una mejor comprensión de la firma y del mercado en que actúa en particular.

– Los resultados se anuncian, publicitan y comparten con los mercados.

Los rankings de directorios son bien conocidos en el ámbito jurídico, pero es un hecho que empresas de distintos sectores económicos aún se están familiarizando con la idea de un método de valoración de despachos de abogados.

Hoy en día, algunas empresas ya utilizan premios legales como método de calificación a la hora de buscar y contratar abogados, por lo que es importante estar comprometido con los rankings para destacarse frente a posibles clientes de la industria.

CÓMO GANAR UN RECONOCIMIENTO PARA UNA FIRMA O ABOGADO

Es común pensar que entregar una forma impecable y bien redactada es suficiente para asegurarle a una empresa un lugar en un ranking. Sin embargo, para los directorios más respetados, posicionarse no es tarea fácil, especialmente para un ranking en el que la firma participa por primera vez.

Primero, un líder de la firma debe examinar la lista de oficinas y profesionales de anuncios de rankings anteriores (su competencia) y evaluar si sus prácticas son comparables a las de las otras firmas en los rankings. Entiende si su oficina tiene casos relevantes (en cantidad y complejidad), y determina si existe una buena relación con tus clientes y competidores para que te apoyen en este proceso.

Si se entiende que la posición de la empresa es más baja que las otras empresas en las clasificaciones, podría tener sentido esperar un año antes de invertir en el proceso de clasificación. Antes de dedicar esfuerzos para ser parte de estos rankings, se recomienda invertir en construir la práctica, entender el mercado, buscar nuevos clientes y casos, promover y branding de la oficina, generar contenido relevante, reclutar a los mejores talentos, construir relaciones con los grupos de interés. (clientes, socios y competidores), etc.

Estos esfuerzos ayudarán a la firma a ganar casos considerables y que la marca sea conocida.

Contratar a un profesional para gestionar la participación en la investigación es un paso importante y puede ayudar a identificar el momento adecuado y en qué rankings debe competir la oficina.

Este especialista será el facilitador del proceso: siguiendo los plazos, mediando el contacto con las publicaciones, revisando la calidad de los textos redactados por los abogados, identificando nuevas oportunidades para la oficina, entregando las presentaciones a tiempo y haciendo un seguimiento con directorios para asegurarse de que toda la información es bien recibido. Esta figura también es importante para la interpretación de la jerga jurídica, además de enfatizar la historia detrás de los datos presentados, recordando que, en la mayoría de los casos, quien evalúa el contenido presentado no es un profesional capacitado en derecho. Sin embargo, si bien no todos los investigadores tienen experiencia en derecho, los principales directorios cuentan con editores e investigadores con un fuerte conocimiento de las peculiaridades de los diferentes mercados legales, y que actúan de manera profesional y ética, agregando mucho valor al sector legal.

La actividad de las oficinas de ranking está en constante evolución y sofisticación, también debido a la interacción de los participantes, que cuestionan los métodos de clasificación, las áreas encuestadas y una serie de otras cuestiones que involucran el proceso de investigación.

Un abogado excepcional puede no estar incluido en un reconocimiento por varios factores inherentes al trabajo de investigación, pero lo que solemos decir aquí es que “un ranking legal es como un concurso de belleza: puede haber incluso más gente guapa por ahí, pero si no caminó, no memorizó el discurso y no mostró su carisma a los evaluadores, seguro que no ganará ”.

¿EN QUÉ TIPO DE CLASIFICACIONES PUEDE PARTICIPAR SU EMPRESA?

Las clasificaciones legales no son exclusivas de las empresas grandes o de servicios completos. Si bien las firmas más grandes siempre están clasificadas, existe espacio e incentivo para que las firmas pequeñas y medianas también participen, especialmente para aquellas especializadas en áreas o sectores de práctica específicos, lo que puede ser una ventaja en relación con las oficinas de servicio completo.

De hecho, hay publicaciones que evalúan solo prácticas específicas, como es el caso, por ejemplo, de International Tax Review y Global Competition Review.

Siempre que tengan buen trabajo realizado en la fecha estipulada por la encuesta, clientes representativos y reconocimiento de pares y competidores, todas las oficinas pueden participar.

