Best Lawyers explained: how the peer-review ranking works
Best Lawyers is a lawyer ranking that rests on one thing only: how other lawyers rate you. There is no submission form for the lawyer awards and no matter descriptions to write — colleagues vote, and the votes decide. This page explains how the process works, what it measures, where it stops, and how it differs from Best Law Firms, which is a separate product with a real submission process.
The short version
- 1Voting, not submittingBest Lawyers states that recognition "is based entirely on peer review" and that the feedback comes from lawyers already listed in the publication. For the lawyer awards there is no questionnaire and no case list.
- 2Taking part costs nothingBest Lawyers writes that lawyers "are not permitted to pay a fee to participate in the research process or receive recognition". Listed lawyers appear at no cost in the regional magazines and partner publications. Logos and badges, by contrast, are licensed for a fee.
- 3It is selectiveBest Lawyers puts the recognised share at "about 5% of lawyers in the United States and 3% globally". For Germany the 2027 edition names 7,086 lawyers, which it calls the top 4 per cent.
How Best Lawyers works
The five steps
Nomination to publication- Best Lawyers names five steps: nomination, peer review, analysis of feedback, eligibility check, release of results.
- The international methodology paper calls step four "Data Verification" rather than "Eligibility Check" — outside the United States there is no check against bar sanction lists described.
- Nominees stay on the ballot for three editions. After three editions without recognition the nomination is archived and has to be made again.
The one question
What voters are actually asked- The ballot asks: "If you were unable to take a case yourself, how likely would you be to refer it to this lawyer?"
- The scale runs from 5, "Would absolutely recommend", down to 1, "Would not recommend", plus an option for "Do not know / cannot comment". Half points are allowed and voters may add comments.
- Ballots are built from the voter's own practice areas and region. Voters cannot pick which nominees to rate from the whole pool.
Who votes
And who cannot- Lawyers recognised in the current edition vote for the next one. For a first edition in a new market, nominees may be invited to vote as well.
- Nobody may vote on themselves — a voter's own name is removed from their ballot. Ballots and submitted information are described as strictly confidential.
- Voting on colleagues from your own firm is allowed if they are nominated in a practice area you are recognised for. That is worth knowing when you read the results.
Nomination
Where the sources disagree- A nomination campaign is wasted effort. Best Lawyers states that neither the identity of the nominator nor the number of nominations has any effect on recognition.
- On self-nomination the two sources contradict each other. The methodology page says lawyers "can be nominated by anyone, including themselves". The expanded methodology paper says: "we ask that a lawyer not nominate himself or herself." For the German edition, Handelsblatt rules self-nomination out entirely.
- Candidates must be in private practice. In-house lawyers are not accepted "at this time".
The individual awards
Lawyer of the Year, Ones to Watch- "Lawyer of the Year" goes to a single person per practice area and metropolitan region per edition, based on the highest aggregate peer feedback. One lawyer can hold several at once.
- "Ones to Watch" covers earlier-career lawyers. The global FAQ says three to nine years in practice "depending on jurisdiction"; the German page says three to eight.
- "Top-Listed" is something else again: it goes to the firm with the most recognised lawyers in a location and practice area — a headcount, nothing more.
Best Law Firms
A different product entirely- Best Law Firms ranks firms, not people — and it does have a submission process. Firms receive submission packets containing a law firm survey and a client or professional reference submission.
- A firm only becomes eligible if at least one of its lawyers is recognised in the current Best Lawyers edition in a matching practice area and jurisdiction.
- "Law Firm of the Year" also draws on firm-supplied material: Best Lawyers says it seeks "firmographic information and significant matters from the past year".
What it measures — and what it does not
Firms regularly ask us how much weight to give a Best Lawyers listing. The honest answer follows from the method itself, so it is worth reading the method closely before deciding what the result is worth.
What the ranking actually captures. The ballot asks one question, and it is a referral question: would you pass a case to this person. That measures standing among peers and the willingness to hand over work — a real and commercially meaningful signal. It does not measure case outcomes, client satisfaction, pricing or service. No document produced by the lawyer is examined at any point in the lawyer awards.
The pool is self-reinforcing. Only lawyers already recognised in the current edition vote for the next one. That keeps the standard consistent and makes the result hard to game with marketing, which is the point. It also means an unknown newcomer depends on being visible to the people who are already in — and that the ranking reflects an established professional network rather than the market as a whole.
Two things temper the "purely peer review" label. Voting on colleagues from your own firm is expressly permitted where practice areas overlap. And for the firm-level awards, material supplied by the firm does come into the assessment. Neither point makes the ranking weak; both mean the label needs reading carefully.
The awards are granular. Recognition attaches to a person, a practice area and a region — in the German 2027 edition that means 87 practice areas. So "ranked by Best Lawyers" on its own says little: what matters is which practice area, which region, and whether it is a listing, a "Lawyer of the Year" or a "Ones to Watch" entry.
