How to write Chambers work highlights that researchers can use

Chambers describes a submission as "a clear summary of the most significant facts about your practice". Work highlights are the core of that summary. Chambers defines them as information about "legal matters this department, firm or set has advised on over the review period", including the nature of the work, the team members involved and the other organisations advising. The aim, in Chambers' words, is "to communicate to Chambers what the relevant team did and why it was significant."

Chambers also says it won't "print or quote directly from a submission". Persuasive prose is wasted. A researcher reads a highlight to extract facts, then tests those facts against what referees and the market say.

The rules that apply

• Limit: "We accept up to 20 work highlights per practice area, and can be a mix of confidential and non-confidential." Some sections set their own limits in the research schedule. Many Latin America sections, for example, state "a maximum of 20 cases".
• Review period: the submission covers "work highlights from the last 12 months". Older matters should only appear where a significant development happened inside the period.
• Lateral hires: work done at a previous firm counts "so long as it falls within the given review period", but "please clearly label it".
• Length: Chambers' 2019 Chambers USA tips say "work highlights should not be longer than one page". This document is dated, but no newer official length guidance has been published.
• Use the full allowance: the same tips document says "you can submit up to 20 matters, and we would urge you to always include as many as possible within that limit."

Sources: Chambers FAQs, Chambers submissions, Chambers methodology, Chambers USA: How to make a good submission (PDF, 2019), Chambers research schedule

The four questions every highlight should answer

Chambers' tips list four points to cover in each work highlight:

1. What happened in this matter? Parties, your client, your firm's role, the other advisers, the lawyers who led it.
2. Why was it significant for the client? What was at stake for the business: a market entry, a regulatory approval, a financing that kept a project alive.
3. Why was it significant for the wider industry or practice area? Chambers gives "setting new precedents" as an example. A first-of-its-kind structure, a test case or a new regulatory point qualifies. Size alone often does not.
4. What is the current status? Closed, signed, pending approval, judgment handed down, on appeal.

The tips add a fifth rule that sits over all four: "If you assert something, make sure you can back it up with facts."

Publishable vs confidential

Chambers asks you to state whether each highlight is publishable or confidential. A publishable matter is public knowledge or can be referenced on the Chambers website once rankings are published. A confidential matter is one you do not want Chambers to write about or reference. Chambers says that "any information marked 'Confidential' will not be disclosed in any way", and that confidential information is still "useful in determining your ranking".

Three common problems:

• A confidential client named in a publishable matter. Chambers' tips warn against exactly this. Check every publishable matter for client names that appear elsewhere as confidential.
• Everything marked confidential. Researchers can only write commentary from publishable material. A submission with no publishable matters gives them little to cite.
• Partly confidential matters filed as fully confidential. If only the value or the client's name is sensitive, consider whether the rest can be described publishably without them. Confirm this with the client relationship partner first.

A worked example (illustrative)

Before, the kind of highlight researchers struggle to use:

Harbourline LLP's market-leading energy team advised a major client on a landmark, highly complex renewable transaction, demonstrating our unrivalled expertise and commitment to client service.

There is nothing here to verify. No client, no counterparty, no role, no date, no outcome. "Market-leading" and "landmark" are claims, not facts.

After, the same matter written for a researcher:

Client: Northmoor Renewables (fictional). Matter: Advised on the acquisition of a 60% stake in a 400MW offshore wind project from Calder Energy (fictional), with project financing from a five-bank group.

Role: Lead counsel to the buyer. Team: led by partner A. Rivera, with partner J. Osei (finance) and senior associate M. Chen. Other advisers: Seller advised by [firm]; lenders advised by [firm].

Significance for the client: Northmoor's first offshore asset, moving it from onshore-only into a new market.

Significance for the market: One of the first deals in the jurisdiction to use the revised grid-connection consent process, which the team negotiated with the regulator.

Dates and status: Instructed February 2026; signed June 2026; closed September 2026.

Publishable: Yes, except the deal value (marked confidential).

Each line can be checked against a referee's account or a public announcement, and the lawyers the firm wants ranked are named on work they led. Chambers' tips make the same point: "If you are trying to highlight a certain lawyer, make sure to give them work highlights and client referees to support the case for their inclusion."

Choosing which 20

• Cover the lawyers you nominate. Each nominated lawyer should lead or co-lead at least one highlight.
• Match the practice-area definition. Chambers publishes a definition for each section, linked from the research schedule. Matters outside it carry less weight in that table.
• Match your referees. A highlight backed by a referee who worked on it gives the researcher two sources for the same facts. See our referee spreadsheet guide.
• Show range as well as size. A mix of sectors, clients and matter types tells a researcher more than twenty similar deals.

Reusing highlights for other directories

The same matters often go to Legal 500, which also accepts up to 20 but asks for the firm's role, lead partners and start and end dates on each, and marks confidentiality differently. See Chambers vs Legal 500. IFLR1000 accepts 10 deal highlights per practice area.

• Chambers UK guide
• Chambers USA guide
• Chambers Global guide
• IFLR1000 guide
• Deadline calendar for every directory

Frequently asked questions