Awards and Rankings: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

As this Clint Eastwood film says, it “wasn’t hell, it was practice!” – and so it is with writing legal ranking submissions – which can feel hellish at times. Hard deadlines, lengthy applications, competing priorities, procrastinating lawyers and the expectation that you will bring that award home with your persuasive submission.

But submitting to any of the well-respected legal publications – especially those that focus on objective third-party research and client referencing – is a worthy investment if it’s part of your positioning strategy.

The Good

As for one publisher, Chambers Canada announced some good news with their adjustment of year-end deadlines. Chambers submissions are no longer due in mid-December, quite possibly the worst time of year amidst competing corporate demands of holiday client cards and gifting programs, client events and end of year reporting. Better yet, Chambers streamlined their submission form to focus on recent matters and less on replicating biographical information already provided on lawyers’ webpages and firm websites.

Submission content is rich fertilizer that spreads well beyond the purposes of the publisher. Submissions force us to take stock and leads to greater appreciation of your expertise, industry depth, wins, notable cases and achievements. Your experience is your inventory, of sorts. A submission should trigger a review of your biography, website and LinkedIn page for updating, and it should also call for a potential for blog posts, newsletters and other content.

The Bad

The bad news is that the Chambers’ deadlines are coming up on 29 January 2021 and 1 March 2021 – depending on the practice/industry area.

Great submissions take careful consideration and time; time that some lawyers and legal marketers do not have in spades to genuinely focus on one or more submissions.

The Ugly

The ugly is that there is not much time left to prepare your Chambers submissions. Wrangling lawyers and the required information can be challenging. Putting together a compelling submission – daunting. Meeting the deadlines – overwhelming!

We can help. Contact Van Dyke Marketing for your Chambers Canada or Chambers USA submissions or your other ranking publication needs.