It’s a lot to keep track of, especially when the names make these recognitions sound more connected than they actually are. And if you’re a lawyer trying to get ranked, understanding how each one works can help you make smarter decisions about where to spend your time.

How Best Lawyers Actually Works

If you’re trying to get recognized by Best Lawyers, the first thing to understand is that it’s fundamentally a peer-review process.

A nomination gets a lawyer into consideration, but it isn’t an award submission in the way you might think about Chambers or Legal 500. You’re not preparing a lengthy narrative about your most significant matters, assembling client referees or writing a compelling case for why you deserve recognition.

And submitting multiple nominations for the same lawyer won’t improve their chances. The nomination simply makes the lawyer eligible for consideration. What happens during peer review matters much more.

Once nominated, lawyers are evaluated by other lawyers who are already recognized by Best Lawyers in the relevant practice area and geographic market. Those lawyers are asked to assess how likely they’d be to refer a matter to the nominee if they couldn’t handle it themselves.

Think about what that means. Your reputation among other lawyers plays a central role in whether you’re recognized. It’s about whether people in your field know you, understand your experience and respect your work enough that they’d feel comfortable referring a client to you.

That’s why a last-minute push during nomination season is unlikely to accomplish much if you haven’t spent time developing your professional reputation throughout the year.

Why Relationships Matter More Than Nominations

If you want to improve your chances of being ranked, think about how visible you are within your legal community.

Who knows your work outside your own firm? Which lawyers have worked across the table from you? Are you maintaining relationships with former colleagues, co-counsel and referral sources? Are you participating in the professional organizations and industry groups that matter to your practice?

These relationships can make a meaningful difference because they help other lawyers become familiar with your capabilities.

Speaking at conferences, participating in bar association activities, publishing articles and engaging with other lawyers on LinkedIn can also help you establish a stronger professional reputation. The key is being consistent and developing visibility around the areas of law and industries where you want to be known.

For example, if you’re a commercial litigator who wants to be recognized for complex business disputes, your professional activities should reinforce that experience. You might write about significant litigation developments, participate in relevant industry discussions or speak alongside other lawyers who handle similar matters. Over time, these activities can help more people understand your practice and recognize your expertise.

Voting matters too. If you’re already ranked by Best Lawyers, take the time to participate in the peer-review process and provide thoughtful evaluations of lawyers whose work you know. The process depends on informed feedback, so it’s important to evaluate people based on actual professional knowledge and experience.

What About Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch?

Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch follows a similar peer-review approach but focuses on lawyers earlier in their careers.

I think this recognition is particularly valuable because it gives younger lawyers a reason to start thinking about their professional reputations before they become partners.

Too many associates wait until they’re senior lawyers to begin developing relationships outside their firms. By that point, they’ve missed years of opportunities to establish connections, become active in professional organizations and develop a recognizable area of expertise.

If you’re an associate, think about what you want to be known for. Which practice areas interest you most? Are there particular industries where you’d like to develop experience? Who are the lawyers, business professionals and organizations you should be getting to know?

You can start building those relationships now through professional associations, speaking opportunities, writing, LinkedIn and connections with former colleagues.

Firms should also be identifying promising associates and helping them develop external visibility. Ones to Watch can be part of that strategy, but the professional relationships and reputation those lawyers build will benefit them throughout their careers.

How Is Lawyer of the Year Different?

Lawyer of the Year is another recognition that causes confusion because it sounds like a separate award that lawyers or firms can apply for. It isn’t.

Lawyer of the Year is based on particularly strong peer-review results within a specific practice area and geographic market. The recognition goes to one lawyer in that category and location. That’s an important distinction because the title can sound much broader when it appears without context.

If someone is recognized as Lawyer of the Year, the practice area and metropolitan market should always be included when describing the award. A lawyer recognized in commercial litigation in one city has received a different distinction from someone recognized in another practice or geographic market.

This also means firms should be careful about how they promote the recognition. The full designation provides the context that makes the award meaningful.

How Best Law Firms Rankings Work

Individual lawyer recognition helps establish a firm’s eligibility in a particular practice area and jurisdiction. However, the firm’s ranking involves a broader evaluation that considers information about the practice and feedback from clients and professional references. This is where a well-prepared firm submission can make a meaningful difference.

Unlike individual Best Lawyers recognition, where peer reputation drives the process, Best Law Firms gives firms an opportunity to explain the strength of their practices, highlight significant matters and provide context about their experience and capabilities.

Client feedback is also important. Clients can provide insight into the quality of a firm’s work, responsiveness, understanding of their business, cost-effectiveness and overall service.

For marketing and business development teams, this means the process deserves more attention than simply completing an annual questionnaire.

Start identifying strong representative matters throughout the year. Keep track of significant client successes, new capabilities, practice growth and other developments that demonstrate the strength of the team. Work with practice leaders to develop a clear description of what distinguishes the practice.

Reference selection deserves just as much attention. A well-known client isn’t necessarily the strongest reference if the person being contacted doesn’t have enough direct experience with the firm’s work to provide meaningful feedback. Choose people who know the team, understand the work performed and can speak thoughtfully about the client experience.

Understanding National and Regional Tiers

Best Law Firms recognizes practices at both national and regional levels, with ranked firms placed into tiers. This is another area where firms need to be precise when communicating their rankings.

