Q: How accurate / recent are the Contact Statuses I see in the Referee Management Tool?

The t ool updates in real time, keeping you up to date and informed throughout the process for whenever you choose to check the status.

Q: What does In Progress status on the Referee Management Tool mean?

In P rogress status – When Chambers has emailed the referee and we are early in the research process. No action is required at this stage and normally we will see referees replying to our emails in the days and weeks after we reach out . However, you will also be able to see the date our last email was sent next to the referee’s contact status, so if you are following up with your referee to notify them Chambers has reached out, you can share that information.

Q: What does Action Required: Invalid Email in the Referee Management Tool mean?

Action required : Invalid Email status will appear if we have received a failure notification when attempting to email them with the contact details provided to us. We recommend that you pass on our researcher’s contact details to your referee so they can email us directly if they wish to do so.

Q: Where can I find the recommended action column in the Referee Management Tool?

Recommended actions are now enclosed within each status . If you want to see a detailed explanation of the status of any one of your referees , or find out any action we recommend that you take for the referee, you can click on the referee’s status and a pop-up window with an explanation on the best course of action will appear.

Question 1

How quickly after uploading referees should I expect to see their names appear in the Referee Management Tool?

Accepted Answer

Our systems have to process tens of thousands of submissions and over 820,000 referees each year and usually it will take some time to process all those referees. Normally you can expect to see referees appear in your tool 24 hours after you upload a referee spreadsheet via your online account.

There may be some instances where some referees have to be processed manually, which may mean this process takes longer, however, please rest assured that your referees will be fully processed before research for a section begins and a researcher begins sending emails to anybody.

If there are any occasions where you believe referees you provided are missing from the tool and a section is already set to ‘Researching’, please do notify the researcher listed as responsible for the section in our Research Schedule so they can check this for you.

Question 2

When and how often does the Referee Management Tool update?

Accepted Answer

The tool updates in real time. The ‘last updated’ feature at the top of your practice area’s page refers to the last time we have seen a change in status for one of your referees.

Question 3

What does the Research Status in the Referee Management Tool mean?

Accepted Answer

The Research Status, which is displayed for each practice area and location you have submitted for on the homepage of the Referee Management Tool, reflects what stage we are at in relation to our research. There are three statuses that can be displayed in the tool:

To be started – you will see this status before the Research Start Date. This means that research has not yet started for this section and that a researcher has yet to be assigned to it. At this stage, submissions and referees can still be amended or re-uploaded until research commences. Once a researcher is assigned to start work and is ready, they will move the section to ‘In Progress’ and no further changes can be made after this point.

In Progress – you will see this status appear on a section at any time after the Research Start Date, but before the Research End Date for the section. This status means that a researcher is assigned to the section and they are actively conducting research. This means they are reviewing submissions, emailing referees and conducting interviews and surveys. Research will remain in progress until the researcher has collected all the information they can in the time allotted. During the ‘In Progress’ stage, customers are encouraged to monitor the status of their referees and any actions that may be required to help Chambers reach them. You can inform your referees when Chambers has reached out and also check the statuses weekly or halfway through to send reminders to any referees that have not yet responded.

Complete – this status will appear after the Research End Date for the section. It means research has finished for this section. The section will move to the Historic area of your RMT 20 days after the Research End Date shown. The researcher has completed their attempts to contact and collect feedback from as many referees as possible and has now moved on to a different section/research project. We cannot go back and conduct further interviews or request feedback at this stage, so we encourage customers not to follow up with their referees further after this point. The final status of referees will change to either ‘Contacted’ or ‘Unable to contact’ to give you a clear indication of the final results of our outreach to your referees.

Question 4

Are Research Start & End Dates indicated on the the Referee Management Tool subject to change?

Accepted Answer

These dates are not fixed and can be subject to change. Our research schedule is set out at the beginning of each cycle but sometimes schedules have to be adjusted and research on certain areas may sometimes happen later than initially planned. If this should occur, we will update the Research Start and End Dates in the tool to ensure it reflects the most up-to-date information.

Question 5

What happens in the Referee Management Tool after the Research End Date?

Accepted Answer

The Research End Date is specific to each research project on a given practice area and tells you when our researcher will no longer be available to referees to carry out interviews with them. After this date, referee statuses will change to either Contacted or Unable to contact, based on whether our attempts to reach your referee were successful or not.

Once the Research End Date passes, the researcher will be collating the information to determine our rankings together with an experienced Research Manager or Principal Research Specialist and will then move on to research a different practice area. To capture any late responses from referees we receive and consider while the researcher is carrying out this task, the statuses will continue to update if any further contact is made with a referee within 20 days after the Research End Date. After this date, there will be no further updates and the section will move to your ‘Historic’ tab.

Question 6

Why are some of my sections in the Historic Tab of the Referee Management Tool?

Accepted Answer

Following customer feedback, we have created the Historic area of Referee Management to allow firms to continue using their referee contact data. A section moves to the Historic tab 20 days after the Research End Date, signifying that the research for that section has completed and no further changes will be made to the referee statuses. The historic data will build for up to three years of submissions.

