Guide to Submissions
What is a submission?
a) Submissions
b) Referees
What is the submission information used for?
Contents
a) Work highlights
b) Confidential information
c) Coverage
Procedure
a) When is the deadline?
b) How to upload submissions
c) Practice areas with subdivisions
d) Chambers Global
e) Continent-wide and Global-wide practice areas
f) Updating submissions / correcting mistakes
g) Press releases
Queries
What is a submission?
Submissions are a source of factual information and this information, used in conjunction with other sources, can influence a decision on whether to include a firm or where to rank it. Submissions are used by Chambers as part of our research . We will never print or quote directly from a submission.
Using our form ensures that you are supplying us with the kind (and volume) of information that we want.
In addition, we need client contact details – referees – because interviews with clients are crucial to our research (see section b) Referees).
The names and details of client referees should be sent separately, using our Referees Spreadsheet.
The process is free. There is no cost involved in providing us with submissions. There is no ''secret formula'' to writing a good submission. We simply want a clear summary of the most significant facts about your practice presented using our template.
Please use our submission form and upload this via our log-in section. If you are submitting on behalf of a Legal Process Outsourcing Provider or Legal Network, please see the separate forms on the left, under 'Submission Forms'
A referee is usually a client but it can be anyone who has good experience and knowledge of the firm. Interviews with referees are non-attributable and any quotes we publish are anonymous. We take care never to include a quote that will reveal the source. Please include no more than ten referees per practice area (except for Chambers USA, which accepts up to fifteen).
An entirely separate referee spreadsheet should be used for each practice area. Doing so will minimise the time it takes for us to contact your referees, and therefore maximise the time we have to gather feedback on your firm.
Please use our referee spreadsheet and upload this via our log-in section.
What is the submission information used for?
Submissions are used by Chambers as part of our research. We will never print or quote directly from a submission. But we will refer to it as a source of factual information about a law firm and its activities, and this information, used in conjunction with other sources, can influence a decision on whether to include a firm or where to rank it.
Contents
a) Work highlights
Please do not send us more than 10 work highlights per practice area. Try to send us a list that includes work handled by junior partners as well as senior ones.
Please supply work examples from the past twelve months, or that are ongoing.
b) Confidential information
It’s important that you mark confidential information as CONFIDENTIAL. We use it in our research but we shall not publish it.
We shall assume that any information NOT clearly marked as confidential can be published.
c) Coverage
To see the locations we are covering, please refer to our research schedule. Select a region or country and you will see the practice areas we are researching there.
Our research coverage reflects market conditions in each country. We research the more important practice areas – as indicated to us by clients.
If you think we are not covering a significant practice area, please contact the relevant editor.
If you have looked at our research schedule but remain in doubt about what is covered by a particular practice area, please contact Mehri at MehriH@chambersandpartners.com
Procedure
a) When is the deadline?
The deadline for each submission is indicated on the research schedule.
You can find out when your submission needs to be sent by looking at our research schedules. The schedules also show the names of the researchers who will cover your location and practice areas.
If you require an extension of time, this may be possible. Please contact the researcher working on the section (or the editor if you cannot see the name of the researcher). Due to time constraints and the volume of submissions we receive, those received after the deadline may not receive the same attention given to those uploaded on time.
b) How to upload submissions
Please upload submissions online at: http://www.chambersandpartners.com/Log-In
You will need a username and password. If you do not have these, please contact Mehri Hudayguliyeva.
c) Practice areas with subdivisions
We often need to subdivide our coverage of a practice area. For example, TMT might be split into Information Technology, Media and Telecommunications.
In such cases we generally prefer firms to make one submission for the whole area, rather than separately for each sub-division. If you are unsure, please contact the researcher covering the section.
d) Chambers Global
You do not need to send us separate submissions for countries covered in Chambers Global if these countries are covered in one of our other guides. The country submission will be used for both guides. However, it is important that the submission contain details of your ‘foreign experts’ (who will feature strongly in the global guide).
‘Foreign Experts’ are lawyers with specialist expertise in a foreign jurisdiction. They may be dual-qualified, or just have particular knowledge of a jurisdiction other than that in which they are based.
e) Continent-wide and Global-wide practice areas
Continent-wide practice areas
For continent-wide practice areas (as opposed to your country practices) we need separate submissions in addition to the country submissions. Continent-wide submissions should show work which demonstrates your firm''s pan-regional capability.
For Europe-wide research it is not necessary to provide client referees.
Global-wide practice areas
The front of Chambers Global contains global-wide practice areas.
For those practice areas that are also covered at a country level – such as Banking & Finance, Capital Markets, Corporate/M&A, Dispute Resolution, etc. - submissions are useful, but optional.
However, for those global-wide practice areas that are not covered at a country level, it is important that we do receive submissions. E.g. Data Protection, Franchising, Gaming & Gambling, Legal Process Outsourcing, Public International Law, International Private Client, etc.
f) Updating submissions / correcting mistakes
If you have have made a mistake, or wish to change something, you can upload a new replacement document.
Log in and select "Submissions" from the list of Account Features. Then select "Current" from the Submissions options on the right hand side, and "delete" the document you want to replace. Then go to "Upload a Submission" and upload the new document.
You should always inform the relevant researcher or editor that you have made a change to your submission, especially if the change involves anything regarding confidentiality or non-publishable information.
g) Press releases
Submissions provide us with a snapshot of your firm's activities over a year. Press releases are useful in providing us with continuing information all the year round, keeping our editors and researchers up-to-date on a law firm’s position in the market. Therefore please put us on your mailing lists for press releases. Please send them to pressreleases@chambersandpartners.com.
Queries
For all queries not covered in these guidelines, please contact Mehri Hudayguliyeva in the first instance.