Best Lawyers is not consistent with itself on two points. Self-nomination is permitted on the website and discouraged in the methodology paper. The years-in-practice range for "Ones to Watch" is given as three to nine in the global FAQ and three to eight on the German page. The methodology papers carry no date and no version number, which makes it hard to tell which text is current. Where the sources disagree, we have quoted both above rather than picking one.
Do you want to succeed in the rankings?
We have been preparing ranking submissions since 2004 — for firms of every size, across Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy.
The German-language edition
For German-speaking Europe, Best Lawyers works with the business newspaper Handelsblatt. Handelsblatt writes that the US publisher compiled the list "exclusively for Handelsblatt" and covers Germany, Austria and Switzerland; Best Lawyers, for its part, describes a "17-year partnership with Handelsblatt". The exclusivity claim comes from Handelsblatt — the Best Lawyers announcement mentions the paper only in its Germany section.
The scale is worth knowing if you are comparing rankings. For the 2027 German edition Best Lawyers names 7,086 lawyers across 87 practice areas and 1,348 firms, which it puts at the top 4 per cent of the German profession, together with 226 "Lawyer of the Year" awards. That edition was vetted, in its own words, "by 383,742 individual evaluations this cycle alone". The Austrian edition names 500 lawyers from 175 firms across 47 practice areas, roughly the top 8 per cent, with 31 "Lawyer of the Year" awards. For Germany, Handelsblatt states plainly that self-nomination is excluded.
The dates for the 2028 German edition: nominations close on 18 December 2026, voting runs from 11 January to 26 February 2027, the embargoed release is 4 May 2027 and publication follows on 10 June 2027. Anyone who wants to appear in that cycle has to be nominated by December.
One warning about the year in the title. Best Lawyers counts the edition published in June 2026 as the "2027 edition"; Handelsblatt calls the same list "Beste Anwälte des Jahres 2026". When you cite the award, check which count you mean — the two refer to the same research.
Frequently asked questions
Can a firm apply to Best Lawyers?
Not in the sense of a submission. For the lawyer awards there is no questionnaire with matter descriptions of the kind Chambers and Partners or The Legal 500 use. Nominations can be made through the website, and recognition is then decided by the vote of currently listed lawyers. Best Law Firms, the separate firm ranking, does work with submission packets — including a law firm survey and client references.
Does inclusion cost anything?
No. Best Lawyers states that lawyers are not permitted to pay a fee to take part in the research process or to receive recognition, and that recognised lawyers appear at no cost in its regional magazines and partner publications. What does cost money is the marketing afterwards: permission to use Best Lawyers logos and badges runs from the date of purchase.
Is it worth collecting a lot of nominations?
No. Best Lawyers states expressly that neither the nominator nor the number of nominations received has any effect on a lawyer's recognition. What decides is the peer review score. A nomination campaign spends goodwill for nothing.
Can lawyers nominate themselves?
The sources disagree. The methodology page says lawyers can be nominated by anyone, "including themselves". The expanded methodology paper asks lawyers not to nominate themselves. For the German edition, Handelsblatt states that self-nomination is excluded. Since a nomination carries no weight in the outcome anyway, the practical answer is that it makes little difference either way.
Are in-house lawyers eligible?
No. Best Lawyers requires candidates to be in private practice and states that it does not accept nominations for in-house lawyers "at this time".
What is the difference between Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms?
Best Lawyers ranks individuals through peer voting. Best Law Firms ranks firms, runs on its own site with its own methodology, and does use submissions — a law firm survey plus client and professional references. A firm can only be considered for Best Law Firms if at least one of its lawyers is recognised in the current Best Lawyers edition in a matching practice area and jurisdiction. "Top-Listed" is different again and is simply the firm with the most recognised lawyers in a given location and practice area.
How selective is it?
Best Lawyers puts recognition at about 5 per cent of lawyers in the United States and 3 per cent globally. The 2027 German edition names 7,086 lawyers, described as the top 4 per cent; the Austrian edition names 500, roughly the top 8 per cent. The 2027 US edition — the 33rd — lists 80,799 lawyers across 151 practice areas.
About this article
Mag. Alexander Dillinger, Managing Partner of Law Business. In the legal industry since 2004, previously Head of Business Development & Marketing at Wolf Theiss and DORDA. Author of the "Kompass Kanzlei-Rankings", published by C. H. Beck, MANZ and Stämpfli — with contributions from Chambers and Partners, The Legal 500 and Thomson Reuters.
The statements about Best Lawyers on this page were checked against the original sources at bestlawyers.com, bestlawfirms.com and handelsblatt.com on 15 September 2026; passages taken from those sources are marked as quotations. If you spot an error, let us know — we will correct it.
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