Guide

Who's Who Legal is now Lexology Index

Who's Who Legal (WWL) is now called Lexology Index. Lexology announced the rebrand in August 2024, after WWL had become part of Lexology. The rankings, research reports and lawyer profiles carry on under the new name. The research still relies on peer nominations, client feedback and evidence of recent work. If your firm takes part in WWL research, you are already working with Lexology Index.

The short answer

Name: Who's Who Legal is now Lexology Index. Lexology announced the rebrand in August 2024.
What stayed: the rankings, the research reports by practice area and country, and lawyer profiles. All of them now sit on lexology.com.
Method: nominations and feedback from peers and clients, evidence of recent work and Lexology's own research.
Timing: each report has its own referee deadline. See the Lexology Index guide and the deadline calendar.

Searches for "Who's Who Legal" still lead many people to old bookmarks, old firm bios and old award logos. The directory itself has not gone away. It has a new name and a new home on Lexology, the legal publishing platform run by the same group.

What changed

Lexology announced in August 2024 that Who's Who Legal was rebranding to Lexology Index. WWL had already become part of Lexology, and the rename completed that move. Lexology said the change would roll out in phases. In practice that means:

The name. Reports, rankings and awards now carry the Lexology Index name.
The home. Reports, profiles, the expert search and the submission pages live on lexology.com under /index.
How it is labelled. Lexology's own pages use the form "Lexology Index (formerly Who's Who Legal)". That is a sensible model for your own materials during the changeover.

What stayed the same

The research model is the one WWL used. Lexology Index ranks mainly individual lawyers, report by report. It publishes three kinds of report:

Practice-area reports, such as Arbitration, Competition, Capital Markets, Intellectual Property and Tax.
National reports, such as Brazil, Canada, France, Italy and Japan.
Thought Leaders reports, which have launch dates but no separate submission deadline.

Lexology describes its method as peer nominations and feedback, client referee assessment, and matter evidence, checked against its own independent research. A client referee is a client who can speak to a lawyer's work and whom the researchers may contact. Lexology says that fewer than half of those nominated for its guides are selected.

How lawyers are put forward

A lawyer can be nominated by peers, can put themselves forward, or can be proposed by the firm's business development team. Nominees then support their case in two ways:

Client references, uploaded through Lexology's online Client Referee Upload Tool for each report. There is no limit. Lexology suggests around 5 to 10 per practitioner, provided before research for that practice area begins.
Work highlights, an optional survey completed by the nominee or the firm, describing recent matters that show the lawyer's role.

The Client Choice report works differently. Only in-house counsel can nominate for it.

Fees

Lexology states that financial considerations play no part in its research, and its submission pages set out no fee for nominations or client references. Treat the research and any commercial offer from Lexology as separate matters in your planning.

How the research schedule works

There is no single annual deadline. Lexology groups reports into deadline dates spread across the year. Each date is the referee and submission deadline for that group, and research for the group starts shortly afterwards. Each report then launches on its own date.

The dates in Lexology's official research schedule are:

29 May 2026: Banking & Fintech, Client Choice, Data, Foreign Investment Control, Mining, Restructuring, Sports & Gaming, TMT, Transport, Germany, Mexico, Sweden and others
4 Sep 2026: Construction, Energy, Healthcare & Life Sciences, Immigration, Insurance, Investigations, M&A and Governance, Product Regulation, Projects & Procurement, Switzerland, UK Bar
2 Oct 2026: Central America, France, South Korea
20 Nov 2026: Asset Recovery, Capital Markets, Commercial Mediation, Competition, Employment & Labor, Environment & Climate Change, Intellectual Property, Real Estate, Italy, Southeast Asia (2027 editions)
15 Jan 2027: Consulting Experts, Australia & New Zealand (2027 editions)
19 Feb 2027: Arbitration (2028), Business Crime Defence, Commercial Litigation, Franchising, Private Client & Offshore Services, Private Funds (2028), Professional Negligence, Tax, Trade & Customs, Japan, Nigeria
9 Apr 2027: Brazil, Canada, Mainland China/Hong Kong SAR/Macao SAR (2027 editions)

Source: Lexology Index submissions and research schedule. Rebrand: Lexology blog, August 2024.

Dates move between cycles. The Lexology Index directory guide and the deadline calendar list these dates alongside every other directory, so you can see where Lexology Index work collides with Chambers or Legal 500 deadlines.

Tips for marketing teams

Update internal references. Change "Who's Who Legal" to "Lexology Index" in pitch templates, credentials, proposal libraries and the directory tracker. Keep "formerly Who's Who Legal" for a cycle or two so partners recognise it.
Fix lawyer bios and website pages. For current recognitions, cite the Lexology Index report title and edition year. Leave older recognitions as they were awarded, labelled with their year.
Replace old links and logos. Point links to the lawyer's Lexology Index profile or the report page, not old WWL addresses.
Plan nominations by report, not by year. Map each lawyer to the reports that fit their practice and country, then note each report's deadline. One lawyer may appear in a practice-area report and a national report on different dates.
Prepare client references early. Agree 5 to 10 clients per lawyer, confirm they are willing to be contacted, and upload them before the report's deadline.
Reuse matter evidence carefully. The matters you gather for Chambers or Legal 500 can feed the work highlights survey. Rewrite them around the individual lawyer's role, because Lexology Index assesses people more than teams.

For how Lexology Index compares with Chambers, Legal 500 and the rest, read our guide to law firm rankings.

Frequently asked questions

Is Who's Who Legal still published?

Not under that name. Lexology announced in August 2024 that Who's Who Legal was being renamed Lexology Index. The research reports and lawyer profiles are published on lexology.com under the Lexology Index name, and Lexology describes the product as Lexology Index (formerly Who's Who Legal).

Can I still call a lawyer "recognised by Who's Who Legal"?

For a recognition earned before the rename, describing it as Who's Who Legal is accurate for that edition. For current recognitions, use the Lexology Index name and the exact report title, for example the Lexology Index report for the practice area or country, and the edition year.

How does a lawyer get nominated for Lexology Index?

Lexology Index researches each report through nominations and feedback from peers and clients, with evidence of recent work. Lawyers can be put forward by themselves or by their firm's business development team, and nominees can upload client references through Lexology's online Client Referee Upload Tool before the report's deadline. The Client Choice report is different: only in-house counsel can nominate for it.

How many client references should we provide?

Lexology Index sets no limit on client references. Its guidance suggests around 5 to 10 per practitioner, provided before research for that report begins.

Does Lexology Index have one annual deadline?

No. Each report has its own referee and submission deadline, and Lexology groups reports into several deadline dates across the year. Research for a group starts shortly after its deadline, and each report launches on its own date.

Facts are from the official Lexology pages linked above.