EN CONCLUSIÓN

Una de las actividades de marketing más importantes de un bufete de abogados internacional debe ser la creación de un plan anual de directorios legales a los que contribuirá el bufete, con énfasis en determinar qué rankings son creíbles y cuáles tienen sentido para el objetivo estratégico para las firmas legales. La gestión de la investigación y las clasificaciones es un proceso largo y requiere mucho cuidado, y cualquier empresa que busque asistencia u orientación en este proceso debe considerar trabajar con LETS Americas, un equipo de marketing legal profesional con mucha experiencia en los matices de esta práctica, y dedicándonos a brindar excelentes resultados a nuestros clientes.

LETS Americas ofrece un asesoramiento completo, desde las búsquedas por rankings de hecho relacionados para desarollar la imágen del negocio legal hasta la divulgación del galardón para los medios de comunicación y para la comunidad de firmas de abogados. Así, es un trabajo completo de seguimiento junto a la firma.

—–

Alexandra Strick es socia fundadora de LETS Americas y una profesional con experiencia en el área de desarrollo comercial de publicaciones legales internacionales respetadas de Euromoney Legal Media Group (que opera a través de publicaciones ITR, Managing IP, IFLR y Expert Guides).

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Legal marketing trends and rankings best practices for 2021: An interview with Arjun Sajip of Leaders League

LETS Americas speaks with Arjun Sajip, Managing Editor for the USA & Canada at Leaders League, to discuss key legal marketing trends, what makes Leaders League different, and how you can get your firm ranked in 2021.

LETS: As Leaders League is based in France and was designed to cover the European market, how do you adapt your approach and solutions for the Americas market?

AS: Leaders League is headquartered in France but “based” all over the Western hemisphere. In addition to our head office in Paris, we have senior staff in London, Lisbon, Madrid, Lima, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Those last three offices are key to our Americas strategy.

For one thing, we adapt our rankings to each country, which explains why we don’t have the same ranking titles across all countries. Our US coverage, for example, includes rankings of proxy solicitation firms and activist investor funds; we are the only legal directory to do this, because we focus on accurately mapping law-adjacent markets as well as legal ones. Our Latin American team was the first of any directory to cover areas such as plant breeders’ rights, wealth management and fintech. We pride ourselves on being more dynamic and responsive to market trends on a country-by-country basis than our competitors are. We even have a Brazil-specific publication, Brazil’s Best Counsel, that we publish annually.

On-the-ground presence is also key to our Americas approach. In Brazil, our editorial and research team consists of five professionals native in Portuguese and fluent in English. Unlike other international directories, we welcome research documents in either language. The fact that we have two offices in the country, plus the fact that our entire research team is composed of Brazilian nationals, means we conduct 100% of our Brazil research in Portuguese.

In Peru, our office head, Jandira Salgado, is a former lawyer who knows and understands the local and legal context. She worked at Leaders League’s Paris HQ for seven years before opening the Lima office.

Ultimately, our ranking methodology in the Americas is the same as that in Europe. We believe research should be done by people familiar with the culture and the subtleties of each market; they conduct interviews in the language of the relevant market. When there aren’t deadly viruses floating around, our teams undertake research trips all year round, visiting the different countries we cover – including the US – and meeting with key partners and firms. This continual contact with market players allows our respective teams to know exactly who is who and conduct in-depth research, ranking not only the full-service law firms in each country but also key boutiques.

LETS: How long have you been working with Leaders League, and what are your specific goals for better coverage of the North American market?

AS: I’ve been with Leaders League for over two years; previously I was an editor at The Legal 500, a widely recognized legal directory where I learned a lot about legal markets, the nature of legal work in various contexts, and what clients want from lawyers. Thanks to my time there, I am well versed in analyzing reams of editorial submissions from law firms and grilling senior lawyers on their work.

As for covering the North American market, our research ethos is the same as our company ethos: to be a true bridge between clients, law firms, service providers to law firms, and the finance sector. We rank not just law firms but private equity firms, venture capital firms, investment banks, litigation funders and consulting firms, across a range of practice areas. All of these rankings are based on months of in-depth research.

This breadth, which is reflected in our intelligence reports, comes alive at Leaders League events, where we strategically invite professionals from different kinds of institution – law firms, investment firms, corporates, banks – to foster client relationships and partnerships. Our bespoke event websites have repeatedly proved popular among those seeking clients, business partners and experts.

