What Is The Legal 500?
City lawyer turned founder on the reality of scaling a legal tech startup
Published:
January 30, 2024
Last updated:
January 30, 2024
City lawyer turned founder on the reality of scaling a legal tech startup
We have more than 25 years of experience in corporate law, business and finance.
We’ve worked at leading law firms advising the world’s biggest banks and global corporations on complex legal issues and, in our business lives, we’ve instructed law firms as paying clients.
One of the most important skills for the modern lawyer is commercial awareness.
It’s this skill that separates the good lawyers from the great lawyers.
It’s this skill that will get you promoted at your law firm.
It’s this skill that will mean that the best clients will instruct you on the best matters.
This guide breaks down commercial awareness for lawyers. We’ll look at:
We hope you find it useful.
If you’re a lawyer working for a big firm in the UK, you’ve probably heard of the Legal 500. But what exactly is it?
The Legal 500 is a guide that ranks law firms and individual lawyers based on research and analysis. It shines a spotlight on the firms and individuals who are considered to be at the top of their game in a wide range of practice areas and across several jurisdictions.
The Legal 500 consists of two parts:
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For clients, the Legal 500 serves as a helpful guide when they’re looking to instruct a law firm. Which firm has the best expertise in this particular area?
For law firms, a good Legal 500 ranking is more like a badge of honour. It makes them look good to prospective clients and serves as a powerful marketing tool, helping them to stand out in an often crowded market.
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addleshaw Goddard | £52,000 | £56,000 | £100,000 |
| Akin Gump | £57,500 | £62,500 | £169,235 |
| A&O Shearman | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Ashurst | £52,000 | £57,000 | £125,000 |
| Baker McKenzie | £56,000 | £61,000 | £140,000 |
| Bird & Bird | £47,000 | £52,000 | £98,000 |
| Bristows | £46,000 | £50,000 | £88,000 |
| Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | £50,000 | £55,000 | £105,000 |
| Burges Salmon | £45,000 | £47,000 | £68,000 |
| Charles Russell Speechlys | £47,000 | £50,000 | £88,000 |
| Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton | £57,500 | £62,500 | £160,000 |
| Clifford Chance | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Clyde & Co | £42,000 | £44,500 | £85,000 |
| CMS | £50,000 | £55,000 | £110,000 |
| Cooley | £52,000 | £57,000 | £150,000 |
| Davis Polk & Wardwell | £65,000 | £70,000 | £170,000 |
| Debevoise & Plimpton | £55,000 | £60,000 | £160,500 |
| Dechert | £50,000 | £55,000 | £145,000 |
| Dentons | £50,000 | £54,000 | £95,000 |
| DLA Piper | £50,000 | £55,000 | £110,000 |
| Eversheds Sutherland | £46,000 | £50,000 | £100,000 |
| Farrer & Co | £45,000 | £48,000 | £83,000 |
| Fieldfisher | £46,000 | £49,500 | £95,000 |
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Fried Frank | £55,000 | £60,000 | £175,000 |
| Gateley | £36,000 | £38,500 | £75,000 |
| Gibson Dunn | £60,000 | £65,000 | £180,000 |
| Goodwin Procter | £55,000 | £60,000 | £175,000 |
| Gowling WLG | £47,000 | £52,000 | £98,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | £56,000 | £61,000 | £135,000 |
| HFW | £46,000 | £50,000 | £100,000 |
| Hill Dickinson | £39,000 | £41,000 | £72,000 |
| Hogan Lovells | £56,000 | £61,000 | £135,000 |
| Irwin Mitchell | £40,000 | £42,000 | £75,000 |
| Jones Day | £54,000 | £63,000 | £145,000 |
| K&L Gates | £50,000 | £55,000 | £110,000 |
| Kennedys | £41,000 | £44,000 | £85,000 |
| King & Spalding | £50,000 | £55,000 | £156,000 |
| Kirkland & Ellis | £60,000 | £65,000 | £169,235 |
| Latham & Watkins | £50,000 | £55,000 | £169,235 |
| Linklaters | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Macfarlanes | £56,000 | £61,000 | £140,000 |
