JUVE rankings explained: how German and Austrian law firms get in
JUVE is the best-known law firm ranking in the German-speaking market — and the one that works least like a ranking. There is no form you fill in and send off: JUVE researches all year round, conducts interviews and assembles a picture from them. This page explains how the process works, what the stars mean, which deadlines apply and what a firm can actually contribute.
The JUVE publishing house ranks more than 750 commercial law firms in Germany and more than 100 in Austria. The basis is „extensive research among law firms, corporate decision-makers, authorities as well as the judiciary and academia“; the editorial team draws on more than 25 years of experience with the legal market (JUVE methodology, Germany).
The three things that matter most
- 1There is no submission in the usual sense — but questionnaires with fixed deadlinesJUVE puts personal conversations first: „The emphasis of the year-round research is clearly on personal conversations on site or by telephone/video conference.“ Standardised questionnaires for firms and clients complement this. Taking part requires access to the JUVE portal — and meeting the January, March and June deadlines.
- 2Your clients have more influence than in any other rankingJUVE states that it approaches „several tens of thousands of people“ on the client side every year. Who gets asked follows, among other things, from the reference contacts the firms provide. Whom you name — and whether that person replies — has a direct effect.
- 3The stars alone say little; the text next to them says everythingJUVE itself writes: „The position of a firm in the table can therefore only be understood by taking the accompanying firm profile into account.“ Reading the star count on its own means reading the ranking wrongly.
What the JUVE publishing house ranks
„JUVE“ is not one ranking but a family of publications. For commercial law firms the first two rows matter most.
| Publication | What is ranked | Relevant for |
|---|---|---|
| JUVE Handbuch Wirtschaftskanzleien (Germany) | More than 750 firms, organised into the JUVE Top 50, regions and practice areas | Every commercial law firm in Germany |
| JUVE Magazin für Wirtschaftsjuristen in Österreich | More than 100 firms across all federal states and ten practice areas | Austrian commercial law firms |
| JUVE Steuermarkt | Tax advisory firms in six regions and ten specialist fields | Tax practices and tax advisory firms |
| JUVE Patent | English-language; rankings for Germany, the UK, France, the Netherlands and Austria | Patent firms and IP practices |
| azur100 | 100 top employers for young lawyers | Firms competing for talent |
| JUVE Market Intelligence | Paid benchmarking tool with revenues, rankings and salaries | Firm management |
What one to five stars mean
JUVE sorts the firms in a ranking table into groups and marks those groups with stars. Unlike Chambers, where a band number means the same thing across every table, the number of stars at JUVE depends on how many groups the individual table has.
| Groups in the table | Stars awarded | What that means in practice |
|---|---|---|
| Five groups | ★★★★★ to ★ | The full scale; the top group leads the practice area |
| Four groups | ★★★★★ to ★★ | „If a table contains only four groups, the one-star marking is dropped.“ Two stars are the bottom rung here — not a worse result than elsewhere |
| Three groups | ★★★★★ to ★★★ | „if there are only three groups, the two-star marking is dropped as well“ |
JUVE states the caveat plainly: „There is no such thing as ‚the best German commercial law firm‘. … Although as a rule well founded and reasoned on the basis of personal experience, such assessments remain subjective opinions.“ And: „No claim to completeness is made.“
How JUVE researches
The key difference from Chambers and The Legal 500: at JUVE the document is not at the centre — the conversation is. The editorial team comprises, by its own account, „more than 25 heads“ of permanently employed specialist editors who write in parallel for the handbook, JUVE Rechtsmarkt, JUVE Steuermarkt, azur, juve.de, JUVE Patent and the Austrian JUVE magazine.
- Conversations first. „The emphasis of the year-round research is clearly on personal conversations on site or by telephone/video conference“ — because only then can the editors follow up precisely.
- Questionnaires in support. „Nevertheless we also use standardised questionnaires for firms and clients in order to ensure the necessary breadth of research.“
- Clients in large numbers. „Several tens of thousands of people are approached each year, most of them by standardised email.“ The contacts come from public sources, from the editorial research — and from the reference details supplied by the firms.
- Independent matter research. Besides the reference matters reported by the firm, JUVE „researches matters independently and evaluates public sources“.
The timetable: October to June
The JUVE cycle starts earlier than most firms assume. Anyone beginning in spring has already missed the first and most important deadline.
| When | What happens | What your firm should do |
|---|---|---|
| October | „The editorial team starts its research for the following JUVE Handbuch as early as October.“ | Sort out portal access, assign responsibility inside the firm, start collecting the year’s matters |
| January | „The first submission deadline for the firms’ questionnaires is in January of the following year.“ | The deadline that counts. File the questionnaires for your core practice areas; brief your reference clients beforehand |
| March | Second submission deadline | Add further practice areas, supplement chapters already filed |
| June | Third submission deadline | Last chance. After that: „Late replies can unfortunately only be taken into account in exceptional cases for editorial reasons.“ |
| All year | Conversations with firms and clients, client survey by email | Stay available for interviews; prepare reference clients for an approach |
How a firm takes part in the research
The questionnaires are not freely accessible. JUVE writes: „JUVE uses its own questionnaire portal with two-factor authentication. Login details, and therefore access to the questionnaires, are issued to firms exclusively by us.“ Firms without access contact the editorial team; the current contacts for Germany and Austria are listed on the JUVE research page.
What a firm needs to prepare
- Reference matters — either naming the client or in anonymised form. If JUVE finds neither a report nor its own evidence, the handbook says „Keine Nennungen“ (no entries).
- Team numbers per practice area — counted are people „who advise at least half of their time in the respective area“. Reporting every lawyer distorts the picture.
- Partner moves — arrivals and departures in the partnership relevant to the chapter.