LETS: What are the main legal marketing trends you are anticipating for 2021? Do you think the pandemic has brought new trends to the legal marketing area?

AS: Over the last decade, legal marketing agencies have proliferated, creating a competitive market. This development has meant that law firms have increasingly been handing marketing duties – including but not exclusively directories and awards – to consultancies, while firms’ in-house marketing teams focus more on internal marketing and targeted business development. Consultancies are both agile and dedicated, with strong links to directories and legal media, so they are an increasingly popular option.

As for trends brought by the pandemic, well, it’s been a tough time for legal marketing internally and externally – which is why it’s so impressive that LETS Americas has actually grown since the pandemic began! Marketing does not cease to become important in times of crisis; if anything, times of crisis can yield new opportunities and long-term strategies. Consultancies can play an active role in this by bringing their own expertise and perspectives.

One key trend affecting legal marketing is ESG (environmental, social, governance): firms are increasingly keen to present themselves as hot on those topics to both internal and external stakeholders. Consumers demand it, so companies want it, so they expect their advisors to be au fait with it. This applies to all kinds of firms, from proxy solicitation firms to law firms to investment banks.

LETS: Which countries and practice areas will you be watching more carefully in 2021?

AS: In terms of countries, I can honestly speak only for the US and Canada. But as for practice areas, well, we launched several new rankings last year, including best activist investor funds, best litigation funders and best arbitration funders. This year, for the US, I oversaw two entirely new rankings in line with post-COVID legal market developments: best consulting firms for restructuring and best investment banks for restructuring. We’ll be keeping an eye on these areas, as well as labour and employment law, in 2021 as corona-chaos hopefully subsides and begins to translate into legal work.

Litigation/arbitration funding is another area of coverage we’re proud of: we were early to the game, and the third-party disputes funding market has responded positively to our rankings. It’s a sector that is only getting larger and more targeted; our coverage will reflect this.

LETS: What makes Leaders League stand out in comparison to other legal directories?

AS: To avoid repeating myself at length, I’ll briefly recap some of the key differences made so far.

We map entire business ecosystems in our rankings, from law to consulting to finance, acting as a bridge between professions and professionals through our intelligence reports and our flagship international events.

We proudly emphasize on-the-ground reporting, be it through permanent offices in the countries we cover or via regular research trips to those countries. Our rankings are published in five different languages, to make them more searchable by five different demographics: anglophone, francophone, germanophone, hispanophone and lusophone.

We field experienced staff, often former lawyers or former editors at other major legal directories and other trade publications. We also keep a beady eye on the legal media, so we’re always able to apply our critical eye to new market developments.

Each of our rankings is researched annually, but we don’t necessarily wait a whole year to update them: we react swiftly to major market developments, even if those developments occur soon after a ranking is launched. (We do the necessary due diligence first, of course.)

LETS: What golden tips could you give to law firms that want to be ranked? Could you give us some do’s and don’ts?

AS: Absolutely! We have plenty of advice for firms who’d like to get ranked by sending us submissions.

Do:

Participate fully in our research process – send us submissions, set up interviews with practice heads, ask us any questions you have.
Feel free to trust us with sensitive information. We are a team of experienced editors and researchers who take confidentiality very seriously; everything you send us is stored securely and does not go beyond our research team. That said, always mark confidential information in red.
Emphasize, in 150 words or less, how each matter you include best showcases your firm’s expertise, skill and reliability for matters crucial to your client. We place a premium on matters of strategic importance, rather than ongoing advisory work.
Include work handled for your most impressive clients, but only when the work you’ve done for them is actually impressive.
Emphasize in precise terms what makes you different. Avoid clichés like “partner-led”, “service-driven”, “multi-jurisdictional” or “expertise” – all firms claim these attributes. Instead focus on market niches and genuine differentiators – the kind of facets you could lord over your best competitors.
Select referees that are actually likely to engage with us. These are worth more than impressive names that don’t respond to our requests for feedback.

Don’t:

Assume that referees are the single most important part of the process. Editorial submissions are just as important; interviews with practice heads are also crucial in giving us a fuller sense of a practice’s capabilities.
Try to mislead us by including out-of-date matters (i.e. matters that closed over a year ago) or ambiguously phrased matter values. If you handled a corporate acquisition worth $13bn to create a combined company worth $40 billion, put the $13bn value in the “Matter value” box, not the $40bn. We’re more eagle-eyed than you might think, and use sources other than submissions!
Be too long-winded or caught up in legal jargon when discussing your matters in submissions.
Waste time on marketing-speak or generic puffery. We look at the matter highlights and the best work you do for your best clients, and expect the work to speak for itself (though interviews with practice heads are very helpful in clarifying points about the practice and its work).
Be afraid to approach us for any clarification on our research process, ranking criteria or ranking decisions.

