If you’re a law firm in LATAM, Latin Lawyer, an exclusive invite-only ranking just opened its doors to you.
Latin Lawyer is a London-based magazine, info platform and event organiser dedicated to law firms in Latin America. Their ranking of top firms, the Latin Lawyer 250 (LL250), has always been invitation only. If you wanted an invite to join the ranking you could send press releases of your work, but that was about it – until now.
Their criteria were often based on the value of your transactions or your international connections. This meant that many law firms had no chance of featuring in the ranking – for example, boutique firms, firms dealing with small value transactions, firms with confidential clientele (e.g. tax law firms, where press releases were not possible), or firms with a local expertise (e.g. Brazil) as opposed to cross-border (e.g. Brazil-USA).
New chapter
In the past year, perhaps due to new ownership, Latin Lawyer realised that it was missing something. The company has changed its research process from being strictly invitation only, to encouraging firms to “apply” for directory inclusion.
This change has resulted in the publication of two rankings, Latin Lawyer National (LLN), published at the end of August 2019, and Latin Lawyer 250. Certain firms in the LL250 are also classed as ‘Elite’ – this is not a separate ranking, but an extra seal of approval.
The National ranking will feature firms with a local expertise. These could be boutique or regional firms (e.g not in capital cities), which are important for their local knowledge, but do not handle major cross-border transactions. The National is the entry level for firms who were not previously ranked by Latin Lawyer.
The LL250 will continue to include firms of more international calibre that handle large, complex deals, often with a cross-border element and of high value. Within this group of firms, the Elite “badge” will be awarded to firms that advise on the most valuable deals and garner supportive client feedback.
Elite firms are featured in a special issue of the their magazine. However, on the Latin Lawyer website, it is not possible to run a search for Elite firms. Firms in this category have a very discreet one-line summary on their profile.
Submission process
To be considered in the rankings, firms can submit news throughout the year, send a submission form with 10 matters, or do both. The main objective is that the editorial team of Latin Lawyer is aware of your work.
The editorial team gathers information on the prospective firms through a team of journalists, who spend the previous year researching the firms via news reporting, face-to-face meetings, submissions and peer reviews.
Deadlines for the submission or request of additional information will be announced by Latin Lawyer via email. The deadline depends on the current position of your firm. Check the latest on their website.
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