Question 1

How do I get a ranking in a Chambers directory?

Accepted Answer

It helps to participate in the research process. Send us a submission and speak to researchers if they contact you.

Question 2

Is participating in research free?

Accepted Answer

Yes, there is no cost associated with participating in the research process.

Question 3

How do I know when to submit?

Accepted Answer

Submission deadlines for each guide are published on the research schedule which can be found here.

Question 4

Can I have an extension on the submission deadline?

Accepted Answer

Any requests for extensions should be discussed with the researcher for that section.

Question 5

Is an interview essential?

Accepted Answer

No, it’s not essential. The main purpose of an interview is to gather feedback both on your own practice and on that of other firms.

Question 6

How is referee feedback collected?

Accepted Answer

We collect feedback privately with each individual. All interviews - whether with lawyers, clients, or other independent sources – should be conducted one-on-one, with no-one else present.

Ensuring referees or other interviewees can feel comfortable sharing candid, objective feedback with Chambers is a fundamental principle of our research, therefore the content and matters discussed during feedback is kept private between the Chambers research team and the individual participant. Should any comments or quotes from the feedback we collect be published, all material is anonymised to keep the identity of the participant confidential.

Question 7

Where can I find a definition of practice areas?

Accepted Answer

A definition of the global practice areas we cover can be found here.

Question 8

How will confidential information in a submission be protected?

Accepted Answer

We take confidentiality very seriously. Any information marked ‘Confidential’ will not be disclosed in any way. We appreciate you sending it, however, since it is useful in determining your ranking.

Question 9

Does sending a submission guarantee a ranking?

Accepted Answer

No. Sending a submission is only part of the ranking process. We also take into account the feedback of clients, peers and other independent market sources.

Question 10

Should I send separate submissions for Global and Continent-Wide sections?

Accepted Answer

Yes you should. We need separate submissions in addition to the country-level submissions. Continent-wide submissions should show work which demonstrates your firm's continental capability. The same applies to Global submissions: they should demonstrate your global capability.

Question 11

What are Foreign Experts and Foreign Desks?

Accepted Answer

Foreign Experts are lawyers based in one jurisdiction who have expertise in another jurisdiction. Foreign Desks are groups of lawyers within a firm based in one jurisdiction who have expertise in another jurisdiction.

Question 12

Should I send a separate submission form for Foreign Experts and Foreign Desks?

Accepted Answer

Yes, firms are encouraged to provide Foreign Expert and Foreign desk information through a new specialised spreadsheet. You can download the spreadsheet here.

Question 13

How do I submit Foreign Experts and Foreign Desks submission form?

Accepted Answer

Once your submission form is ready, please email it to us

Question 14

I have a suggestion for a new practice area or an improvement to the Chambers guides. What should I do?

Accepted Answer

The sections we include are based on what clients say is most useful to them. However, we are happy to consider suggestions for other practice areas. We are also interested in general feedback regarding our research methods.

If your suggestion relates to a specific country or practice area, please contact the relevant editor. If your feedback relates to our research methods or website, please send it to Rieta Ghosh.

Question 15

When do you contact a firm’s referees?

Accepted Answer

The research schedule lists the research period for when we will be conducting the bulk of our research for each category and we aim to have contacted all referees by the end of it. We generally start our referee outreach towards the beginning of the research month, although for sections that span more than one month, the process might take longer. If your referees have been put forward by different firms or different practice areas, there is the possibility that they will have been contacted earlier, although the researcher will make sure to ask about your firm as well. 

Question 16

Who will contact the firm’s referees?

Accepted Answer

The majority of referees will be contacted by the researcher listed on the research schedule as being responsible for the area for which the firm has submitted. However, if the referee has also been put forward by a different firm for a different practice area, there is the possibility that they will have been contacted by another member of the research team. All researchers will ask about all practice areas, jurisdictions and firms the referee has recent experience with. All of this information is stored on our centralised database and can be accessed by all other researchers. 

If you would like to give your referees a heads up that we will be getting in touch, the best thing to do is to tell them to look out for an email from someone from Chambers, as opposed to a specific member of the research team. Our emails will always come from an email address ending with @chambers.com.

