Every year legal publishers invite law firms to submit material for their rankings. Asian Legal Business (ALB), a Thomson Reuters title, publishes lists of leading lawyers across Asia, including in mergers and acquisitions. Chambers and Partners and The Legal 500 run similar research cycles worldwide. When a publisher announces that "submissions are open" for a list such as the 15 best M&A lawyers in a region, it is asking firms to make their case.
How the process works
Although each publisher has its own method, the broad pattern is similar:
- Submissions. Firms send in descriptions of their lawyers' recent work, often including confidential deal details, and nominate referees.
- Client and peer feedback. Researchers contact clients and other lawyers. Feedback from clients usually carries the most weight.
- Research and interviews. Researchers interview partners and compare the work submitted across firms.
- Editorial judgement. The final list is an editorial decision. The publisher sets the criteria and decides how to weigh them.
What rankings measure
Rankings are good at identifying lawyers who handle a high volume of large, visible transactions and who have clients willing to speak for them. They are less good at measuring things that clients care about but that are hard to observe from outside: responsiveness, cost control, judgement on small matters, or how a lawyer treats junior colleagues.
They also depend on participation. A capable lawyer at a firm that does not make submissions may not appear at all.
Reading a list sensibly
- Check the method. Reputable publishers explain how they research rankings. Lists with no published method, or that require payment to be included, deserve more caution.
- Look at the deals, not the badge. If a lawyer is ranked for M&A, ask which transactions they led and in what role.
- Remember the date. Rankings reflect work from roughly the year before publication.
- Watch the advertising rules. In many jurisdictions lawyers may mention rankings only if doing so is not misleading. In the United States, Rule 7.1 of the American Bar Association's Model Rules bars misleading communications about a lawyer's services, and some states have specific rules about citing awards.
Why it matters
Rankings shape where clients go and how firms promote themselves, especially in fast-growing Asian markets where many cross-border deals are done. Used critically, they are a useful starting point. They are not a guarantee.