Should Your Law Firm Pay for a Ranking Profile?

Over the past few years, law firm rankings have gone from nice-to-have to part of the marketing infrastructure. A strong showing in Chambers and Partners, Legal 500, or Benchmark Litigation tells in-house counsel and referral sources that an independent firm has vetted your lawyers. That’s the kind of credibility you can’t create on your own website. 

It’s also what gets your firm onto shortlists and makes a referral source comfortable passing your name along. And now that buyers ask AI tools for recommendations, those tools lean on rankings to decide who’s worth mentioning. No matter your firm’s size or client base, there’s likely a ranking that matters to you, or will soon.

Let’s face it: rankings are also a lot of work. You have to understand the methodology and submission process, gather the right information from busy lawyers, manage deadlines and make a lot of decisions. 

So. Many. Decisions.

• What are the submission requirements?
• Who do we put forward? 
• What matters do we submit? 
• What matters do we leave out? 
• How do we position ourselves? 
• What’s the narrative we want to tell? 
• Are references required?

And just when you hit submit and think that season of your life is finally done, there’s one more choice: Do we need a paid profile to showcase our results? Because you can count on some kind of paid element in every ranking. 

With most rankings (there’s one exception, which we’ll get to later), there is a free listing where the basic information for your firm and ranked lawyers/practices will be displayed. And you’ll usually be able to create an account to access the submission portal at no charge. 

But a basic free profile often has limits. For one thing, you may not be able to add information on your firm, practices or lawyers or customize it with your logo and headshots. 

Also, several rankings offer more robust portals if you pay for a profile, with lots of useful extras. For example, Chambers lets you view your unranked lawyers and practices to see whether they are on the cusp of getting ranked. That’s very helpful when developing next year’s submission strategy. Both Chambers and Legal 500 will let you monitor referee response rates if you pay for a profile.

So, paid profiles have benefits… but your marketing budget likely can’t justify paying for all of them.

That’s where this blog comes in. I’ll cover the major rankings below, explain what a paid profile will get you, and advise you on what to consider before paying.

What to consider before buying a paid ranking profile

Your firm is not made of money. Even the largest Big Law firm has to limit spending. So, scrutinizing every dollar that goes out is part of the job. 

At the same time, every ranking you’ve submitted to (and probably a few you haven’t) is likely reaching out to sell you on the benefits of a paid profile or promotional package. The options seem endless, but you can’t pull the trigger on all of them. That’s when a rubric helps you decide when a paid profile makes sense. 

Before you run through it, get clear on what you’d be paying for. 

“A paid profile can do one of two jobs. The first is marketing a result you already have, where a customized profile, badges and early access to results help you get more mileage out of a good ranking. The second is improving a result you don’t have yet, where referee tracking, benchmarking and data on who’s on the cusp can sharpen your next submission.”

Some paid offerings do both. Knowing what you need makes it much easier to judge whether the price is fair.

Questions to ask yourself when assessing a paid ranking profile:

1. Are we ranked well, or are we trying to get there? This is probably the first question to answer because it tells you what you’d be paying for. If your firm ranks in a way that supports your overall business development goals, a paid profile might be worth it. If you aren’t there yet, a paid profile can still make sense when its tools will help you move up. But if you won’t trumpet the results or use the tools, why bother? 
2. Does the ranking reach our ideal clients? If you’re a corporate firm, consider paid profiles for rankings that reach in-house counsel and referral sources. Consumer-focused firms should consider a paid profile if the ranking targets the general public.
3. Do the benefits of a paid profile make sense? Are you likely to use what’s included, or are the “features” mostly fluff? Will it help you prepare a submission or market your results? Do you want to customize your listing, or are you fine with what the ranking publishes? Does your client base warrant a more robust profile? 
4. What will you have to cut to pay for the profile? Does paying for this ranking mean you’ll have to trim another element of your marketing budget, and is that a good trade-off? Can you reach the audience for this ranking in another way that’s perhaps more targeted? Think public relations, content marketing or fine-tuning your SEO and AI strategy. 
5. Will the extra content help buyers find and understand us? A paid profile usually lets you add firm descriptions, work highlights, testimonials or key clients, which gives search engines and the AI tools buyers increasingly use more to work with than a bare listing. Several rankings now pitch SEO and AI visibility as a selling point. Treat those claims like any other feature: ask what evidence backs them up, and don’t expect a paid profile to guarantee that AI will recommend you. 

