Legal directory submissions.

Legal directory submissions are detailed guides (originally books but now online) showcasing a firm’s, chambers’ or individual lawyer’s expertise, key achievements, and client feedback. The term usually applies to independent ranking organisations like Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners, although there are a number of other guides that might be applicable, depending on your area of work. They’re crucial for building credibility, attracting clients, and standing out in a competitive market by securing recognition from trusted industry benchmarks.

Outsourcing legal directory submissions to a specialist agency like ELE ensures your firm is presented at its best, with expert guidance on criteria, standout messaging, and smooth project management. Our specialists save you time, avoid common pitfalls, and maximise your chances of improved rankings, while letting you focus on client work and the bigger marketing picture. Read more here.

ELE provides end-to-end support for legal directory submissions, ensuring a seamless and professional process. If you want us to just cast an eye over one submission – we can do that. If you want us to assess your work to date and set out a strategic review of your approach – we can do that. If you want us to take the whole problem away – yes, we can do that too. We start by gathering all the relevant information about your firm’s expertise, notable cases, and client feedback. Next, we draft clear, persuasive submissions tailored to each directory’s specific criteria. We also assist with selecting and managing client referees, help you with briefing them to provide insightful and supportive feedback, as well as following up to check they’ve responded. Our team coordinates the submission process, managing deadlines and ensuring everything is submitted accurately and on time. Finally, we offer post-submission support, training, handling any follow-up queries from directory researchers and providing feedback on outcomes. Learn more.

To prepare a strong submission, we need information about your practice’s ambitions (growth, expertise, client focus) and any innovative developments or unique solutions. Key details include significant client wins, the mix of work handled, market trends, standout individuals, and noteworthy cases. We also consider topics like succession planning, diversity, legal tech, ESG, and pro bono efforts as well as your views on the current rankings. Don’t worry, though, we’ll work through all of this with you on our onboarding call and have lots of written checklists and guidance to support with the data collection process.

We have decades of experience working with the directories, doing this work. And many of us have been researchers and editors for them as well. We pay careful attention to the changes that come out each season, as well as the submission definitions. Actually, quite a lot of our work involves making sure you’re 100% adhering to the criteria and guidelines.

How long is a bit of string?! The most common mistake in legal directory submissions is failing to back up claims with evidence – for example, saying Jo Bloggs should be ranked but not including any of their cases. Next comes providing vague or overly generic information, failing to tailor content to the specific directory criteria, and submitting incomplete or poorly organised entries. Another biggie is not writing for the researcher, in terms of setting the matters out clearly and with bullet points to highlight the significance of each case. And many also overlook referee selection, or fail to manage deadlines effectively, which can weaken their rankings.

Not at all. Legal directories are valuable for firms of all sizes, including smaller and boutique practices. They highlight expertise, niche specialisations, and client service excellence, helping firms stand out in competitive markets. Recognition in directories builds credibility and can attract new clients, regardless of a firm’s size. In fact, Chambers UK has recently launched a category for SME-focused firms, alongside its directories for NewLaw, FinTech and more.

Yes. Absolutely! We called it referee development, because we think it’s about developing the best referees, not just managing people. In fact we’re so passionate about developing referee relationships we’ve written about it here.

We do all of them. But most of the time this means Chambers (UK, UK Bar, Global, USA, Europe, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Greater China Region, as well as specialist rankings for NewLaw, Crisis & Risk Management, FinTech, GC Influencers, High Net Worth and Litigation Support) as well as Legal 500 (all jurisdictions and both law firms and Bar) as well as the Green Guide.

We provide a tailored price for every client, depending on the service you want. The price varies depending on the level of involvement required as well as the quantity of submissions. Everything is done as a fixed-fee, per submission price. Bar submissions are charged per barrister, per submission. For more information please get in touch.