| Mayer Brown | £50,000 | £55,000 | £120,000 |
| McDermott Will & Emery | £65,000 | £70,000 | £174,418 |
| Milbank | £57,500 | £62,500 | £174,418 |
| Mills & Reeve | £30,000 | £32,000 | £58,000 |
| Mischon de Reya | £47,500 | £52,500 | £95,000 |
| Norton Rose Fulbright | £42,500 | £53,000 | £120,000 |
| Orrick | £55,000 | £60,000 | £140,000 |
| Osborne Clarke | £54,500 | £56,000 | £94,000 |
| Paul Hastings | £55,000 | £60,000 | £173,000 |
| Paul Weiss | n/a | n/a | £180,000 |
| Penningtons Manches Cooper | £45,000 | £47,000 | £75,000 |
| Pinsent Masons | £47,000 | £51,500 | £97,000 |
| Quinn Emanuel | n/a | n/a | £180,000 |
| Reed Smith | £50,000 | £55,000 | £125,000 |
| Ropes & Gray | £60,000 | £65,000 | £165,000 |
| RPC | £44,000 | £48,000 | £85,000 |
| Shearman & Sterling | £55,000 | £60,000 | £145,000 |
| Shoosmiths | £43,000 | £45,000 | £97,000 |
| Sidley Austin | £60,000 | £65,000 | £175,000 |
| Simmons & Simmons | £52,000 | £57,000 | £120,000 |
| Skadden | £58,000 | £63,000 | £173,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Squire Patton Boggs | £47,000 | £50,000 | £110,000 |
| Stephenson Harwood | £50,000 | £55,000 | £100,000 |
| Sullivan & Cromwell | £60,000 | £65,000 | £170,000 |
| Taylor Wessing | £50,000 | £55,000 | £115,000 |
| TLT | £42,500 | £45,500 | £75,000 |
| Travers Smith | £54,000 | £59,000 | £120,000 |
| Trowers & Hamlins | £45,000 | £49,000 | £80,000 |
| Vinson & Elkins | £60,000 | £65,000 | £173,822 |
| Watson Farley & Williams | £50,000 | £55,000 | £102,000 |
| Weightmans | £32,000 | £34,000 | £60,000 |
| Weil Gotshal & Manges | £60,000 | £65,000 | £170,000 |
| White & Case | £62,000 | £67,000 | £175,000 |
| Willkie Farr & Gallagher | £55,000 | £60,000 | £150,000 |
| Withers | £45,000 | £49,000 | £90,000 |
| Womble Bond Dickinson | £42,000 | £44,000 | £78,000 |
Rank | Law Firm | Revenue | Profit per Equity Partner (PEP) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | DLA Piper* | £2,833,000,000 | £2,140,000 |
| 2 | Hogan Lovells* | £2,158,000,000 | £2,204,000 |
| 3 | Allen & Overy | £2,100,000,000 | £1,820,000 |
| 4 | Clifford Chance | £2,060,000,000 | £2,000,000 |
| 5 | Linklaters | £1,900,000,000 | £1,779,000 |
| 6 | Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | £1,840,000,000 | £2,090,000 |
| 7 | Norton Rose Fulbright* | £1,640,000,000 | £820,000 |
| 8 | CMS** | £1,591,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 9 | Herbert Smith Freehills | £1,186,000,000 | £1,173,000 |
| 10 | Ashurst | £879,000,000 | £1,170,000 |
| 11 | Clyde & Co | £788,600,000 | £708,000 |
| 12 | Eversheds Sutherland | £730,900,000 | £1,290,000 |
| 13 | Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner* | £664,000,000 | £740,000 |
| 14 | Pinsent Masons | £605,900,000 | £797,000 |
| 15 | Slaughter and May*** | £572,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 16 | Simmons & Simmons | £521,000,000 | £1,002,000 |
| 17 | Bird & Bird** | £495,000,000 | £669,000 |
| 18 | DWF | £451,600,000 | Not disclosed |
| 19 | Addleshaw Goddard | £443,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 20 | Taylor Wessing | £439,000,000 | £809,000*** |
| 21 | Womble Bond Dickinson* | £417,000,000 | £550,000 |
| 22 | Osborne Clarke** | £377,000,000 | £687,000 |
| 23 | Fieldfisher | £370,000,000 | £930,000 |
| 24 | Kennedys | £313,000,000 | Not disclosed |
| 25 | Macfarlanes | £296,600,000 | £2,100,000 |
The Legal 500 uses various criteria to review the performance of a law firm or particular department.
The criteria includes:
Each year, the Legal 500 writes to law firms inviting them to provide information on their specialist practice areas, and asking for details of work undertaken in that year. These are known as submissions from law firms.
Once submitted, The Legal 500 will then interview lawyers from the relevant law firm to get a deeper understanding of that department’s work and its overall strategy.
