We tuned into IFLR1000 editor, Ben Naylor and Legal Media Group publisher Liam Sharkey as they answered questions and shared key insights about the research process and awards for IFLR, during an insightful webinar, yesterday.

Ahead of the February 26th deadline, we draw your attention to a few key points.

Important to show track record over three years for rankings.

Familiarize yourself with the definitions on the website.
With banking, lender and borrower work is accepted, with regulatory work looked at. Capital Markets reviews equity and debt transactions, securitization and derivatives. Investment Funds refers to the formation of funds. M&A expertise should focus on public or private M&A. Project Development – refers to the development of large-scale infrastructure or public services.

Leaders are those individuals who are at the very top of their field.
Highly Regarded lawyers are identified by their peers as leaders and also involved in transactions; Rising Star Partners is a new category open to those who made partner within the past 3 years; Rising Star Associates shine a light on those who qualified less than 15 years ago and are building up their reputations in market; and Notable Practitioners are those mentioned in one or two deals, that IFLR1000 has a record for.

Referees
If submitted in different areas would be contacted multiple times. Choose wisely. Those who have been active in the last two years.

Some other key questions asked afterwards:

Is there a minimum number of deals to showcase, for a new firm? 

There is no minimum. Look at relevant and good work over two years – track record is key.

How does a researcher weigh up a firm’s importance?

A firm that is consistently involved in transactions over a period of 2-3 years in a market and with consistently good market feedback. Peer feedback is used as an indicator to corroborate this.

Innovation – what is the right level of technical detail?

As much as possible. Harder without the detail but put as much as possible.

Are the roles of clients important? if so how?

In an M&A, representing an investor with majority stake may be more significant than a smaller stake or role.

Diversity: New Women Leaders – how to submit?

There is no separate submission needed –the nomination is on the research form. Women Leaders will be published in April each year. Those submitted this year will be in the running for next year.

Do you look at regulatory work? 

When researching financial services and project development, IFLR looks at regulatory work, which can be included in banking or projects submissions. You can include as long as there is ongoing regulatory advice that you can reference.

Do you speak with the same partners each year? 

We speak to regular law firms and always try to speak to Tier 1 law firms but can and do speak to different lawyers.

What if a law firm does not want to submit referees and have them harassed?

Referee feedback is important for validation. Without it, it is hard for IFLR to benchmark. If a well-known firm does not submit so many, that may be less of an issue, but IFLR encourages the submission of referees.

How should we treat the new practice overview? 

Firms had been placing lots of information and was hard to distinguish the strengths. Feel free to draw their attention to key points in the Other Notable Information box.

Who do you classify as peers?

Lawyers working in similar practice areas in the same jurisdiction.

You can listen to the recording here.