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Legal Directories and Rankings
Lloyd Pearson1
Founder and Director,
Pearson Communications
What is a Legal Directory?
The term “legal directories” describes a broad range of products and services that research,
list, rank, analyze, and assess lawyers and law firms.
Depending on whether you are in a large international firm or a small consumer-focused
firm, a directory can be a basic, Yellow Pages-style listing, or synonymous with preparing detailed
written submissions.
Legal directories are a fixture of the legal industry, and most law firms engage to some
extent with them as a way of promoting their practices to the outside world.
The Legal Directory Industry
As a distinct industry in its own right, reports suggest that the legal directories business (as
a subset of the broader legal publishing and media industry) is worth $250 million a year.
Legal directories are not new — the first directory, Martindale-Hubbell, began publication
in the nineteenth century — but the modern form of the industry took shape in the 1980s and
1990s.
Driven by the relaxation of professional rules that limited the ability of law firms to
advertise their services, a raft of new products emerged that sought to rank and recommend
lawyers.
These directories vary considerably from those that employ teams of researchers to assess
the relative qualities of different law firms to those that are more speculative and commercial in
nature.
Over the years, the number of such products has grown to include several thousand
directories, listings, rankings, league tables, and awards.
1 Lloyd Pearson is a legal directories specialist and the founder of Pearson Communications. He has held senior editorial positions at the market’s
leading legal directories and in-house directories management roles at top law firms in the U.S. and U.K. In the late 1990s he was part of the launch
and development of Chambers Global, one of the leading international guidebooks, where he later became editor; he worked extensively on editions
of Chambers USA and contributed to Chambers UK. In 2004, he joined the international law firm of Herbert Smith and ran their press office,
working on legal directories, communications, and media relations initiatives. In 2006, he moved to White & Case to manage their global
directories’ program. He then consulted with Best Lawyers, helping to develop the Best Lawyers-US News “Best Law Firms” survey, and in 2008
became a legal directories consultant.
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Lloyd Pearson1
Founder and Director,
Pearson Communications
What is a Legal Directory?
The term “legal directories” describes a broad range of products and services that research,
list, rank, analyze, and assess lawyers and law firms.
Depending on whether you are in a large international firm or a small consumer-focused
firm, a directory can be a basic, Yellow Pages-style listing, or synonymous with preparing detailed
written submissions.
Legal directories are a fixture of the legal industry, and most law firms engage to some
extent with them as a way of promoting their practices to the outside world.
The Legal Directory Industry
As a distinct industry in its own right, reports suggest that the legal directories business (as
a subset of the broader legal publishing and media industry) is worth $250 million a year.
Legal directories are not new — the first directory, Martindale-Hubbell, began publication
in the nineteenth century — but the modern form of the industry took shape in the 1980s and
1990s.
Driven by the relaxation of professional rules that limited the ability of law firms to
advertise their services, a raft of new products emerged that sought to rank and recommend
lawyers.
These directories vary considerably from those that employ teams of researchers to assess
the relative qualities of different law firms to those that are more speculative and commercial in
nature.
Over the years, the number of such products has grown to include several thousand
directories, listings, rankings, league tables, and awards.
1 Lloyd Pearson is a legal directories specialist and the founder of Pearson Communications. He has held senior editorial positions at the market’s
leading legal directories and in-house directories management roles at top law firms in the U.S. and U.K. In the late 1990s he was part of the launch
and development of Chambers Global, one of the leading international guidebooks, where he later became editor; he worked extensively on editions
of Chambers USA and contributed to Chambers UK. In 2004, he joined the international law firm of Herbert Smith and ran their press office,
working on legal directories, communications, and media relations initiatives. In 2006, he moved to White & Case to manage their global
directories’ program. He then consulted with Best Lawyers, helping to develop the Best Lawyers-US News “Best Law Firms” survey, and in 2008
became a legal directories consultant.
15