Arjun can be reached at asajip@leadersleague.com

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7 Common Questions on the Brazilian Legal Market

Doing Business in Brazil

With a population of over 204 million people, and a nominal GDP of $1.9 trillion, Brazil is the most populous country in Latin America. It also has the largest consumer market and economy in the region.

Therefore, Brazil is an attractive market for foreign investors, entrepreneurs, and multinationals, and companies who are looking for international expansion.

However, the Brazilian market is complex. To enter, one must have a strong knowledge of the country, its laws, customs, and its tough regulation of the national bar for legal marketing. To plan effective marketing and business development strategies to target new Brazilian clients, it is important to work with a legal marketing team that is already well positioned in the country.

Below you will find the answers to some common questions law firms have about marketing to clients in Brazil, and the ways in which LETS Americas can best help these law firms achieve their marketing goals in Brazil.

1. Brazil has somewhat restrictive legislations regarding how law firms can advertise their services. How can LETS Americas help international firms looking to advertise to Brazilian Clients?

As LETS Marketing has been operating in Brazil since 2018, the firm has a strong understanding of what international firms can and cannot do to attract business in Brazil. The firm’s professionals have worked the main and most respected Brazilian law firms as marketing, business development and corporate communications specialists.

There are many legislations regarding the ways in which law firms are able to advertise, which are strictly governed by the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB, using the official Portuguese acronym) and so it is necessary to work with a team that is familiar with these legislations.

2. Is it necessary for international firms to produce content in Portuguese when targeting the Brazilian market?

For international firms looking to begin working within Brazil, it is very important to be able to produce communications in Portuguese, to be able to engage in the local media of the country and so firms should look to work with marketing teams that can assist with creating and promoting content in Portuguese.

According to a research published by British Council in 2019, only 5 % of Brazilians speak English. While the top law firms in Brazil are all fully bilingual, creating content in Portuguese allows for firms to better connect with the local market, shows respect for the local language, and reaffirms the firm’s dedication to working with Brazilian clients. Additionally, it is important to consider that there are many key decision makers who will be involved in the contracting of your services, and many clients may feel more comfortable navigating important business decisions in their native language.

3. Where in Brazil should my firm work?

Despite its large territory, economy and population, Brazil’s businesses hubs are concentrated across a few main cities. São Paulo is the financial center of the country and has the largest consumer market, where just about all of the most important companies in the country keep an office. Investment fund or banks in Brazil and the Brazilian stock market most often keep their headquarters in São Paulo . The city is near key-industrial poles (such as Campinas and ABC Paulista) and the largest port in the South hemisphere, which is called Santos.

It’s also common for litigation, tax and public law firms to have offices in Brasília, the national capital which is the seat of the Supreme Court, regulatory and enforcement authorities, and the main politicians.

The country is divided into 5 different regions with distinctive features and 26 federal states. The agribusiness is the main economic activity in the country, specially in the South and Midwest Regions.

The Southeast Region is very important as it where both São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro are located. It has the largest economic development through a plural economy in the productive industry, services and financial market.

The North and Northeast regions are key markets for international businesses and investors to watch due to their abundance of natural resources and growth potential.

4. How will the new Personal Data Protection legislation impact marketing capabilities for foreign entities doing business in Brazil?

The new Personal Data Legislation (LGPD) is already in force in Brazil. The law was inspired by the GDPR law of the EU, and was designed in order to protect people’s data and to fine companies which share or use personal information through a non-consensual way.

Email marketing campaigns, and the ways in which clients can do outbound lead generation campaigns were highly impacted by these new laws. While still a very useful content tool for law firms, it is now recommendable to the firm to establish a partnership with a local marketing specialist and compliance specialists to avoid sanctions.

