CHAMBERS SUBMISSIONS - USA GUIDE

Chambers USA Submissions Kit

Online Submissions. A simpler start to your ranking journey

Submissions Process for Chambers USA

Use Chambers USA Submission Kit gives you best practice guidance, actionable recommendations and invaluable insight into what the team consider during the research process.

What is the value of a Chambers ranking?

Chambers is the world’s leading legal ranking and insights intelligence company.

We are proudly and unapologetically impartial when it comes to ranking and researching the legal market, which is why we’re trusted by the most important General Counsel, Chief Legal Officers and other legal decision-makers worldwide, and why your prospective clients come to us to find the firms and attorneys that best suit their legal needs.

The Chambers mark is one of excellence. A ranking with us is a declaration that you are one of the best at what you do and enhances your reputation in the market. Achieving a ranking in the Chambers USA Guide serves as an independent recognition of a firm or attorney's credentials at the elite end of the market. Clients ranging across major businesses, public sector organizations and HNW individuals refer to our rankings to help select legal counsel.

What is your research process?

Our submission process is open to all and is completely free of charge, so that all lawyers and firms have the opportunity to be ranked, regardless of size, specialism or location.

Chambers’ best-in-class editorial and research teams of over 200 exceptional researchers assess lawyers and law firms across more than 200 jurisdictions around the world, conducting tens of thousands of one-on-one interviews per year with in-house counsel and third-party experts.

Our research is structured by practice area and by jurisdiction, with over 650 sections of research covering all 50 states, DC and Nationwide. Research is typically carried out over a month, though larger and more complex research areas may be researched for much longer.

Our research process starts when a firm or attorney uploads a submission document and a referee spreadsheet. Our researchers then get to work uncovering as much about the firm or attorney as possible, reviewing the submissions document, contacting referees and awarding rankings to those who stand out as exceptional in their area. The quality of our people ensures the highest accuracy in all that we do and the rankings that are awarded.

To participate in research, firms can upload a submission document, laying out recent work. As well as a referee spreadsheet, containing clients and other parties with recent experience of the firm who are willing and able to attest to its strengths. You can download the submission and referee spreadsheet templates here, under 'Submission forms' and 'Referee's form'.

How do I know which practice area to select?

All practice areas covered in the Chambers USA Guide, and their respective submission deadlines, can be found on the Chambers Research Schedule. Further details on what is covered within each practice area can be found using our Practice Area Definitions pages or getting in contact with a member of the Chambers UK research team.

How can I upload my documents?

Submission documents and referee spreadsheets can be uploaded online, via chambers.com using MyAccount.

To login or create an account on the website, please click below.

MyAccount

How does Chambers decide the rankings?

A ranking decision is almost entirely based on what our researchers uncover about a firm or attorney from the submission document’s evidence of high caliber work, feedback from clients on service skills and technical quality, and feedback from wider participants in the legal market, including:

- Peer attorneys
- Members of the judiciary
- Governmental figures
- Law professors

Feedback from other sources provides insight on market profile and an informed view on technical capabilities. However, the value of this kind of feedback varies considerably by practice area and jurisdiction.

Why send a submission and referee spreadsheet?

We would always recommend providing evidence of a firm or attorney’s recent work and putting forward client references. This allows Chambers’ researchers to gain a deeper understanding of the firm and its attorneys first-hand. It also gives a firm or attorney the opportunity to tell their own story and put forward their best work and referees, instead of Chambers researchers having to rely on other sources of information.

This also allows Chambers to analyze the firm’s recent performance relative to its competitors, putting it in the best position to be considered for a ranking among the top-rated firms and individuals.

It is possible to be ranked without sending in any submission documents and client references. Our research generates significant suggestions of firms which should be included and clients commenting on additional members of their law firm panels, and we can use publicly available information to examine recent activity.

However, this does mean that there is no guarantee that Chambers will always see the firm’s or attorney’s best work or client feedback. If they are ranked this way, it is likely that it won’t be in the highest band they could achieve, which is why we always recommend participating in our research process.

What does a submission document contain?

A submission document contains areas for firms to introduce and describe a practice group and key members of the team, list key clients and provide feedback on our existing coverage.

Most importantly, the submission document contains room for up to 20 highlights from among the firm’s recent activity. These can be either publishable or confidential, with publishable work highlights sometimes being used for editorial purposes as a representative work example.

What is the most important part of a submission document?

The work highlights are the most important part of the submission document. We look for evidence of the firm’s and attorney’s abilities in representing business clients in some of their most important mandates, ranging from high-value or cross-border transactional work to bet-the-company litigation mandates.

Work highlights should be simple and concise. A well-written work highlight is similar to a newspaper article – a short, two or three sentence lede which factually explains what took place, followed by a more detailed description of why it’s important.

We understand this is not always possible in technically complex sections or those with multiple claims and appeals, but in general conciseness is key.

How do you deal with confidential issues in the submission?

Our submission template is divided into 10 publishable and 10 confidential matters, however you are welcome to amend this division according to your own requirements, so long as the total number of work highlights does not exceed 20.

While we would prefer to have the name of the client for corroboration purposes, we do understand that sometimes it's going to be impossible to do so.

