Chambers Rankings Explained

Bands 1-6

Law firms and individual lawyers are ranked in bands from 1 (highest)-6 (lowest) and being ranked in any band is a significant achievement. The qualities on which rankings are assessed include:

-Technical legal ability
-Professional conduct
-Client service
-Commercial astuteness
-Diligence
-Commitment
-Other qualities most valued by the client (for further description of these please see methodology above)
 
Foreign Experts / Foreign Desks

Foreign Experts and Foreign Desks are individuals or teams with expertise in a different jurisdiction from where they are based. These individuals and teams are particularly highly regarded for international and cross-border work.

Usually, they will be identified in the jurisdiction in which they are based and in their country of expertise.
For example, a lawyer based in the UK may have an in-depth knowledge of China. They would appear in the UK as a Foreign Expert for China, while in China he would be identified as a Foreign Expert with Chinese expertise based in the UK.

Senior Statesperson, Star and Eminent Practitioners

In addition, there are further categories in which lawyers can be ranked as exceptional individuals:

-'Senior Statesperson': a lawyer who no longer works hands-on with the same intensity but who, by virtue of close links with major clients, remains pivotal to the firm’s success.
-'Star': ranking is given to lawyers with exceptional recommendations in their field.
-'Eminent Practitioners': highly influential lawyers in a particular practice area who, due to managerial or client relationship commitments, are less active in fee-earning work but remain key players in the team.
 
Other Noted Practitioner

An 'Other Noted Practitioner' handles notable matters and / or has received some recommendation during the course of our research. However, they have not received a sufficiently high level of sustained recommendation to be included in the printed version of the Chambers guide. Instead, the 'Other Noted Practitioner' category shows that these individuals are on our research radar.

'Other Noted Practitioners' do not receive independent editorial comment, but they are able to provide a biography for our website.

Up-and-Coming, Star Associate, and Associate-to-Watch

Three additional bands list those who are at the forefront of their generation but who do not yet warrant inclusion in the tables:

-'Up and Coming': lists those who do not yet have an established reputation but who are driving their firm's growth.
-'Associates to Watch': senior associates who are recognised for their work in the background of major deals.
-'Star Associate': awarded to an associate who consistently demonstrates an outstanding degree of technical and commercial expertise beyond that of their peers.
 
Silks and Juniors

In the UK, Barristers are divided into 'Leading Silks' and 'Leading Juniors'. Leading juniors who have since taken silk appear banded under 'New Silks'.

Spotlight

A 'Spotlight' ranking is given to firms or individuals where the table does not have numerical rankings. All 'Spotlight' rankings are equal to each other on the same table, and the ranking serves to highlight a select group of firms or individuals.
These rankings are most commonly used for 'Foreign Experts/Foreign Desks'.

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