Are you prepared for the next Legal 500 Rankings?

19 September 2023
Stack of paper files. The top one with the words "Legal 500 Preparation" on the front

It hardly seems like any time has passed since the 2024 applications were submitted. However, the Legal 500 rankings for the 2024 edition of Legal 500’s UK Solicitors legal directory is about to be released, and you’ll finally learn whether the work you put into the submissions earlier this year has paid off.  

As Legal 500 doesn’t provide you with the information on where departments and lawyers have been ranked in advance of its release, you may think there’s nothing you can do right now. However, that isn’t the case. 

There are a number of tasks you can complete ahead of the Legal 500 rankings release. Doing them will ultimately save you time, and enable you to quickly get content prepared to release to your peers and your clients. 

Review your Legal 500 rankings from last year

Familiarising yourself now with last year’s rankings will make it much easier to analysis and compare the rankings once they’re in.

For larger firms with multiple departments and lawyers, creating a spreadsheet can be extremely useful. Simply input last year’s results, including the departments and lawyers ranked and their ranked positions. Once you receive the 2024 Legal 500 rankings, you can input them alongside last year’s results. This will make it easier to:

  • Identify growth and decline
  • Identify any trends 
  • Set your objectives for next year

For smaller firms with limited results, it’s still beneficial to refresh your memory. A lot will no doubt have happened since you last reviewed it!

To save you time creating a spreadsheet from scratch, simply download the template we’ve prepared for you. 

Download the helpful Legal 500 Results spreadsheet template here.

Review your 2024 Legal 500 objectives

Now’s also a good time to take a look at what your 2024 Legal 500 objectives were. That way, you can easily determine if they’ve been achieved once the 2024 rankings are released. 

When reviewing your objectives for 2024, you may identify goals that are no longer relevant or have changed somewhat. For example, if one objective was to achieve a Tier 2 ranking for a department that has changed, or for a particular lawyer to retain a Rising Star ranking who has left or been promoted to Partner.

Not only will reviewing your objectives help you easily determine whether they’ve been achieved when the rankings are announced, but they’ll also assist you when preparing your 2025 Legal 500 objectives, which you will have to do very soon. 

Review your competitors' current positions

We’d also recommend reviewing the current rankings of your competitors. Consider where they are now and if they’re achieving higher, lower, or similar rankings to you.

When the new rankings are announced, your priority will be reviewing where your departments and lawyers have been ranked, but you’ll need to review where your competitors have been ranked. It’s therefore good practice to make a note of where your competitors currently are so you can review and compare with ease.  

Carrying out this analysis will also help you when preparing for the 2025 submissions. 

Upcoming Webinar

As it won’t be long before the submissions process for Chambers and Partners and Legal 500 will begin, we’ll soon be hosting a webinar, providing top tips and best practice advice when it comes to preparing the applications.

Follow us on LinkedIn where we’ll be posting details soon.

In the meantime, if you’re interested in booking one of our Legal Directory Services please contact us and one of our experts will be in touch. 

All content in this article was correct at the time of publication.