As well as submissions from law firms, the Legal 500 will get feedback directly from clients of the firms they are assessing by interviewing them. Law firms will nominate clients as ‘referees’ to support their submissions. Interviews are based on a standard-form questionnaire.
Referees are usually in-house counsel at firms, but can also include business-side leaders, like CEOs or CFOs.
For its ranking of individual lawyers (i.e. lawyers that are considered “pre-eminent in their given field”), the Legal 500 also considers feedback from peers from other firms.
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A&O Shearman | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Clifford Chance | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Linklaters | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| A&O Shearman | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Clifford Chance | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Linklaters | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
| Slaughter and May | £56,000 | £61,000 | £150,000 |
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashurst | £52,000 | £57,000 | £125,000 |
| Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | £50,000 | £55,000 | £105,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | £56,000 | £61,000 | £135,000 |
| Macfarlanes | £56,000 | £61,000 | £140,000 |
| Travers Smith | £54,000 | £59,000 | £120,000 |
Law firm rankings and directories serve a purpose and can be very useful, but they are not free from criticism from within the industry.
For many firms, dealing with legal directory submissions and interviews has become burdensome.
For marketing and business development teams it’s an all-consuming task between November and March. Much of the work is often tackled at the last-minute and it can be difficult to get the necessary support from busy partners and law firm leaders.
The opportunity cost can be exceptionally high as well. The cost of preparing directory submissions for the London office of one global law firm was estimated at £750,000 by one business development director.
Most of that was lost billable time. Does the benefit of a strong directory ranking offset that cost? That's not so clear.
Despite the detailed methodology, some argue that the criteria and decision-making could be more transparent.
There's a sense of mystery about how much weight is given to each aspect – client feedback, peer review, deal analysis.
This lack of clarity can lead to scepticism among some law firms and legal professionals.
Then there's the issue of potential bias. Can larger firms with more resources dedicated to submissions have an undue influence on the rankings? It's a concern for smaller, boutique firms that fear they might be overlooked despite their expertise and success in niche areas.
The Legal 500 has responded to these criticisms over time, refining its processes and striving for greater transparency. However, the debate continues. Some in the industry see these rankings as an essential guide, while others take them with a grain of salt.
While the Legal 500 rankings are influential and widely used, like any system, they are not perfect. Understanding these criticisms is crucial for a well-rounded view of their role in the legal industry.
Law Firm | Trainee First Year | Trainee Second Year | Newly Qualified (NQ) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ashurst | £52,000 | £57,000 | £125,000 |
| Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner | £50,000 | £55,000 | £105,000 |
| Herbert Smith Freehills | £56,000 | £61,000 | £135,000 |
| Macfarlanes | £56,000 | £61,000 | £140,000 |
| Travers Smith | £54,000 | £59,000 | £120,000 |
An important caveat follows this, but the short answer is no. Law firms do not pay to be ranked in the Legal 500. The ranking is a product of the Legal 500’s research and its ranking criteria described above.
While inclusion in the rankings is free, law firms can pay to be listed in the Legal 500’s directory. The directory includes profiles of law firms and partners with more detailed information. These are written by law firms.
The paid-for services are separate from the ranking process and do not influence a firm's position in the rankings.
An important caveat: The free/paid distinction is not quite as black and white as you might think. The Legal 500 ‘nudges’ firms to pay for a full profile in its directory by making it pretty inconvenient if you don’t.
While any firm can be included in its free rankings, firms without a full profile are displayed in a much softer grey in the rankings making them harder to spot. See the image above which shows the Debt Capital Markets rankings for London firns.
Firms without a paid-for profile also don’t get a profile at all. So if you want to check that firm’s rankings you need to check the ranking for the individual practice areas to do so.
In summary, if your firm is ranked by the Legal 500 you’ll need to pay for a full profile to have your law firm and its rankings ‘fully accessible’ to users.
It's like being listed in a guidebook. You can't pay for a better review, but you can pay for a listing. And if you have a good review, you can pay for your review to be properly showcased to readers.
The Legal 500 and Chambers are the best known legal directories in the industry. They’re very similar. They both rank law firms by practice area and place them in tiers or bands.
Chambers is probably regarded as more prestigious than the Legal 500. It’s also more well-known in the industry, particularly in the US.
There are some differences around each directory’s research methodology e.g. the number of referees law firms can nominate. Submission templates and deadlines also differ. But overall, they offer law firms and clients the same thing.
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