Looking at every paid ranking option through this lens will help you decide whether or not it’s worth your firm’s hard-earned money. 

Now that we have our rubric, let’s assess the paid profile options for several leading rankings. 

Chambers

Chambers is probably the best-known legal ranking, and for good reason. It’s been around forever, and many consider it the gold standard for assessing corporate firms. Firms can sign up for a free account to submit nominations, but the resulting profile is pretty sparse. It lists ranked lawyers and practices and includes Chambers’ editorial assessment, but that’s about it. For a more robust profile, firms must pay an annual fee. We detailed submission strategy with Chambers’ research directors on an episode of Spill the Ink. 

Chambers doesn’t publicize the cost of a paid profile because it varies by firm size. You may also be able to negotiate a lower fee if you’re bundling with something else, such as an Insights Report (more on that below). 

A paid Chambers profile offers:

• An enhanced profile to add descriptive content, your firm logo, attorney headshot, work highlights and referee quotes
• Early notification of ranking results, ahead of publication, to prepare marketing plans
• Promotion-ready assets, including a rankings badge and a referee quote design generator, for use on websites, social media, email signatures, RFPs and recruiting materials
• A dedicated Customer Success representative for year-round support
• Referee tracking and benchmarking during the submission process, including who responded and who didn’t
• A single dashboard to view all of a firm’s rankings, track year-over-year performance and see which practices or lawyers may be on the cusp of getting ranked or improving their current band
• Visibility benefits tied to Chambers’ investment in SEO and AI search, which the company says helps its profiles surface when legal buyers search for lawyers

What to consider when buying a Chambers profile

For corporate firms looking to reach an in-house and referral audience, a paid Chambers profile probably makes a lot of sense. Customizable profile descriptions help ensure you’re well positioned. 

Some features also offer strategic benefits. Tracking referee response rates helps you see whether you need to intervene and reach out to anyone who hasn’t responded. You can also look at the previous year’s response rates when considering future referees. Likewise, seeing whether an attorney or practice is on the cusp of getting ranked or moving up a band can inform your submission strategy and make that jump more likely.

We also like the quality-of-life benefit of getting early access to ranking results. That means you can plan and strategize your announcements, create some attention-getting designs for social graphics and pull some good quotes for posts. You also won’t have to rush to get this out the door on release day. 

If that all sounds useful, then a paid profile could be worth it.

A quick word about Chambers Insights Reports

This is technically a post about paid ranking profiles, but we get a lot of questions about Chambers Insights Reports, so we wanted to include a brief note. 

For a fee, Chambers will prepare a bespoke Insights Report for firms that want more granular data on how they are performing in the rankings, where they could improve and how they stack up against competitors. They’re detailed and include more robust information on referee feedback, as well as what Chambers is hearing in the marketplace about the firm and its lawyers. You have to buy a separate Insights Report for every practice group, so the cost can add up fast if you have several. However, we have seen cases where Chambers bundles pricing and offers a deal for firms purchasing more than one.

Our advice: If you are wondering why you are not performing better in Chambers and want to invest some time and money in tweaking your submission strategy, an Insights Report could be worth it. You’ll gain a clearer perspective on what might be holding you back and how you’re really perceived in your market. That can inform other aspects of your marketing and business development strategy, too, not just how you submit to Chambers.

Legal 500

Legal 500 is gaining prominence in the United States and has expanded its rankings in recent years to include more types of firms. Like Chambers, it reaches an in-house counsel and referral audience, so a paid profile will likely be most relevant to corporate firms. 

Legal 500 offers two paid subscription tiers for firms with entries in its guide: Standard and Premium. Legal 500 does not publish flat pricing for its corporate subscriptions and paid profiles, but it uses a pricing model based on a law firm’s size, geographic location and number of practice areas.