5. What are the main aspects of the Brazilian legal regime that international clients must know?

Under regulations in Provimento 91/2000, foreign lawyers or law firms can only practice international or their country’s law as ‘foreign legal consultants’, and can only advise Brazilian clients on international legal matters. Foreign firms are not allowed to enter into partnership with or employ Brazilian lawyers. If a lawyer enters into partnership with a foreign lawyer, they will not be able to advise on Brazilian law and will be treated as a foreign legal consultant.

The sharing fees or equity between a foreign firm and a local Brazilian law firms is also banned, as is any joint marketing with local firms. What UK and other international law firms can do is work with Brazilian firms by referring business to each other and seeking each other’s advice on their respective countries’ laws

Paid advertising is also completely forbidden for law firms in Brazil. That’s why inbound marketing, content marketing and public relations are so important to the Brazilian firms’ strategies. Owned media and paid media are really relevant for them.

6. How does LETS Americas and LETS Marketing cover the whole of the Americas from only having two offices, in NYC and Sao Paulo?

By focusing on taking on clients engaged with global business, LETS has been focused on establishing strong relationships with international media and outlets, especially within the sectors of rankings, conferences and events. As the LETS team has worked within the legal marketing and legal media world for a number of years, giving us strong connections and relationships with key players across all of the Americas.

LETS also has a strong internal team of business development consultants who are well equipped and eager to take on any new challenges that our clients may ask of them.

7. What main areas of legal marketing does LETS Americas focus on?

LETS Americas is a completely full-service legal marketing consulting firm. The main areas in which we operate are:

Branding
Communications
Business Development
Events and Sponsorships
Digital and Inbound Marketing
Strategic Marketing Planning
Research
Legal Rankings and Publications
Public Relations
International Consulting

7. Which are the main Brazilian law firms to work with me as a lawyer or firm in association?

Brazil has a wide range of firms’ profile’s, considering full service and boutique players. An efficient tool to gather information and make a good decision regarding which Brazilian firm should you reach is to access the main Latin American legal rankings. Leaders League, Chambers and Partners, Legal 500 and The Who’s Who Legal are examples of institutions researching and publishing information regarding several practice areas, attorneys, and law firms. They publish every year a new ranking in English with the best rated lawyers and firms. Check it out and consult your marketing specialist regarding methodology and specificity on each institution.

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Navigating Legal Rankings and Directories

LEGAL RANKINGS – WHAT LAWYERS NEED TO KNOW

Legal Rankings are a lengthly and often complex process. Finding the right rankings to submit to, putting together the submissions, confirming client referees- the task is never ending. However, without dedicating time and resources to the submission process, even the most well regarded firms and individuals in the market can be overlooked when the rankings are published.

For larger law firms, especially those with multiple practice areas, the firms are able to hire a team member who can dedicate almost 100% of their time and efforts just to managing research submissions and legal responsibilities. This person, who usually sits on the marketing team, is responsible for monitoring calendars, reviewing and submitting research forms, cases and client lists prepared by lawyers at law firms.

This is not a standard process for all firms though. In many cases, even for firms with teams dedicated to research in rankings, the people overseeing the rankings and research can still find it overwhelming to stay up to date on all of the rankings, awards, and directories. It is estimated that there are already over 80 institutions specialized in ranking the legal sector, with new ones popping up every day. Among these publications are: Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500, Leaders League, Latin Lawyer, Latin Finance, ITR, IFLR1000, and IP Stars, to name a few. Not only do these directories have standard rankings, they also have distinct awards ceremonies which require additional submissions and requests for client referees.

Therefore, many law firms of all sizes choose to work with a dedicated external team of Legal Marketing Consultants, such as LETS Americas to help them manage their research calendars, communicate with research directories on their behalf, research and evaluate the legitimacy of new rankings on the market, produce the strongest research submission forms possible, and to assist with the creation of their firm profiles in numerous directories.

WHY ARE LEGAL RANKINGS IMPORTANT?

Legal Rankings and awards provide a third-party endorsement of your firm, and increase the firm’s exposure in international markets. Any firm can claim to be the best in the market, but the directories break down the expertise of firms by practice area and professionals, to showcase where each firm stands out, and uses their own write ups (gathered from their research process) and oftentimes client quotes to highlight the most relevant insights on the firm/ individuals to the market. International rankings have a particular importance they allow for firms to be found and promoted to a vast audience, in a way that is standardized so that the information can be most easily accessed and understood by global users.

