The Legal 500 USA Submission Guidelines Announced Today: New Rankings and Best Practices

Last week, the editors of The Legal 500 USA guide held a preview webinar to discuss some of the changes to the awards and process for this year’s submissions. First and foremost, The Legal 500 schedule for this year’s submissions:

• Aug. 16, 2022: submissions open.
• Nov. 16, 2022: submissions close.
• December 2022 through February 2023: research and interviews.
• February through May 2023: editing.
• June 2023: new edition launches.

The editors also discussed certain highlights and changes to the awards – below is an outline:

The next edition will include rankings in these new areas:

• Government: State Attorney General
• International trade: Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS)
• International trade: Customs (this includes export controls)

The Legal 500 has made the following amendments to these existing areas:

• Electric Power has been added to the Energy Litigation / Regulation / Transactions section.
• Fintech has moved to the Finance section.
• Banking / Consumer Finance has been added to the Financial Services Regulation section.
• Infrastructure and PPP, as well as Energy and Power, have been added to the Project Finance section.

Also new this year is what the editors are calling spotlights. These are not tiered ranking categories, but rather another way for firms to be listed in niche areas:

• Climate-Change Litigation
• Broker-Dealers
• Crypto
• Congressional Investigations

In addition to following the guidelines that The Legal 500 editors put forth, it also is important to heed some basic best practices in order to be considered among the leading law firms in the United States.

• Try to limit your matters to 20, as indicated in the submission. The researchers and editors have many submissions to delve into, and keeping your submission to the 20 best matters from that particular practice area respects their time.
• When considering what matters to include, look for large, unique and complex matters. Do not group work together for one particular client – focus each summary on one transaction or case.
• When highlighting one of the new spotlight practice areas, it is important for firms to make clear in the larger submission that these niches exist within their practice.
• Focus on a smaller group of lawyers. Do not include every single person who worked on a matter; instead, include the senior-level people who are relevant to the practice area.
• Client referees should have worked with the firm on matters over the last 12-18 months.
• Completing The Legal 500 submission is certainly one approach to elevating your firm’s brand in prominent legal directories. If you are interested in learning more about The Legal 500 or have questions about how to complete a submission, we can help.

Our Poston Content team has a winning track record of writing successful awards and legal directories submissions, including The Legal 500 and its chief competitor, Chambers & Partners. Click here to learn more about our team or contact us today.