The recent Legal 500 webinar, held on the 24 July 2025, offered valuable insights for law firm marketing and business development professionals preparing for the upcoming research cycle. With over 60,000 submissions reviewed each year and feedback from more than 300,000 commercial law firm clients, the competition for recognition is intense!

The session covered both procedural updates and practical tips to help firms boost their visibility and rankings. We’ve compiled the key points from the webinar below.

Key Dates to Keep in Mind

Several important deadlines were emphasised during the webinar:

• Referee spreadsheet deadline: 4 August 2025 (critical for all regions, including the Nordics!)
• Submission deadline (for all EMEA countries): 4 August 2025
• Submission deadline (for the Nordics): 29 August 2025
• Research: begins in September 2025
• EMEA rankings publication: March 2026
• Embargoed rankings: shared one week prior to public release for subscribing firms

New Features in the Legal 500 Research Process

Legal 500 has introduced several enhancements to its research tools and rankings. A new “Leading Rankings Performers” table aggregates the top-performing law firms across jurisdictions and practice areas, eliminating the need for separate submissions for this accolade. 

The “Worldwide Ranking” category has also been launched, highlighting outstanding firms in key practice areas such as antitrust and intellectual property.

Another notable addition is the “Client Satisfaction” accolade, which recognises firms achieving the highest scores in client surveys.

Additionally, a comparative tool has been introduced, allowing firms and clients to benchmark performance across different rankings — a useful feature for firms looking to position themselves competitively.

How to Build a Strong Submission

One of the central messages from the webinar was the importance of building submissions that go beyond a simple list of matters, combining evidence with storytelling, demonstrating not just what was achieved, but why it matters to clients and to the wider market. 

To achieve this, firms should focus on several key elements:

• Tell your story
  A compelling submission should do more than present facts. It should highlight what sets the firm apart: client wins, unique areas of expertise, the pedigree of the team, and the strategic vision for the future. Legal 500 values submissions that help researchers understand the narrative behind the firm’s success, not just the outcome of individual matters.
• Include robust matter highlights
  The submission window for this cycle covers matters from August 2024 to August 2025. Legal 500 allows up to 20 matter highlights, and firms that provide fewer risk falling behind competitors who use the full allowance. These matters should reflect a mix of complexity, scale, and strategic importance, and — where possible — demonstrate the breadth of the firm’s practice.
• Tailor each submission
  Legal 500 recommends tailoring submissions for each practice area to reflect specialised teams and relevant client work. This level of detail should show researchers that the firm has dedicated resources and deep expertise in each discipline.
• Be strategic with lawyer bios
  Only include lawyers who spend at least 50% of their time in the relevant practice area and who are connected to the matters highlighted. This ensures the submission accurately represents the firm’s active talent pool and avoids diluting attention with irrelevant profiles.
• Address confidentiality proactively
  Confidential matters are treated equally to public ones, but Legal 500 recommends firms to share as much detail as possible. Providing meaningful context — even if anonymised — helps researchers understand the significance of the work without breaching client obligations.
• Use data to your advantage
  Researchers like to see quantifiable achievements in the submission so make sure to incorporate deal values, case statistics, and other measurable outcomes where and when possible. Concrete figures can elevate a submission from descriptive to persuasive.
• Engage with researchers through interviews
  Once the research list is published in September, firms are welcomed to contact the relevant research to arrange a 30-minute call, which the researcher will try to accommodate. These conversations provide an opportunity to clarify highlights, emphasise key matters, and ensure the submission is fully understood.
• Submit on time — every year
  Deadlines are non-negotiable. Late submissions or referee lists cannot be guaranteed review, which can undermine even the strongest content. It is also important that you submit every year, as failing to do so could result in being demoted if Legal 500 lacks information about your firm.

Maximising Referee Feedback

Referees remain a crucial aspect of the rankings process. While Legal 500 allows unlimited referees, firms are advised to provide at least 20 referees to ensure sufficient feedback is collected. The list can include a mix of clients, barristers, and co-counsel who are familiar with the firm’s work and can speak meaningfully about its strengths. Note that referees can be listed for various practice areas. 

Legal 500 stresses the importance of submitting them by the 4 August deadline, to make sure your referees will be contacted when the research starts. 

Referees should be notified in advance, as survey emails will come from editorial@legal500.com. If a referee fails to respond, a self-service form is available to address the issue.

Categories for Individual Recognition

The webinar’s hosts also reiterated the following definitions of their rankings:

• The Hall of Fame recognises lawyers widely regarded as leaders at the very top of the profession, with a long-standing track record of excellence. 
• Leading Partners are established market leaders with significant peer and client endorsements. 
• The Next Generation Partners category identifies rising stars, typically with five or fewer years at partner level, who have achieved recognition through leading roles on significant matters. 
• Finally, Leading Associates are associate-level lawyers frequently cited by clients and peers for their work on noteworthy cases.

Addressing Common Questions

The webinar also addressed frequently asked questions about the research process and made the following comments: 

• Any changes to confidentiality or team composition should be communicated as soon as possible to the relevant researcher.
• Firms requesting changes to their editorial content on the Legal 500 website must contact the designated editorial team rather than researchers directly. 
• Peer feedback (or Market feedback) is considered during the research process but does not determine rankings; instead, it helps researchers identify firms that may not yet be on their radar. 

Subscription Packages: Standard and Premium (see picture below)

Jordan Lincoln, Senior Business Development Manager at Legal 500, introduced us to the new two-tier subscription options, which we’ve summarised below.

The Standard package includes up to six client testimonials (compared to two for non-subscribers), along with twelve key clients and three work highlights. Firms under this package are also featured in the new firm comparison tool.

The Premium package builds on these features by allowing up to ten client testimonials, twenty key clients, and five work highlights. Premium subscribers gain access to historical editorial data across three editions and can provide real-time updates via Legal 500 Live. Premium subscribers also receive submission analysis reports. An additional benefit is the referee tracking tool, which allows firms to monitor response rates and add referees after the initial deadline.

We’ve included an image from the webinar that illustrates the differences between these packages.

Final Thoughts

The major takeaways from the webinar were clear: rankings are reassessed from scratch each year, so firms must submit annually and treat each cycle as an opportunity to demonstrate progress. High-quality submissions that are accurate, comprehensive, and timely remain the most critical factor in success. 

We hope this article has helped clarify what Legal 500 looks for. Our Tier One team recently hosted a webinar covering topics such as the submission process, referee management, selection criteria, etc. Our Submissions Consultant, Lena Martin, summarised the key takeaways in an article, which you can read by clicking here.

If you want to watch the Legal 500 recorded webinar click here.