Preparing legal directory submissions takes time. Partners are interviewed. Matters are carefully drafted. Marketing teams spend weeks refining messaging. Referees are identified and briefed. And then, once everything is submitted, everyone sits back and waits.
Did we move up a band? Did anyone drop? What did Chambers say in the editorial?
Although people like to argue about it, we think done properly, rankings matter. They provide credibility and independent validation in a competitive market.
But if rankings are the only way you measure the value of the directories process, we think you’re really missing something far more important.
Because the directories don’t just read your submission and talk to your referees, they look at your wider marketing too. And that’s where the directories process can become less of a linear, annual process and feed in to an ongoing lifecycle of content.
Step 1: Your submissions and your marketing must tell the same story
When researchers assess whether a firm or individual deserves to be ranked, they are looking for consistency.
Do the matters in the submission support the positioning you’re claiming?
Do the referees confirm the story you’re telling?
And importantly, does the firm’s public marketing back it all up?
Researchers will often look at your website, your case studies, your news and your sector positioning. If your submission says you are a market leader in a particular area, but your website barely mentions it, the message becomes less convincing.
In other words, your submission and referees are only part of the evidence.
What you say and do in your marketing makes up the rest.
Step 2: Submissions are actually a goldmine of marketing content
There is a useful irony in thinking of directories as a cyclical, rather than linear, process.
Every year, law firms invest significant time and budget preparing directory submissions. Those submissions contain:
- carefully written matter summaries
- refined practice descriptions
- partner biographies
- examples of the firm’s most significant work
Yet once submitted, much of that content disappears into a PDF and is never used again. And we think that’s a missed opportunity.
The directories process forces firms to capture and articulate their best work each year. With a little planning, that same material can support a wide range of marketing and business development activities.
Matter summaries can become:
- website case studies
- representative matters for pitch documents
- award submissions
- sector capability statements
Practice descriptions can feed directly into service page updates on your website. Lawyer biographies can be adapted into short pitch profiles or capability documents.
Used properly, your submissions become a structured and reliable source of marketing content.
We explore this wider strategic approach in more detail in our article
After the submission: Maximising value from the legal directories process.
Why this matters for rankings
This is not simply about efficiency, it’s about credibility.
When the messages in your submissions are reinforced across your website, your marketing materials and your thought leadership, the directories see a consistent market position.
That consistency strengthens your case for ranking.
The same applies to other parts of your directories strategy. For example, category positioning must reflect the work you are actually doing and how you present it publicly.
If you haven’t thought carefully about where you submit and how you position your practice, even the strongest matter summaries might struggle, as we discussed in Directories category strategy: why where you submit matters as much as what you submit.
Turning submissions into a year-round content strategy
The reality is that the most successful firms do not treat directory submissions as a once-a-year exercise. Instead, they see them as part of a broader cycle:
- significant matters are tracked throughout the year
- referee relationships are managed continuously
- marketing and BD teams capture key achievements as they happen
- submission content feeds into pitches, awards and website updates
Seen this way, the submission deadline stops being a big job you just have to get through and becomes just one milestone in a much longer process.
Introducing ELE’s content packages
To help firms unlock that value, we have developed a set of content packages designed specifically for directories submissions.
We start by reviewing your most recent submissions and identifying content that can safely and strategically be repurposed.
From there, we transform that material into practical outputs such as:
- website case studies
- pitch-ready matter summaries
- short pitch biographies
- capability documents
- award entries
- website updates
With packages designed to work for different strategic priorities and budgets, everything is designed to ensure the time and budget invested in directory submissions works harder for your firm throughout the year.