Standard includes:

• Legal 500 profile and editorial commentary
• Up to six client testimonials
• Up to three work highlights
• The Firm Comparison Tool
• Links to the firm’s website and social platforms
• Country/BPA promoted ranking table positioning
• A lawyer report card with biographical information
• Listing above non-subscribing firms within each tier
• A marketing toolkit (badges, logos and ranking announcement email)
• Early access to the current year’s ranking data compared with the previous year
• Historical access to the firm’s own past Legal 500 data

Premium includes everything in Standard, plus:

• Higher caps: up to 10 client testimonials, 20 key clients and five work highlights
• Historical data access covering all firms (not just the subscriber’s own), spanning three years of editions
• Referee Track and Add, which lets firms add client referees at any point in the year and monitor referee response rates in real time
• Legal 500 Live, ongoing submission of client wins and work highlights throughout the year rather than a single annual cycle
• A Submission Analysis Report benchmarking the firm’s submission quality and referee response rates against all firms in a given country
• A Web User Report showing which companies are viewing the firm’s profile pages, by industry, location and practice area
• Early access to the full qualitative content of new rankings (commentary, testimonials, work highlights and key clients), not just the numerical rankings

What to consider when buying a Legal 500 profile

As noted above, a paid Legal 500 profile makes the most sense for corporate firms that want to reach an in-house counsel or referral audience. After that, it depends on whether Legal 500 fits within a firm’s overall marketing and business development strategy. 

Since Chambers and Legal 500 reach virtually the same audiences, it’s worth considering whether you want to buy paid profiles for both. If you rank better in one than the other, weigh that in your decision. The practices ranked by Chambers and Legal 500 also differ subtly, so if one makes more sense for positioning, that’s a point in its favor. 

Legal 500 does offer a lot for its paid profiles. Early access to results, referee tracking and the Submission Analysis Report are all worth considering. One thing to know going in: Standard subscribers are listed above non-subscribing firms within each tier. That ordering reflects subscription status, so don’t read too much into where a competitor (or your own firm) sits within a tier. 

Benchmark Litigation

Benchmark Litigation is the definitive guide in the United States for firms doing corporate litigation work. It has carved out a niche in this area, and any litigation firm should be submitting. Benchmark’s head of research, Michael Rafalowich, walked us through how the guide ranks firms on our podcast Spill the Ink. 

Firms can register for free access to the submission portal. Ranked firms will also receive brief listings for free. Anything more substantive requires a paid profile. 

Benchmark doesn’t release information on paid profile costs, so it’s best to speak with them directly. A paid profile offers: 

• Enhanced Profile Visibility: Expanded firm details, logos, attorney bios and tailored commentary in your directory listing.
• Marketing and Promotional Rights: Licensing rights to use ranking badges, promotional materials and advertising packages around directory releases and awards.

What to consider when buying a Benchmark Litigation profile

Paying for a Benchmark Litigation profile will make the most sense for standalone litigation firms and full-service firms with litigation practices. You’ll reach in-house counsel and referral audiences. 

A paid profile also comes with the right to use badges on your website, social media, email signatures, etc. Bundling that in is a nice value-add, since those fees can quickly add up if you buy them individually. 

Lawdragon

Lawdragon ranks top lawyers nationwide across practice groups ranging from litigation and antitrust to dealmakers and energy lawyers. The audience includes in-house counsel and referral sources, since most Guides focus on corporate work. Founder Katrina Dewey explained on Spill the Ink what it takes to make the Lawdragon 500. 

Ranked attorneys appear in their relevant Guide at no cost. 

This fall, Lawdragon launched its Research Partner Program, a paid program that allows firms to submit attorney names and the guides they would like to submit to, instead of a formal nomination. Partners will also receive: 

• Multi-guide submissions with no cap on how many lawyers can be submitted to a guide 
• An extra week on deadlines 
• Early, embargoed notification 
• Attorney profiles on Lawdragon.com 
• A dedicated firm page

The Research Partner Program has different tiers, and pricing is individualized for each firm. Additionally, Lawdragon offers more paid options for those not in the Research Partner Program: 

• Digital badges, wall plaques and desktop marquees commemorating the ranking, some purchasable directly online
• Elevated Profile listings, an upgraded version of a lawyer’s or firm’s standard Lawdragon listing, with no paywall
• Q&A features and in-depth interviews, produced by Lawdragon’s editorial team
• Bulk discounts available for firms purchasing multiple lawyer profiles

Note: When we researched this blog post, Lawdragon told us changes are coming soon. So what’s listed above may have changed since this blog’s publication.

