Legal 500 has announced details of the submission guidelines for the 2014 edition of its US directory.
Fortunately for law firm marketers, Legal 500 has given us three months to prepare.
This time around, the publishers have not made any radical changes to the schedule or process, with the timetable broadly in line with last year:
Submissions due on Tuesday, November 12 2013:
- Intellectual property
- Labor and employment
- Litigation
- Mergers, acquisitions and buyouts
- Real estate
Submissions due on Tuesday, November 19 2013:
- Finance
- Industry focus
- Investment fund formation and management
- Media, technology and telecoms
- Tax
Unlike in some previous years when they were staggered, submissions and client references are both due on the same date.
The deadlines are designed for firms to submit their material prior to the Thanksgiving Holiday at the end of November, with details of editors and researchers posted after the break on December 2 2013.
Notably, there are two new sections this year: Sports (in the Industry Focus category); and Cyber Crime (Media, Technology and Telecoms)
Legal 500 explained its decision to add these sections:
“Every major corporate is under threat from cyber crime, from prevention to prosecution. Our new section aims to highlight those firms who have the standout teams in this area – from full-service practices to more niche and boutique firms. And making a comeback is “Sport” – from franchising, merchandising, contracts, players, leagues, litigation, construction and many more – the best sport practices in the US will be under our microscope this year.”
Firm interviews take place between December 2013 and January 2014, but check with individual researchers for precise timings.
Some will start promptly while others may wait until the end of the research period, depending on their other commitments.
The directory is published in late May 2014.
One key change at the staff level: this is the first edition of the Legal 500 US with new editor, Lauren Hughes, in charge.
Publishing director, David Burgess, commented:
“Lauren has been one of our standout researchers and assistant editors over the past four years, so she now is taking over the reins at The Legal 500 United States. If you wish to drop her a line, she is at lauren.hughes@legal500.com. While I am still responsible for The Legal 500 globally for rankings and research, I will be spending a large amount of time working with corporate counsel to make sure we provide more content for them.”
I will do a detailed post in the near future with practical tips for law firm marketers on how to adapt and prepare Legal 500 US submissions with the minimum fuss.
At the same time, I’ll discuss some of the differences between Legal 500 and Chambers and how you should adjust your approach to the latest submissions.
Keep an eye on the blog, or enter your email address here to receive the latest posts.
(Pictured: City Hall, Philadelphia – taken by Lloyd Pearson in 2008)
[…] Legal 500 USA 2014 submission guidelines and deadlines now available The first edition of The Legal 500 Canada is due to be released in October 2013 Legal 500 Deutschland 2014 is published in November 2013 Legal 500 editors will attend the IBA conference in Boston in October 2013, the ACC Annual Congress in Los Angeles in October 2013, and the Marketing Partner Forum in Miami in January 2014 Nominations for the company’s new Corporate Counsel 100 survey have officially closed, but if you are quick, they may still accept your entry The Corporate Counsel 100 above is to go global, and will expand beyond the US in the coming months A new global client satisfaction is planned for early 2014 If you fancy becoming a Legal 500 researcher, click here to apply […]