Criticism instead of praise: Legal 500 has taken its entire website offline.
On 1 October 2026, Legal 500 published its new barrister rankings. One day later, on 2 October 2026, the directory’s whole website was down. Some entries had carried critical and partly incongruous comments about individual lawyers instead of the usual testimonials, as reported by the Law Society Gazette and RollOnFriday.
1 OCTOBER 2026
Rankings go live
Alongside the rankings, some entries show negative or unrelated comments.
2 OCTOBER 2026
“Down for maintenance”
The full site is offline. Legal 500 has given no date for its return.
What readers saw
The Gazette quotes screenshots taken before the content was removed. One barrister was described as “adequate but disorganised and indecisive”. Another entry simply read “Nothing of note”. A third praised the premises rather than the person: “Impressive building and facilities”. According to the Gazette, it is unclear where the comments came from. The issue was evidently not universal: many firms and chambers had already shared their positive listings.
Legal 500’s explanation
A Legal 500 spokesperson told the Gazette that an error in the upload process during a website update caused a small amount of testimonial information to be published incorrectly. The content was removed, additional verification checks began, and quality assurance is being strengthened to prevent a recurrence. Legal 500 has apologised to its customers.
OUR VIEW: THREE LESSONS FOR LAW FIRMS
| Referees | Client referee feedback is the raw material of every ranking. Choosing and briefing referees carefully shapes what researchers hear. |
| Check | After every launch, read your own entries word by word before sharing them – not just the tier. |
| Respond | Report incorrect content to the responsible researcher immediately and keep a written record. |
According to the Gazette, entry into Legal 500 is based on research, client feedback and peer reviews, with firms submitting details of their work, key cases and client referees. That process is exactly where we support firms – from matter selection to referee coordination.
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- Law Society Gazette: Legal 500 site down after posting negative reviews of lawyers
- RollOnFriday: Legal500 accidentally publishes terrible reviews of top barristers
As of 2 October 2026, 15:07 CEST. Based on reports by the Law Society Gazette and RollOnFriday of 2 October 2026 and our own check of legal500.com at that time (showing “Down for maintenance”). Quotes from the entries are as reported by the Gazette; we deliberately do not name individuals. The three lessons are Law Business’s view.