- Reference clients — the people JUVE may approach. They should know in advance that a request is coming.
What a JUVE firm profile contains
Every firm profile follows the same structure of seven sections. Knowing which section takes which information lets you place your input precisely.
| Section | Content according to JUVE |
|---|---|
| Stärken (strengths) | „Distinctive features of the practice at a glance.“ |
| Weitere Schwerpunkte (further focus areas) | „Key activities and experience of the firm. Typical characteristics of the practice are also described here.“ |
| Entwicklungen (developments) | „Places the current development of a firm or practice in its market context. The potential of the practice and its challenges are described here as well.“ |
| Oft empfohlen (frequently recommended) | „Lawyers singled out by clients and competitors in a particular practice area or region.“ |
| Team | „Number and status of the advisers in the respective region or practice area.“ |
| Partnerwechsel (partner moves) | „Arrivals and departures in the partnership relevant to the chapter.“ |
| Mandate (matters) | „Brief descriptions of reference matters which the firms have reported to the JUVE editorial team, naming the client or in anonymised form.“ |
Führende Namen and Aufsteiger
Beyond the sections, JUVE highlights individual lawyers separately. „Führende Namen“ (leading names) are lawyers whose „competence is recognised nationwide“. „Aufsteiger“ (risers) are lawyers who are „still at the beginning of their career but have already made a name for themselves in their field“. Both follow from the research, not from an application.
What JUVE assesses a firm on
For the overall view of a firm JUVE names sixteen criteria. What stands out is how many of them are organisational rather than legal — management, teamwork, talent.
- Corporate law competence for structuring commercial activity
- Finance and transaction know-how
- Capabilities in legal risk management (regulation, compliance, antitrust, dispute resolution)
- Building and maintaining capacity in core areas such as employment or tax law
- The ability to advise at a high level on cross-border matters
- The number of lawyers regarded as outstanding practitioners in their field
- Development of sector knowledge
- Complexity and volume of the matters handled
- Consistently high quality standards across all areas of activity
- Service orientation and willingness
- Firm management and structure geared to coordinating the individual specialisations
- Teamwork that creates synergies for clients
- Stable and functioning international contacts
- Cultivation and quality of client relationships
- Forward planning and the ability to spot trends
- A coherent firm culture and a sustainable structure that attracts and keeps qualified juniors
A separate selection applies to the JUVE Top 50: the editorial team used „criteria such as experience in central practice areas, internationality, innovation and reputation“.
JUVE in Austria: what is different
Three differences apply to Austrian firms, and they change the timetable.
| Point | Rule in Austria |
|---|---|
| Publication cycle | „The rankings and firm profiles for the chapters M&A and corporate law as well as banking and finance/capital markets law appear annually. The remaining rankings and firm profiles are produced by the JUVE editorial team on a two-year cycle.“ |
| Practice areas | M&A and corporate law, employment law, banking and finance/capital markets law, IP/IT, real estate and construction law, antitrust law, dispute resolution, tax law |
| Regions | Separate rankings for Carinthia, Lower Austria and Burgenland, Upper Austria, Salzburg, Styria, and Tyrol and Vorarlberg |
| Weight of client views | „Statements by clients are of particular importance for assessing the firms in the various chapters.“ |
JUVE, Chambers and The Legal 500 compared
The three rankings ask for similar substance by very different routes. Anyone working on all three should know the differences before reusing the same text everywhere.
| JUVE | Chambers / The Legal 500 | |
|---|---|---|
| Basis | Year-round research with the emphasis on personal conversations; questionnaires in support | Form-based submission to a fixed deadline |
| Assessment | Groups marked with one to five stars, on a scale that varies by table | Fixed bands or tiers with a constant meaning |
| Client views | JUVE approaches several tens of thousands of people a year, partly from the firms’ reference details | Named client referees who are surveyed specifically |
| Deadlines | Questionnaires in January, March and June; research starts in October | One submission deadline per practice area and jurisdiction |
| Text in the result | A detailed firm profile in seven sections; the ranking cannot be read without it | A shorter editorial assessment alongside the placement |
In detail on the other two: Chambers and Partners: bands 1 to 7 explained and Legal 500: tiers, rankings and submissions. For a field-by-field comparison of the two forms, see Chambers vs Legal 500 submissions.
Frequently asked questions about the JUVE rankings
Can a firm apply to JUVE?
Not as an application. JUVE researches all year round and decides editorially. What a firm can do: take part in the questionnaire process, be available for conversations and name reference clients. Access to the questionnaire portal is issued by JUVE alone.
What does taking part in the JUVE rankings cost?
JUVE gives no figure on its publicly accessible methodology and research pages. Only the editorial team can give binding information.
When is the JUVE deadline?
The first submission deadline for questionnaires is in January, with further deadlines in March and June. Research starts in October of the previous year. According to JUVE, late replies are taken into account only in exceptional cases.
Are three stars a good result?
It depends on the table. If it has five groups, three stars are the middle; if it has only three groups, three stars are the bottom rung. Comparing star counts between practice areas is therefore misleading.
Why does our firm show „Keine Nennungen“?
Because JUVE could find neither matters reported by the firm nor matters of its own: „If all research options remain without result, this is noted as ‚Keine Nennungen‘.“ That is not a judgement on quality but a gap in information — and it can be closed in the next cycle.
How many lawyers may we report for a practice area?
Counted are people „who advise at least half of their time in the respective area“. Counting more generously produces a number that does not match the description of the practice.
Does the same timetable apply in Austria?
The research runs jointly with Germany. The difference is the cycle: M&A/corporate and banking/finance appear annually, all other chapters every two years.
Can we reuse our Chambers text?
Only as raw material. JUVE does not work through forms but through conversations, and the firm profile follows seven fixed sections. Content written for a Chambers form has to be rebuilt for it.
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