Chambers and Partners: What Law Firms Should Know in 2026

It’s never too late to start planning for the next Chambers USA research cycle. That’s our mantra at Reputation Ink, and it’s served both our clients and us well. Even if it is still months away from the official launch, those deadlines are going to be on us before we know it.

We say this not to stress you out. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Getting your Chambers ducks in a row early, even before next year’s guide is announced, is key to minimizing your stress so you can work on submissions and still get a full eight hours of sleep each night. 

Now is also the time to consider whether you want to submit to Chambers at all. Not every firm has the bandwidth to support the robust submissions required by Chambers, which is why many of our clients submit for the first time with our support. We recommend pursuing a Chambers ranking to a large number of clients because it’s considered one of the most weighty law firm recognitions by in-house counsel.

What’s new since the last time we chatted Chambers?

Chambers is not static. The research process, timelines and expectations continue to evolve, and in today’s environment, even a few years can feel like a decade. It’s worth pausing to look at how Chambers has shifted recently and what those changes mean for firms preparing submissions now.

Here are some highlights:

• For the 2026 research cycle, Chambers reviewed 70,000 submissions. If you think you’re tired from putting submissions together, spare a thought for the Chambers researchers. They’re workhorses. Also, this sobering number is a good reason your submissions should be easy to read and have a clear, plain language narrative — because you’re not the only one on the pile. Making a researcher’s bleary eyes tear up with joy at a well-written submission is your key to standing out. 
• Chambers isn’t stagnant. It’s important to monitor the website and social media, because they do introduce new surveys and products every once in a while that might be a great fit for your firm. 
• One of the best ways to keep up with changes at Chambers is to attend the annual Chambers USA launch webinar, which takes place in late May or early June. In addition to spotlighting key takeaways from that year’s guide, Chambers editorial staff outline new areas of coverage. They usually only run about 30 minutes, are tightly scripted, and are a good use of your time. Make it a priority. 
• Chambers regularly expands coverage of practices, branching into new areas. For example, for its 2026 edition, it ranked full-service artificial intelligence (AI) practices and firms working in space law. Robots and astronauts were in vogue, apparently. Those should stick around for the next cycle, and there are likely to be new ones, too. Again, attending the launch webinar is key to staying informed.
• There’s always in-house counsel tea spilled during those webinars, too. Chambers researchers speak with a lot of in-house counsel, so they know what’s keeping them up at night and driving them crazy about their outside law firms. Perhaps unsurprisingly, fees are always top of mind, and that was true in the 2026 research cycle. Clients noticed that law firms had a banner year in 2025, with fee increases to match, and they’re scrutinizing fees. According to Chambers, in-house counsel are eager to hear from their law firms about alternative fee arrangements and other ways to be more cost-effective. Word to the wise.

What is Chambers, and should our law firm do it?

So, that’s all the Chambers news we have to share. But you might still be asking yourself whether submitting is worth it. It’s probably helpful to understand what Chambers is, what they do and what you stand to gain by submitting. 

Lucky for you, this is something our law firm’s PR team at Reputation Ink can talk about for ages. It’s a bit of an obsession, really. But we’ll try to contain ourselves and give you just the facts. 

Chambers is an award submission put together by Chambers and Partners that ranks the best of the best in law firms and lawyers. It’s exclusive and based on technical ability and client service.

There are six bands in Chambers, with the first being the highest form of recognition.

Chambers is a big deal. Firms can spend upwards of 60 hours on a single submission. 

Is Chambers worth it for your firm?

If a Chambers ranking fits into the big-picture plan for your firm, let’s do it! The ranking lends third-party credibility to your attorneys and provides an avenue to showcase the amazing work at your firm.

But do keep in mind that if you want to keep that ranking year over year, Chambers will become an annual event. It’s not a one-and-done deal. Instead, Chambers is like the aunt who is emotionally taxing at Thanksgiving. She’s so much work, but man, oh man, does the reward of her garlic mashed potatoes make her presence worth it.

There is no limit to the number of nominations a firm can submit, but be really mindful. Given the robust nature of the submission, focus on the practice areas in which you think you can score a ranking.

Also, have you heard of AI? It’s kind of a big thing now — and trustworthy rankings such as Chambers, as well as media coverage, have a heavy influence on answers to prompts. Translation: the more a ranking like Chambers knows about your firm, the more likely you are to show up in AI responses to prompts asking for recommendations. 

So, yes, Chambers recognition is a big deal and something to seriously consider as part of your overall marketing and business development strategy.

How to prepare a Chambers submission

If you’ve decided to move ahead with Chambers, congrats! You’re taking your law firm marketing efforts to the next level. Here’s what you need to know (and if you’re an old hand, it can serve as a refresher.)

Monitor Chambers deadlines

First, keep an eye on the Chambers research schedule. It will provide deadlines for the upcoming research period. Usually, research launches in late May or early June, right after that year’s guide comes out. But it’s a good idea to start checking in late April, just in case it drops early, since the first round of deadlines usually arrives in July. 

