6 New Year’s resolutions to improve your legal directory submissions
January 3, 2018 • 4 minute read
Law firms still have a few months before Chambers & Partners, The Legal 500 and IFLR legal directory season kicks into high gear, but proactive planning now will help make the submission process a bit less painful.
1. Determine who will have ownership of each legal directory submission
If your law firm marketing, PR or communications team doesn’t have a professional dedicated to overseeing the law firm directories submissions process, designate a point person to handle each nomination. Oftentimes a member of business development is best positioned to handle the submissions for the practice groups with which he or she is aligned.
2. Identify key stakeholders for relevant submissions
As soon as the legal directory’s research schedule is announced, communicate it to key stakeholders. When you do that, ask them: “Is there anything currently on your calendar that could make it difficult to work on this in the weeks leading up to the due date?” Of course, schedules change, but it’s good to know whether a practice group leader will be unreachable at trial or on vacation when writing their Chambers submission.
Legal directory submissions often come down to the wire, but there is no law against starting early — particularly if lawyers’ schedules demand it.
3. Follow relevant Chambers, Legal 500 and IFLR editors on social media
Many law firm directory editors and researchers encourage law firm professionals to follow them on social media:
4. Add Chambers & Partners to your press release distribution list
Chambers in particular specifically requests that law firms keep them apprised of firm news. Add pressreleases@chambersandpartners.com to your press release distribution list.
5. Start gathering successful matters
Getting lawyers to remember every matter they worked on over the last year can be an arduous process. If your firm circulates details of client wins and notable new matters, file those away — optimally, categorized by practice — so once you start writing a law firm directory submission, you have a preliminary list of matters.
6. Ask lawyers to keep a running list of referees
Although the written legal directory submission is where most law firms do the heavy lifting, your referees’ feedback plays a much more significant role in how legal directories rank your practices and partners.
Ask your ranked lawyers, as well as those on the cusp of being ranked, to keep a running list of individuals who should serve as referees. Optimally you want clients who are wowed by the service they’ve received and who will rave about individual lawyers in the firm. It’s easier to compile a list of referees as the year goes on — making notes of potential referees each time a client tells the lawyer how pleased they are — than to attempt to identify referees while trying to finalize other details in a submission.
When are legal directory submissions due?
| IFLR | Submissions are typically due in April. |
| Chambers USA | Submissions are typically due in the second half of the year. (Check the Chambers research schedule for a complete list of deadlines.) |
| The Legal 500 | Submissions are normally due in November. |
Need help with your law firm’s legal directory process? Infinite Global’s legal directories team can help you develop a strategy for legal directory submissions; advise you on IFLR, The Legal 500 and Chambers best practices; help decode what makes a successful legal directory submission and manage your law firm’s legal directory submissions. Let’s talk about how your law firm can improve its submissions to Chambers, IFLR and The Legal 500.