Question 17

How often will your team contact those clients suggested by a law firm?

Accepted Answer

We do not want to be a nuisance to your clients, so we have our own internal guidelines in place to limit how often we get in touch with them – a period of around 3 months. However, these are not set in stone and we will use our judgement if getting back in contact with someone we believe would be happy to engage with us again.

Question 18

How do you reach out to referees?

Accepted Answer

Initial outreach is by email. We try to set up a time to speak over the phone or provide a survey for the referee to complete. If we haven’t heard back from the referee in question, we may follow up with a phone call or email, although this is wholly dependent on the researcher’s schedule and the progress of the research.

Question 19

What questions do you ask our clients?

Accepted Answer

When we talk to referees, we keep our conversations open-ended to try to ensure that we speak about all firms that have put forward this individual as a reference. 
We essentially want to determine: 
 
• The nature of the relationship between the firm and referee 
• The type of work that the firm has handled for the referee in the last year or so (if applicable) 
• The referee’s views on the quality of the service provided (including constructive criticisms)

Question 20

Do you ask referees about other firms?

Accepted Answer

Yes, we try to get as much feedback as possible on all the firms that the referee in question has used but putting them forward as a referee guarantees we will ask them specifically about their interactions with the firm(s) that put them forward. Our researchers are trained to be appropriately probing and elicit as much information about the quality of the legal services they receive from all firms.

Question 21

Will you tell me which referees have provided feedback?

Accepted Answer

No, we do not confirm the name of referees from whom we have collected feedback. Tools such as Referee Management are available, which enable you to track our progress in contacting your referees. This tool will provide updates when we have reached out to each referee via email and when we successfully make direct contact with an individual.

However, we do not confirm whether we ultimately have an interview or collect feedback from an individual about your firm. If our research team is in direct contact with a referee, we will respect their privacy and their right to confidentially opt out of participating in our research or opt out of providing feedback on specific firms or topics without this being shared or reported back to the firm.

Question 22

What can I do if one of my firm’s referees says they haven’t been contacted?

Accepted Answer

We completely understand that emails get lost, accidentally deleted or caught up in spam filters, so the most important thing to do is to get in contact with the researcher assigned to the practice area and location you are submitting for (as listed on the research schedule). We’d ask that you collate the names of all the referees who haven’t heard from Chambers and their correct email addresses into one email, and send it to the researcher while research is still underway 
 
We will be happy to follow up, however we will do so in accordance with our own client contacting guidelines.

Question 23

Can I ask my references to reach out to the researchers directly?

Accepted Answer

Other than in exceptional circumstances, we discourage firms from doing this as it has an effect on the reliability of the feedback provided and the researchers find it to be disruptive. We don’t want referees to feel pressurised into giving feedback, therefore unless there is a clear direction from our research team that they are blocked from communicating with a referee (e.g. because the email address is incorrect), we ask that firms leave our research team to reach out to your referees in accordance with our process. 
 
Any unsolicited feedback we do receive will be scrutinised and possibly discounted. It is most likely that we won’t be able to attach much weight to the feedback. To avoid this, if you feel your referee hasn’t been able to provide feedback, please ask the researcher to get back in touch with them.

Question 24

How can I ensure that I receive important updates from Chambers and Partners?

Accepted Answer

Please e-mail enquiries@chambers.com and ask to be added as a research marketing contact.

Question 25

Does Chambers have a research policy relating to parental leave (maternity/paternity), leave required for caring responsibilities or absence leave taken by ranked lawyers?

Accepted Answer

Yes, Chambers has a specific leave policy which covers parental leave, leave required for caring responsibilities and also covers any health-related absences. Depending on the type of absence leave, the policy ensures that ranked lawyers will remain in the rankings for a period of 1 year (secondary caregivers and health-related absence) and 2 years for primary caregivers. If a ranked lawyer has a change in circumstance as a secondary caregiver or due to health-related absence and therefore further consideration needs to be given to extend this timeframe, this would need to be raised with Chambers and Partners directly.

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