Question 7

How accurate / recent are the Contact Statuses I see in the Referee Management Tool?

Accepted Answer

The tool updates in real time, keeping you up to date and informed throughout the process for whenever you choose to check the status.

Question 8

What does Pending Status on the Referee Management Tool mean?

Accepted Answer

Pending Status - When Chambers has not yet attempted to contact your referee. We expect to reach out to this referee via email as soon as the researcher is ready to start work on this section. 

Question 9

What does In Progress status on the Referee Management Tool mean?

Accepted Answer

In Progress status – When Chambers has emailed the referee and we are early in the research process. No action is required at this stage and normally we will see referees replying to our emails in the days and weeks after we reach out. However, you will also be able to see the date our last email was sent next to the referee’s contact status, so if you are following up with your referee to notify them Chambers has reached out, you can share that information.

Question 10

What does Contacted Status on Referee Management Tool mean?

Accepted Answer

Contacted Status – When we have had a response from a referee of any kind, the tool will show that they have been successfully ‘Contacted’ to let you know our researcher has heard back from the referee. Contacted will display when:

the researcher is in touch with the referee to arrange an interview, has an appointment for an interview or has completed an interview with the referee;

the referee has completed a survey we sent to them; or

the referee has been in touch and expressed a preference not to participate or provide feedback to Chambers on this occasion.

Once Chambers is in direct contact with your referee there is no need for you to take any further action. As above, this does not guarantee an interview. We respect the privacy of all referees and their right to opt out of our research if they respond to our email to that effect.

Question 11

How do the Action Required statuses work in the Referee Management Tool?

Accepted Answer

Sometimes a situation arises which is making it difficult for us to reach a referee. The RMT is designed to notify you of when this happens via the ‘Action required’ status, so you can help us to progress in our attempts to contact them.

The ‘Action required’ status also has a sub-heading to tell you what is causing our team difficulty in reaching your referees, so you can act accordingly. There are three scenarios in which the tool may prompt you to take action:

Action required: Unsubscribed

Action required: Invalid Email
Action required: No reply

Question 12

What does Action Required: Unsubscribed in the Referee Management Tool mean?

Accepted Answer

The ‘Action required: Unsubscribed’ status will appear if, at the time you submit your referee list, our checks show that your referee has unsubscribed from receiving any research-related communication from Chambers and Partners. In these cases, our policy is not to contact the person in question without their written consent.

If you have asked this referee if they are happy to participate in our research and they have confirmed that they are, please forward the referee’s written confirmation to enquiries@chambers.com. We will then be able to update our records so your referee can be included in our research. Once we then send your referee an email, they will update to show as ‘In Progress’ or ‘Action Required: No reply’.

Question 13

What does Action Required: Invalid Email in the Referee Management Tool mean?

Accepted Answer

Action required: Invalid Email status will appear if we have received a failure notification when attempting to email them with the contact details provided to us. We recommend that you pass on our researcher’s contact details to your referee so they can email us directly if they wish to do so.

Question 14

Where can I find the recommended action column in the Referee Management Tool?

Accepted Answer

Recommended actions are now enclosed within each status. If you want to see a detailed explanation of the status of any one of your referees, or find out any action we recommend that you take for the referee, you can click on the referee’s status and a pop-up window with an explanation on the best course of action will appear.

Question 15

What does the Referee Contact Rate on the Referee Management Tool tell me?

Accepted Answer

This is the % of the referees you provided with whom we have made successful contact and which are displaying the status ‘Contacted’ within the tool. E.g. if you sent us 20 referees and we have successfully made contact with 10 of those referees, the contact rate will show as 50%. Referee Management will help you monitor this rate in real time so that you can send reminders to those who have not responded.

Please also note that while 100% might seem like the ideal target to aim for, we find it is rare that every referee we reach out to is able to come back to us. Referees are busy people and sometimes simply don’t have a chance to respond. This is not a problem and is why we ensure each practice is afforded at least 20 referees to put forward per submission. A reasonable contact rate will likely give us lots of information to help us understand the strengths of the firm’s department and team members in a given practice area.

Question 16

Can I replace or substitute referees if I want to do so?

Accepted Answer

Law firms can make unlimited changes to their referee spreadsheets up until the point the section is set to “In Progress” (this is the first day of research for that section in particular). After this time, we do not allow any changes except for in extreme circumstances (referees move to another company at the last minute or pass away).

Please note that if we do allow changes to the referee spreadsheet in line with the above exceptions, new referees may not appear immediately in the RMT.

Question 17

When during research should I check again referees that are In Progress in the Referee Management Tool?

Accepted Answer

The In Progress status will automatically change to an Action Required: No Reply midway through research, unless we receive any feedback from your referee before that time. This will give you the necessary time if you wish to follow up with your referees and ask them to reach out to the relevant researcher to share their feedback.

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