Legal Rankings are a key resource for corporate and in-house counsel to turn to when making hiring decisions, they are an important metric for individual practitioners to use to compare themselves to others in the market, they connect firms to international firms looking for overseas partners to do business with, and they reassure clients that their business is in the hands of a trusted and well respected firm.

HOW DOES THE RANKING PROCESS WORK?

The most common methodology for the research/ rankings process, follows the following steps:

Directory releases the research calendar (usually research dates are correspond to different practice areas)
Directory creates a research form template (or a webform) for firms to fill out
Directory shares the research form, and invites firms to participate and submit their research by the appropriate deadline
Editorial team of the directory reviews the submission form and arranges interviews the firm, as well as with their clients and peers (other lawyers) to gain a better understanding of the firm as well as of the particular market
The results are announced, publicized and shared with the markets

Directory rankings are well known in the legal field, but it is a fact that companies from different economic sectors are still familiarizing themselves with this method of assessing law firms. Nowadays, some companies already use legal awards as a qualification method when searching for and hiring lawyers, and so it is important to be engaged with the rankings to stand out in front of potential industry clients.

HOW TO WIN A RECOGNITION FOR AN FIRM OR ATTORNEY

It is common to think that delivering an impeccable and well-written form is enough to secure a firm a place in a ranking. However, for the most respected directories, becoming ranked is not an easy task, especially for a ranking in which the firm is participating for the first time.

First, a leader from the firm must examine the list of offices and professionals from previous rankings announcements (their competition) and assess whether their practices are comparable to the other firms in the rankings. Understand if your office has relevant cases (in quantity and complexity), and determine if there is a good relationship with your customers and competitors so that they will support you in this process.

If the understanding is that the position of the firm is lower than the other firms in the rankings, it might make sense to wait a year before investing in the rankings process. Before devoting efforts to be part of these rankings, it is recommended to invest in building the practice, understanding the market, searching for new clients and cases, promoting and branding of the office, generating relevant content, recruiting top talent, building relationships with stakeholders ( customers, partners and competitors), etc. These efforts will help the firm win considerable cases and that the brand is known.

Hiring a professional to manage participation in research is an important step and it can help to identify the right moment and in which rankings the office should compete.

This specialist will be the facilitator of the process: following deadlines, mediating contact with publications, reviewing the quality of texts written by lawyers, identifying new opportunities for the office, delivering the submissions on time, and following up with directories to make sure all information is well received. This figure is also important for the interpretation of legal jargon, and to emphasize the story behind the data presented, remembering that, in most cases, whoever evaluates the submitted content is not a professional trained in law. However, while not all researchers have a law background, the top directories have editors and researchers with a strong knowledge of the peculiarities of the different legal markets, and who act in a professional and ethical manner, adding a lot of value to the legal sector.

The activity of ranking offices is constantly evolving and sophisticated, also due to the interaction of the participants, who question classification methods, areas surveyed and a series of other matters involving the research process.

An exceptional lawyer may not be included in a recognition for several factors inherent to the research work, but what we usually say here is that “a legal ranking is like a beauty contest: there may even be more beautiful people out there , but if you didn’t walk, didn’t memorize the speech and didn’t show your charisma to the evaluators, you certainly won’t win ”.

WHAT KIND OF RANKINGS CAN YOUR FIRM PARTICIPATE IN

Legal rankings are not exclusive to large or full service firms. Although the largest firms are always ranked, there is space and incentive for small and medium-sized firms to participate as well – especially for those specialized in specific practice areas or sectors, which can be an advantage in relation to full service offices.

In fact, there are publications that evaluate only specific practices, as is the case, for example, with the International Tax Review and the Global Competition Review.

As long as they have good work done on the date stipulated by the survey, representative customers and recognition from peers and competitors, all offices can participate.

IN CONCLUSION

One of the most important marketing activities of an international law firm should be to create an annual plan of legal directories that the firm will contribute to, which an emphasis on determining which rankings are credible, and which make sense for the strategic objective of the firm. Managing the research and rankings is a lengthy process and requires great care, and for any firm that is looking for assistance or guidance on this process should consider working with LETS Americas, a professional legal marketing team well experienced in the nuances of this practice, and dedicating to delivering great results for our clients.

Alexandra Strick is the founding partner of LETS Americas and a professional with experience in the business development area of respected international legal publications of the Euromoney Legal Media Group (which operates through publications ITR, Managing IP, IFLR and Expert Guides).

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