What to consider when assessing Lawdragon’s paid options

Many firms stick with the free Guide listings, and that’s fine! However, if you have specific marketing goals, some paid options may interest you. For example, the lawyer profiles are well done and thorough. They tell a lawyer’s story and help convey who they are as a person. For firms where developing individual relationships with potential clients is key to their marketing, a Lawdragon profile for one or more lawyers might serve them well. 

Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms

Unlike Chambers, Legal 500 and Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms reaches a mixed corporate and consumer audience. A Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms recognition can help attorneys who market to individuals rather than larger corporate clients, though that’s not a hard-and-fast rule. Corporate firms may still find value in a Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms ranking. To learn how Best Lawyers builds its rankings, listen to our Spill the Ink episode on the science behind them. 

Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms also requires ranked attorneys and firms to purchase badges to use on their website, social media, etc. They are only valid for 12 months and must be taken down if not renewed. 

Pricing is not disclosed and must be negotiated with Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms.

What to consider when buying a Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms profile

If a firm is ranked in Best Law Firms, it will automatically receive a free public profile page. However, because ranked attorneys have limited visibility on the Best Lawyers website without a paid profile, factor the ranking into your marketing budget if it matters to your business development strategy. You’ll still be able to publicize results, but you won’t have a full presence on the Best Lawyers site. Similarly, you’ll need to budget for buying various badges if that’s a priority. This matters more for consumer-facing practices, where prospective clients are more likely to find a lawyer through their own online search than through a referral. 

Super Lawyers

As with Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms, Super Lawyers reaches both corporate and consumer audiences. Results often appear in local/regional lifestyle magazines in addition to the Super Lawyers website. 

A paid profile comes with:

• A profile upgrade to include a photo, expanded bio and contact information
• Premium placement options within results pages
• Display advertising in Super Lawyers’ digital properties, with design assistance available

Pricing is not disclosed and must be negotiated with Super Lawyers. 

What to consider when buying a Super Lawyers profile

The calculus here is pretty much the same as with Best Lawyers/Best Law Firms: If the ranking reaches your target client base, then consider the paid profile option. Keep in mind that you will get a free listing if you rank. Because results often run in regional lifestyle magazines, paid options usually make the most sense for firms that market to individuals in a specific metro area, such as personal injury, family law or estate planning practices. 

Before you sign (and before you renew)

Most of these rankings don’t publish their prices, which usually means there’s room to talk. Ask whether they offer multi-year terms or bundles, and whether the pieces you care about most, like badges or early access to results, can be bought without the full profile.

Also keep in mind that a paid profile is a renewal decision, not a one-time purchase. Before the invoice comes around again, evaluate what you got for what you paid. Are you happy with it? If yes, you have a case to renew. If not, it’s time to reevaluate. Ask the ranking for data on who viewed your profile (Legal 500’s Web User Report does this for Premium subscribers), and check whether the ranking has come up in RFPs, pitches or conversations with new clients. If you can’t point to anything, that’s your answer for next year.

So, should you pay for a ranking profile?

Hopefully the above has given you a good sense of what the paid profile options are for the leading rankings and what to consider when assessing whether the spend makes sense. 

There’s no universal answer here. It depends on your firm, your goals and how much room you’ve got left in the marketing budget after everyone else has asked for a piece of it.

But if you go back to the five questions we started with, you’ll have a pretty good sense of where to spend and where to pass. Are you ranked well, or working to get there? Does the audience match your ideal client? Are the features something you’ll actually use, or just nice-to-haves that sound good on a sales call? And what are you willing to give up somewhere else to make room for this? Finally, will the extra content help buyers, and the AI tools they use, find and understand you?

Run every ranking through that rubric before you sign anything. Some paid profiles will earn their keep. Others won’t. The point isn’t to buy everything, or to buy nothing. It’s to know the difference.

And if you’d rather have a second set of eyes on that decision, we’re always happy to talk.

Want to go deeper on each ranking?

Download Awards, Rankings and Lists: A Guide for Law Firms, our free guide to how Chambers, Legal 500, Benchmark Litigation, Best Lawyers, Lawdragon, Super Lawyers and others work, from submission to promotion.

download the guide