Scott Gibson on how legal directory rankings can affect career prospects in the Law Society Gazette
Law Society Gazette 11 November 2010:
“Despite mixed views on the value of ratings in legal directories, they have a dramatically positive impact on law firm recruitment. Moreover, for individual lawyers a good rating often adds as much as 20% to their market value in law firms, and opens doors at senior level in-house.
Last month, I attended the launch of the International Financial Law Review 1000 (IFLR1000). As I watched lawyers and PR types milling around The Royal Exchange in London, eagerly awaiting sight of their latest rankings, a quote from Othello came to mind: ‘Reputation is oft got without merit and lost without deserving.’
Nothing better illustrates this than the slew of legal directories which, like the IFLR1000, rank law firms, departments and individual lawyers. In the UK, by far the most referenced of these are the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners; however, quotes from the IFLR1000, Martindale Hubble, Practical Law Company and Who’s Who Legal are also regularly used in law firm marketing in the UK and elsewhere.”