The Chambers High Net Worth Guide 2026 launched on 23 July.
What is Chambers HNW Guide?
It is Chambers’ specialist private wealth guide, and although it looks pretty much the same, it works slightly differently from the main legal guides. Alongside law firms and lawyers it ranks the wider adviser market: accountancy firms, private banks, wealth managers and trust companies, plus estate agents and buying agents. Research covers more than 55 countries, every US state, and the UK region by region. If you want the fuller picture, we’ve written an introduction to the guide and a tour of what sits inside it.
What do the numbers say this year?
This year’s edition includes 5,060 lawyer rankings, 2,477 department rankings and 1,563 organisation rankings.
Compared to last year’s guide, which ranked around 4,500 lawyers and 2,200 departments, that represents a 12% growth. Chambers is expanding this guide and that means we can expect growing categories across the jurisdictions, as well as new tables.
What the research team is saying
Although they didn’t do a formal ‘state of the HNW nation’ presentation, Chambers did publish one substantial piece of editorial alongside the launch: UK private wealth disputes legal trends for 2026, by Senior Research Analyst Corlett Novis. The themes:
- London is strengthening as the forum of choice for cross-border private wealth disputes, and solicitors reported more instructions on the back of economic uncertainty.
- Some of that work is arriving because clients see the US as less predictable, with Gulf clients in particular more likely to hold assets in the UK and Europe.
- More trust and estate disputes now involve an operating business caught between trustees and beneficiaries.
- The wealth transfer between generations is under way and proving more contentious than previous handovers, with younger beneficiaries readier to litigate and to test what fiduciary roles actually require.
- Capacity and vulnerability are pushing more contested wills towards the Court of Protection.
It’s important to remember, however, that this article covers a single practice area in a single jurisdiction. It doesn’t tell you anything about how researchers are reading offshore trusts, US private wealth law, family offices or high value residential.
The 2027 deadlines
The research schedule for High Net Worth 2027 is already open across every table:
- 21 August 2026. Asia-Pacific, the Nordics and Baltics, plus Ireland, Israel, Spain, Switzerland, South Africa, Kenya and Brazil.
- 18 September 2026. Canada, much of the north-eastern and midwestern US, and Austria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Malta and Liechtenstein.
- 16 October 2026. Latin America, the southern and mid-Atlantic US states, and the global-wide Private Aircraft and Yachts & Superyachts tables.
- 13 November 2026. France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Poland, Texas and USA Nationwide. For UK firms: Real Estate: High Value Residential (London and National Leaders), and the UK-wide Estate Agents, Buying Agents and Defamation/Reputation Management tables.
- 18 December 2026. Most of the UK. Private Wealth Law and Private Wealth Disputes for London and every regional table, plus UK-wide Landed Estates, Tax: Private Client, Immigration and Family/Matrimonial. Also the offshore centres, Monaco, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Mauritius.
Chambers has already published next year’s launch dates again, as well:
- 10 June 2027. Embargoed rankings released.
- 08 July 2027. Quote image generator opens.
- 22 July 2027. HNW Guide published.
It’s always good to keep any eye on the deadlines and dates, though, as these can change. Go here for launch dates and here for submission deadlines.
And don’t forget, if you’d like some help with your coming High Net Worth submissions now’s the time to talk to us. We’re already working hard on US submissions, for example, due in October… so it’s never too soon to get started.
