Our morning In Conversation with Chambers and Partners

We have been threatening a series of events for the legal sector for quite a while now, and earlier in the year we actually started planning how these might look, and the value they could deliver to our clients and others in northern legal market.

As the only specialist legal communications agency outside of London, we decided to invite the Chambers and Partners Guide editors up to Manchester to share their insights into how the Guides are prepared, the rankings decided and how law firms can create submissions that stand out from the crowd.

The panel interview was hosted by our very own Victoria Moffatt, welcoming Chambers Guide and Chambers High Net Worth Guide editors to share insights, tips and know-how. The event took place on 3^rd December at the NatWest Entrepreneur Accelerator Hub and we were delighted to welcome clients and contacts from across the region’s legal sector. Split into two sections, our questions covered the actual submissions process and content and the handling of referees and data, before moving on to cover Chambers’ place in law firms’ marketing strategies and the value it brings to listed teams and individuals.

“Excellent guests – really useful to get a real insight into the subject matter.”

Our top three takeaways from the event were:

1. 1. Be really clear about what makes a work highlight: When including new work highlights it isn’t necessarily the deal’s value that makes it interesting to the research team. If you are a team that handles mostly mid-market deals – include these as they showcase where your true expertise lies. And if, say, you have only handled one high-value deal, that is also absolutely fine to include. Be honest though – the research team will see through any attempts to inflate or overstate your expertise or specialisms.

1. 2. Showcase your team not your hierarchy: Make sure Chambers get feel for your team and who is actually doing the majority of work on the matter. The editors don’t want to see just lead partner on every highlight when others in team really drove the work.
3. 3. Keep communicating with your referees: Manage the communications with your referees and keep them engaged. It is sometimes difficult do avoid referrer fatigue however, where you have certain clients that you need to put forward for several submissions, explain the process to them and keep them up to date on who will be getting in touch and when. This will help to keep clients engaged.

Because we want our events to be inclusive, we also filmed the panel session; and will be creating a video summary and an event report sharing the highlights and key points of the discussion. If you’re on our mailing list, we’ll be in  touch to let you know how to get your hands on both the video and the report.  If you’re not on the mailing list, please do add your name now by emailing info@lexrexcommunications.com

The feedback we received from the event showed there’s a real desire for practical, hands-on support for getting the directory submissions process right. For that reason, we are currently working on an exclusive LexRex guide to creating stand-out directory submissions.
Please email info@lexrexcommunications.com to pre-register your interest. Of course, we can also just pick up the process for you in its entirety. If that’s something you’d like to discuss – drop us a line on  info@lexrexcommunications.com

Chambers and Partners has been the leading source of legal market intelligence for over 30 years. Their 85 experienced researchers annually rank law firms and solicitors in the UK, providing a wealth of localised knowledge and trusted market insight.

With the latest figures standing at over 10,000 individual UK solicitors and over 5,000 law firm departments ranked each year – just what can firms do to ensure their submissions get noticed? And how is the market currently using the Chambers and Partners Guide?

Meet the panel:

Steven Preston

Deputy Editor UK Guide (currently Acting Editor) Steven became a Deputy Editor on the UK Guide having started at the company as a researcher. He studied undergraduate Law at UCL followed by a Masters in Human Rights Law at the same university.

Simon Christian

Editor HNW Guide

Simon was a researcher and later a deputy editor on the Chambers UK team, before becoming editor of the Chambers High Net Worth guide. He has an LLB in Laws from University College London. He also studied for the BPTC at City Law School and was called to the Bar at Middle Temple.

Lydia Burt

Deputy Editor UK Guide

Lydia started at Chambers as a researcher on the UK and USA guides, before being promoted to Deputy Editor on the UK Guide. She graduated from the University of East Anglia with a BA in American and English Literature, before studying for an MA in Film Studies at UCL.

Victoria Moffatt

Managing Director LexRex Communications

LexRex a specialist PR and  communications  consultancy serving the UK legal sector. Victoria was previously a practising solicitor and has many years’ experience of working with Top 100, multi-disciplinary and niche law firms; both in practice and during her communications career.

Future events and panel guests

This event is the first in a series where we plan to bring you access to sector experts and promote discussion and knowledge sharing across the UK’s northern legal market.

If you would like suggest topics or legal thought leaders that you would like to see on one of our panels contact us on info@lexrexcommunications.com

Lex Rex Communications is a boutique PR and communications consultancy for the legal services industry with unique expert knowledge and understanding of the legal marketplace. Founded by Victoria Moffatt; an former lawyer with several years’ experience in high-street and commercial firms, followed by time at two of the UK’s leading PR agencies, LexRex is the only specialist legal communications agency outside of London, having built a roster of specialist and award-winning law firms.