If you’ve submitted before, the good news is that deadlines usually don’t change much from year to year, so you should have a rough sense of when they’ll fall. But that can shift, so it’s best to be a little obsessed with that research schedule page. (We don’t even want to see Google Analytics data showing visits from the Reputation Ink law firm marketing team.) 

Before you sharpen your pencils and clear your calendar, a few important things to note.

Plan ahead, strategize and follow instructions

Chambers is not for the procrastinators in the group. It’s for the highlighter-wielding, Type A, already-done-with-holiday-shopping-in-June humans among us. Make sure you have the time and capacity to submit by the deadline.

This is important: You can only have 20 matters per submission, split between public and confidential. That’s it. Don’t even think of going over because researchers won’t read beyond the 20th matter. You may as well make paper airplanes out of those extra pages. 

You don’t need to have 20 matters, but you should have 10-15 that make a really solid case for why your practice should be ranked. Fewer than 10, and you might get overlooked. 

Also, don’t stress if you don’t have exactly 10 public matters and 10 confidential — you can divide them up however you want as long as you don’t exceed 20. 

Because you are limited, choosing your matters is important. Pick the ones that make the strongest case for your firm and lawyers. Put the best matters at the beginning of the pack, with less impressive ones toward the bottom. 

Craft a strong Chambers matter description narrative

Chambers researchers prefer narratives for matter descriptions, not laundry lists of the legal ins and outs. Tell the story of why your firm rocks, rather than just assuming researchers will make that leap automatically from a bunch of legalese and the intricacies of which court did what. Treat each matter description like a case study that’s going into an RFP response — that’s the vibe you want. Give a solid “so what” for each. Remember that researchers will see 70,000 submissions.

A word about Chambers matter confidentiality

We get asked a lot about confidentiality and Chambers submissions. Like, A LOT. Every year, without fail, a lot. Multiple times. We get it. This is a legitimate concern. Here’s what we tell clients. 

Chambers treats confidentiality very seriously. You can be confident that anything submitted as a confidential matter will not be made public. That said, some firms with very sensitive cases and clients may still anonymize certain details. However, try not to strip out so much that the matter doesn’t tell a story. 

If in doubt, err on the side of leaving something out. Yes, it might weaken your submission, but you also won’t stress. It’s a balance between getting that ranking you want and not harming a client. Side with the client.

Why your Chambers referees matter. A lot. 

This is important. So much so that we’re using a bigger header for this section. 

Chambers weighs referee feedback heavily when determining rankings. So much so that unresponsive or lukewarm referees can keep a firm from the highest possible band ranking — or even showing up at all.

Have we scared you? Good. A lot of firms put 90 percent of their effort into the narrative submission and don’t pay much attention to referees. That’s a mistake because Chambers actually treats referees as more important.

Here’s what to keep in mind:

• Fill out every field of the referee spreadsheet and don’t alter it. You want it to be complete and also ensure it gets into the Chambers systems properly. 

• Make sure your referees know they’re your referees. This might seem like a no-brainer, but you’d be surprised how many firms don’t alert referees that they’re being submitted. Big mistake. You don’t want a surprised and potentially annoyed in-house counsel giving feedback! This is not a situation where you seek forgiveness rather than asking for permission. 
• It’s best if your referees align with your matters. Ideally, each referee should address one or more specific matters. Chambers realizes this isn’t possible with some practices, such as plaintiff employment or white-collar. In that case, you can use co-counsel, opposing counsel and other lawyers who know your firm well — even competitors if you’re on friendly terms. 
• Use the Referee Management tool in your Chambers portal. Chambers made a major quality-of-life change a couple of years ago, and it’s been transformative. You can go into your portal to see your list of referees and whether they’ve responded to Chambers outreach. That will let you do a polite nudge for any procrastinators. You can also look at last year’s response rates to see if you should replace a referee with someone who’s more reliable. 

But, like, I have a day job. How can I get this done?

We see you. And we have a day job too: helping firms with legal award nominations like this.

An in-house professional is, of course, more than capable of handling a firm’s Chambers submission, and probably incredibly effective at tracking attorneys down for details.

However, there is real value in working with a legal-focused PR agency. We understand it may sound self-serving coming from an agency like ours, but the advantage is practical and measurable.

We’re familiar with what Chambers is looking for. We have the benefit of viewing a submission as a Chambers researcher would — not someone not intimately familiar with the workings of a case, but with enough legal knowledge (and submissions under our belt) to understand the impact. Having a slightly removed yet savvy perspective is incredibly beneficial.

We hope that helps answer questions surrounding Chambers. If you’d like to learn more or chat with us about potential submissions for your firm, we’re here to help!

And if you’d like a monthly update of the latest legal PR opps and awards we are keeping an eye on (including Chambers), make sure to sign up.