If there is a particularly impressive work highlight you want to include, but cannot name the client, please do include as much detail as possible regarding the details and scope of the work and we will work with what we have.

Confidential Information

All confidential information is very clearly marked out in our documents – with dedicated space for confidential work highlights and client lists. Confidential data is held in our secure database and is only accessible to research staff.

Submitting to Chambers

Who are the most valuable referees?

Chambers conducts far more interviews each year than anyone else. The most valuable referee is one that can offer an informed opinion regarding the qualities of the firm and attorneys and also has the time to speak in detail.

General Counsel and Chief Legal Officers of large businesses are highly valued sources of information and Chambers greatly appreciates the time they allocate to speak with us.

In some instances, however, it may be difficult to arrange longer interviews with them and there are instances where they may have had a brief relationship with the lead attorney on an engagement.

In these instances, individuals further down the hierarchy can often provide a fuller view of the team, from relationship partner to associates, and also often have the time to provide a detailed account of their experiences.

What is Chambers process contacting referees?

Initial contact is via email, offering either a phone call or the opportunity to fill in a written survey. We reach out at the start of research and, in most cases, send a reminder halfway through the research section.

Our questioning is open-ended, to allow as much room for the referee to provide their view as possible. We generally ask the client how the relationship came about, what kind of work the firm did for them and then for their positive and negative opinions of the practice as a whole, and the attorneys. We repeat this to cover all firms and individuals the client has been referred for.

Many referees are referred for multiple firms or multiple practices within the same firm. When interviewing these clients, all current referrals are on display to the researcher. The researcher will cover all outstanding referrals in one comprehensive interview.

How can I make sure my referees respond to Chambers request for feedback?

We typically see better engagement from clients when they’re aware that they’ve been referred beforehand, so they know to look for an ‘@chambers.com’ email. If clients report that they haven’t heard from Chambers when they were expecting to, then please feel free to report this to the researcher or a member of the Editorial team.

What steps is Chambers taking to ensure it highlights women attorneys?

Diversity and inclusivity is at the core of our research process. Our researchers carry out dedicated calls with women attorneys and younger partners, as well as encouraging all law firms to send in a referee spreadsheet which is gender-balanced. We are taking these steps to broaden the sources we speak with to eventually compile our rankings, so that we broaden the pool of attorneys we hear about and investigate.

These changes had a tangible effect last year, with increases in the number and proportion of women attorneys ranked in the Guide.

When are rankings released?

Research is typically carried out over 7 months, running from August to February. Firms that achieve rankings are notified shortly after research finishes, with the full rankings released in June.

Top tips for a successful submission

The best referees will have worked closely with you in the 12 months immediately preceding the submission deadline – ideally, with several members of your team including partners and more junior staff – and be willing and able to respond to Chambers’ request when it comes.

Your referees need not all be fee-paying clients of the firm: you can also choose international co-counsel or other professional advisers with whom you have worked in the past year.

Choose referees who will have the time and ability to respond to our request for feedback. Sometimes, the most senior person at a client organisation will not be the best referee; they might be too busy to respond and might only know the lead or relationship partner. Someone with greater day-to-day involvement on your matters, even if they are less senior, might be better able to find the time to respond and could provide a fuller picture of your team’s work.

Choose your referees carefully

Maximise your referee feedback

Make sure to get your referees’ permission before including them on the Chambers referee spreadsheet. It also helps to send them a reminder shortly before research begins, so they know to expect an email from Chambers.

Our initial contact will always be by email and will come from the assigned researcher’s email address. Referees will either be invited to fill out a short online survey or to book a time in the researcher’s calendar for a telephone interview. Make sure to get your referees’ permission before including them on the Chambers referee spreadsheet. It also helps to send them a reminder shortly before research begins, so they know to expect an email from Chambers.

The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, and our telephone interviews with referees typically last around 15-20 minutes. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete, and our telephone interviews with referees typically last around 15-20 minutes.

Provide as much relevant detail about your matters as you can

There is space on the submission template for up to 20 work highlights. These matter write-ups should demonstrate your standout recent work in the practice area for which you are applying.

The form gives space both for publishable and confidential matters. Anything in the confidential section will only be used for Chambers’ internal analysis and ranking purposes and will never be published.

Chambers researchers will not draw any negative inference from the fact that work is listed in the Confidential section of the form, and there is no minimum required number of Publishable matters. We would always prefer to receive more relevant and useful information about your work, even if this is on a confidential basis, rather than receiving a bland, less-detailed write-up in the Publishable section with only the information that can be publicly disclosed.

Don't overdo the matter descriptions

Concision and clarity are key when describing your team’s work highlights. Keep each matter description to one page on the form. Make sure the key points about the matter are described clearly and be sure to explain what makes this work stand out and why it is significant.

Remember that, while our researchers are intelligent and highly educated, they may not be specialists in your practice area or the legal system of your jurisdiction. Some legal and technical jargon will be unavoidable but work highlight write-ups should avoid these wherever possible.

Showcase your wider team

Bench strength is a key factor in our analysis, so don’t allow your submission to be dominated by one lawyer; make sure to highlight up-and-coming junior partners and associates, as well. Give them the opportunity to provide client referees and include their matters among your work highlights.