Let’s talk therefore today about tips for picking chapters and what the Insight report can and can’t do, to ensure you are getting the product you are expecting.

Tips for choosing chapters and practice areas

Focus on areas you have submitted to

You don’t have to be ranked in a table to buy Insight for it. However, you should really have submitted to it. Submissions and referee lists give Research extra information for their ranking decisions, which should enable a more detailed assessment of your performance compared with a report on an area you have not submitted to.

Consider regional before country/continent-wide

This is not a hard-and-fast rule, and any decisions will depend on the scale and scope of your practice. However, before settling on any country- or continent-wide chapters (e.g. Nationwide, Africa-wide, Europe-wide), it is important to know how these areas are researched and what content is included in them.

These chapters are standalone practice areas. Therefore, any analysis will be about a firm’s performance in that chapter rather than a detailed look at its local practices. References to regional practices will likely be in passing rather than in-depth.

Feedback could be minimal. Some, but not all, of these tables are based on existing research, and separate interviews are not therefore conducted. 

Tables could require extensive local footprints. Firms that are only in one jurisdiction or lack a prominent practice in one of the area’s major markets might struggle to break into these rankings.

In short, country- and continent-wide tables might not always be best for your circumstances, and a report into a local practice area might be more useful. However, each decision should always be handled on a case-by-case basis in conjunction with the Chambers Sales team.

Tips for a smooth experience

Be clear about which tables you want

Practice areas can be complicated at Chambers, with an array of parent and child tables to submit to. This helps Research capture the nuances of the market but can create uncertainty for Insight. Firms might therefore find it more straightforward to provide separate submissions whenever possible and to only order chapters that accept submissions.

An example of this might be submitting to and ordering TMT versus submitting to and ordering TMT: Data Protection, TMT: Media, and TMT: Telecommunications. If firms can’t be ranked in TMT, then there could be delays as Chambers gets in touch to determine which child table was meant. Additionally, Chambers might also request additional payment for the extra child tables, potentially souring the experience and resulting in a dislocation of expectations.

Submitting to and ordering each of the three child tables separately could avoid this, as the Insight team would know from the start which tables were expected, and firms would know what they have bought and will receive. Moreover, separate submissions allow firms to provide three sets of work highlights rather than splitting one set among three areas, enabling them to better showcase their activity.

Of course, not every parent-child split accepts separate submissions, but engaging when they do can help purchasers be clear about their order, providing certainty over expenditure, timeframes, and report makeup.

Understand the scope of the Insight report

Knowing what Insight does and does not offer can help set expectations and inform purchasing decisions before any contracts are signed, helping foster a more positive experience with the product.

Geographical scope. As touched upon earlier, chapters like Nationwide are standalone tables rather than cost-effective ways to gain analysis and feedback about all local practices. Feedback on and in-depth assessments of local practices will likely only be provided in local chapters.

Individual analyses. Firms unsurprisingly want to know how individuals can break into the tables. However, Research and Insight can often be limited in the amount of advice and detail they can give about unranked lawyers. First, the data might just not be there (if the lawyer wasn’t garnering much attention in interview or lacked evidence of work). Second, it is not always possible for Research to make detailed notes about all unranked lawyers, given the number of unranked names they process each year.

Therefore, when purchasing Insight, be aware that only lawyers who are ranked, who are considered internally as Potentials for a ranking, or who have lost their ranking or internal Potential designation this year will receive an analysis.

Nevertheless, there are steps you can take when submitting to increase the profile of other individuals whom you feel are deserving of consideration, which might in turn lead to progress within the Chambers ecosystem. Tier One Rankings is on hand to assist with this.

The post Making Your Insight Report Work for You appeared first on Tier One Rankings.

Chambers does offer solutions to this problem, front and centre being Insight, which it claims will provide you with “tailored guidance to improve your firm’s rankings.” This sounds promising, but what can you expect if you buy?

Let’s talk about this product in this forthcoming series of articles, starting with what an Insight report actually is and contains. Join me for the insight scoop.

What is Insight?

Insight is a bespoke, paid-for online business report that aims to give firms a clearer understanding of their performance in current research and, by extension, the rationale behind Chambers’ ranking decisions.

Firms can choose to purchase by guide and practice area, allowing them to tailor the size and focus of their order. For example, a firm could get a report on its entire practice, or on just the tables it wants to improve in, or on something in between.

Reports come in two varieties: the Client and Market Intelligence (CMI) report and the Client Intelligence (CI) report. But what is the difference in terms of content?

In short, the CMI has two main features a CI lacks: peer feedback and analysis of up to three other firms in the table in question. While these analyses do not divulge confidential information, they should shed light on what competitors are doing to earn their rankings.

What is included in an Insight report?

For the overall team:

For individuals who this year have or have lost a ranking or an internal Potential designation:

For individuals without a ranking in the last 2+ years:

*Please note, these features are new additions for Europe 2025 and beyond. As a result, there might be a bedding-in period while Chambers builds up the data sets that power them. Certain features might not initially be included in the final version of the Insight report if they are drawing on incomplete data sets.

Which one is right for me?

The choice of report type – or whether even to buy at all – will be a personal decision, informed by your department’s goals, budget, and intentions for the report. However, here are some possible uses and benefits for both products.

• Gain an understanding of what Chambers thinks are your team’s and individuals’ strengths and weaknesses. Understanding how Chambers views your performance can help you pinpoint and address perceived areas of weakness.
• Find out how your department might improve its performance. An Insight report’s recommendations for improvement can shed light on perceived successes or shortcomings in your work highlights and client response. Knowing this might provide clear pathways to stronger performances.
• See what clients are saying about your team and individuals. Feedback is anonymised, allowing clients to speak honestly and openly about their experiences and opinions. These comments highlight aspects of the service that clients highly value and areas they think could do with addressing. By knowing what clients think, you can enhance your offering.
• Obtain quotes for marketing purposes. As long as firms credit Chambers as the source, they can use any of the quotes in their Insight report for marketing, as testaments to their service standard.

CMI only

• Learn what the market thinks. Insight into how other firms perceive your practice might give you a better idea of how to market yourself to ensure you are always putting your best foot forward.
• Understand what competitors are doing differently or similarly. The analysis of other firms should shed light on what makes groups in higher tiers stand out. This can offer deeper insight into the factors underpinning these higher rankings.

Conclusion

Chambers offers two types of bespoke report for firms seeking to improve their rankings. Both the CI and the CMI provide insight into team and individual performances across Chambers’ research metrics and offer recommendations for improvement. However, the CMI goes further, for an added financial cost, providing customers with feedback from wider market sources and analysis of competitors’ strengths.

Neither report is necessary to attain or improve a Chambers ranking, but both can be a useful addition to a firm’s submission toolkit. By finding out what research thinks of your performance and where you are falling short, you can work to address these perceived weaknesses and present your practice to Chambers in the best light, which could in turn lead to progress within the guides.

About the Author: Robert Charters is a Legal Directories Editor at Tier One Rankings with a decade of experience as an editor and Principal Research Specialist on Chambers Insight.

The post The Insight Track to Improving Your Chambers Ranking appeared first on Tier One Rankings.