If a firm announces that it’s ranked Tier 1, readers should be able to tell which practice area and geographic market the recognition covers. A National Tier 1 ranking and a Regional Tier 1 ranking aren’t interchangeable.

The same principle applies when sharing rankings on LinkedIn, updating lawyer biographies, preparing pitch materials or announcing results on a firm website. Include the practice area, geography and tier so clients and prospects understand exactly what the firm has been recognized for.

What Is Law Firm of the Year?

Law Firm of the Year is a separate distinction within the Best Law Firms program that recognizes one firm in a particular practice area.

The evaluation considers a broader range of factors, including peer feedback, the firm’s recognition history, practice information and significant matters.

It’s important to understand that this recognition isn’t simply awarded to whichever firm has the most individually ranked lawyers. A deep bench of recognized attorneys can contribute to a firm’s reputation, but the award considers the standing and strength of the practice more broadly.

For firms that receive this recognition, it’s worth explaining the significance of the award in client communications and marketing materials instead of assuming everyone understands what the designation means.

Why Your Rankings Strategy Should Be a Year-Round Effort

One of the biggest mistakes I see law firms make is treating rankings as a project that begins when nominations open and ends when the results are announced.

An email arrives asking for nominations, everyone scrambles to submit names and then another email goes out reminding lawyers to vote. For a few weeks, rankings become a major priority. Once the deadlines pass, everyone moves on until the following year. That approach overlooks the relationship development, reputation building and information gathering that make rankings efforts more effective.

If you’re a lawyer hoping to be recognized by Best Lawyers, start by assessing your professional visibility. Think about whether the lawyers in your practice area and market know your work and whether you’re consistently participating in the professional communities that matter to your career.

If you’re responsible for Best Law Firms submissions, develop a process for collecting representative matters, client feedback and practice developments throughout the year. Maintain strong relationships with potential references and make sure your submissions reflect the firm’s most significant work.

And if you’re a marketing or business development professional, use the rankings process as an opportunity to have broader conversations with lawyers about their reputations, relationships and business development priorities.

These discussions can help identify opportunities for speaking, writing, networking, client outreach and other activities that support both individual lawyers and the firm.

Best Lawyers Rankings Checklist: What to Do Throughout the Year

Whether you’re an individual lawyer hoping to get ranked or a marketing professional managing the process for your firm, here’s a practical checklist to help you stay organized.

For Individual Lawyers

  • Identify your target practice areas and geographic markets. Focus on categories that accurately reflect your experience and where you have an established or developing reputation.
  • Review the lawyers already recognized in your categories. Consider which lawyers know you professionally and whether you’re visible within the relevant legal community.
  • Build relationships with lawyers outside your firm. Stay connected with former colleagues, co-counsel, opposing counsel and referral sources.
  • Participate in professional and industry organizations. Look for opportunities to contribute to committees, programs and discussions related to your practice.
  • Develop a consistent thought leadership presence. Publish articles, speak at events and share insights that demonstrate your expertise.
  • Use LinkedIn to maintain professional relationships. Connect with lawyers you meet, engage with their content and share information relevant to your practice.
  • Participate thoughtfully in peer-review voting. If you’re eligible to vote, evaluate lawyers whose work you know and can assess fairly.
  • Keep your professional biography current. Make sure your practice description, representative experience and recognitions accurately reflect your work.

For Law Firm Marketing and Business Development Teams

  • Maintain a rankings calendar. Track nomination deadlines, voting periods, submission requirements and announcement dates.
  • Review eligibility and practice categories annually. Make sure lawyers and practices are being considered in appropriate categories and markets.
  • Identify promising associates for Ones to Watch. Help younger lawyers develop professional visibility and relationships early in their careers.
  • Collect representative matters throughout the year. Work with practice groups to document significant work, client successes and developments.
  • Select client and professional references carefully. Prioritize people who know the firm’s work and can provide meaningful feedback.
  • Develop strong Best Law Firms submissions. Highlight the practice’s capabilities, significant matters, client service and meaningful developments.
  • Encourage eligible lawyers to participate in voting. Explain the methodology and importance of informed peer evaluations without coordinating votes.
  • Promote rankings accurately. Include the correct practice area, geographic market and tier in announcements, biographies and marketing materials.
  • Use rankings results to inform business development planning. Identify where the firm has strong recognition and where additional market visibility may be beneficial.
  • Evaluate your strategy after results are announced. Review changes in recognition, identify gaps and determine which relationships and visibility efforts deserve attention during the next cycle.

Making Rankings Part of Your Business Development Strategy

Best Lawyers, Ones to Watch, Lawyer of the Year, Best Law Firms and Law Firm of the Year each recognize different aspects of professional and firm reputation. Understanding those differences helps lawyers and marketing teams focus on the activities that are most relevant to each recognition.

For individual lawyers, peer relationships and professional visibility are particularly important. For firms, strong submissions, representative matters and thoughtful reference selection play a larger role in the process.

The lawyers and firms that approach rankings strategically throughout the year will be better prepared when nomination and submission deadlines arrive. They’ll also be building stronger professional relationships, developing greater market visibility and creating opportunities that extend well beyond any particular ranking. And those are worthwhile business development outcomes whether or not a particular recognition comes through.

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