Hellerman Communications, formerly Hellerman Baretz Communications, achieved a pair of major milestones this week when it was named “Best PR Firm for Law Firms” for the fifth year running and “Best Crisis Management Firm” for the third year in a row in the annual Best of Legal Times survey, a project in which the National Law Journal and Legal Times ask the legal community to identify its finest service providers.

The agency also placed third in the “Best Social Media Consultant” category. On the announcement of the results, Hellerman Communications’ founder John Hellerman said: “It’s an honor to receive this support and recognition from the Legal Times and its readers. I’d like to thank our clients and congratulate the other winners.”

What is Chambers USA?

Chambers USA is a guide produced by the U.K.-based legal publisher Chambers and Partners. It identifies the best lawyers and law firms in the U.S. in a variety of practice areas; essentially, it’s the legal industry’s version of the Michelin Guide to the best restaurants. The lawyers and firms that win recognition in Chambers USA are not ranked individually. Rather, they are grouped into four different tiers, or, in Chambers’ terminology, “Bands,” with “Band 1” being the best. Chambers bases its evaluations on formal submissions completed by law firms (more on that later), as well as feedback from clients and other law firms.

Attracting potential new clients and referrals from other law firms.

Established in 1990, the Chambers guides now cover 185 jurisdictions across the globe with publications covering the U.S., Europe, Asia-Pacific, the U.K., and Latin America, among other territories. Since Chambers first began publishing its U.S. guide, Chambers USA has established itself as an essential tool for clients and in-house counsel looking to find the best law firm for their needs. It’s also a valuable resource for law firms, which can use the guide to learn more about competitive and complementary practices at other firms.

What does it cover?

Chambers USA publishes rankings at both the state and national level. In each state, Chambers covers at least four different practice areas: Corporate/Commercial, Labor & Employment, Litigation, and Real Estate. In most states, Chambers covers additional practice areas as well. Cumulatively, Chambers covers 45 different practice areas at the state level, and it covers those same 45 areas on a national level. Firms with a national practice are covered in both the state and nationwide rankings.

How does Chambers do its research?

Chambers maintains a team of 150 researchers and editors. They perform their research by reading the formal submissions uploaded by a law firm and assessing its work; reaching out to client references (which Chambers calls “referees”) identified by the law firm, and interviewing those references on an off-the-record basis; and interviewing a selection of law firms about themselves and about each other.

Should I participate?

As the old adage says, nothing ventured nothing gained. In the case of a Chambers submission, the benefits to be gained by going through the nomination process are substantial. A number of them are not immediately transparent, and benefit a firm even if it is not selected for the guide. They include:

• Attracting potential new clients and referrals from other law firms;
• Raising awareness of your firm to a very wide audience;
• Gaining a valuable credential to be used in marketing materials;
• Attracting lateral recruits who frequently use the guide as a reference tool;
• Using the submission process to audit how individual practice groups have been performing;
• Developing benchmarks and future goals of a practice group;
• Developing content, used in the Chamberssubmission, which can be reused and repurposed for client pitches; and
• Enhancing control over what is written about the firm.

What does it cost?

Time. Chambers does not charge an entry fee; instead, it makes money through paid profiles of firms and individual lawyers. To be clear, however, Chambers is not a pay-to-play opportunity (and could never have achieved its level of respect if it were). The research process and its results are entirely independent of whether a lawyer or firm have paid for a profile.

The investment of time required to prepare a Chambers submission, then, is the main cost of entering. To prepare a quality submission, however, can require significant time. Many firms find that enlisting the help of those experienced with the Chambers process (such as HC) not only improves their chances of getting ranked (or improving their rank), but ends up being less costly.

How do I participate?

Law firms complete what is called a “submission” for the practice area(s) in which they seek recognition. Chambers offers a submission template on its website, which can be downloaded and completed. The submission template asks for the information that researchers really want to know about a practice.

Note that Chambers does not require separate submissions for law firms and its individual lawyers. Individual lawyers at a firm are evaluated and ranked as a by-product of Chambers’ evaluation of the firm as a whole.

In addition to the submission document, firms must also complete a spreadsheet on which they list their client references, or referees.  This is a critical aspect of the process, as the feedback that Chambers receives (or fails to receive) from referees is a substantial component of its overall evaluation.

How do I give it my best shot?

The submission.

The answers are simple and obvious, but often forgotten. We have written at length about them elsewhere, but the basics are:

• Do not use “brochure-speak”—the type of vague, abstract self-praise found in marketing material;
• Think about what is genuinely different about your practice group or firm—that is, what you offer that others cannot (and here again, this does not mean generalized concepts like “great client service” or “a partner-led team” or “a collegiate atmosphere,” but instead specific differentiators);
• Do not list rankings from other directories or publications;
• Stick to fee-earning work (as laudable as pro bono and other community-oriented work may be, Chambers really wants to hear what you have done for fee-paying clients);
• There is no “I” in team, and a team approach is required if you need to make an impact in a Chamberssubmission;
• Draft the submission to the level of the person reading it.  The reader will be a well-educated collage graduate with knowledge of your practice area, but they will not know your practice area at the level of detail that your lawyers do, and they will not be a lawyer themselves.  With that in mind, describe your matters as the USA Todaymight, so that the researcher will understand who the client is, what you have done for them, and why it was particularly interesting, complex, and/or important to the client.

Last but not least, hit the deadline. Chambers rolls out research over a six-month period, and publishes its schedule online (see here).