After more than a decade of top‑tier rankings in the Legal 500 and Chambers & Partners directories, we have made the decision not to submit for rankings for the first time.
Instead, we are redirecting that time and energy into what we believe matters most, our clients, our people and our wider community.
Sam Ridgway, Head of Marketing and CSR, explains why.
The turn of the year has traditionally brought with it audible sighs in our Oxford HQ. Christmas is over, and it is time to finalise legal rankings submissions. This year, they were sighs of relief.
This year, for the first time since White & Black was founded, we will not be submitting applications to the Legal 500 or Chambers & Partners. Having consistently landed top‑tier rankings for both teams and individuals, we are proud of the recognition we have received over the years. These directories have long served as useful indicators of our technical excellence and peer reputation.
But as our firm has evolved, so too has our view of how best to demonstrate value, and how to generate the greatest return on our people’s time.
Square pegs, round holes
We are not a traditional law firm segmented by practice area and sector. We are a strategic legal advisory business that helps founders, owners and leaders achieve growth, manage risk and maximise value.
Our work rarely sits neatly within a single legal category. Our client’s needs routinely span legal, financial, commercial, strategic and communications considerations. The value we deliver comes from how those elements are connected, coordinated and managed, not from any single discipline in isolation.
Directory rankings, by definition, are organised into legal categories and sub‑categories. Of course, this is helpful in some contexts. But these rankings are far less effective at capturing the integrated, relational way that our clients experience our service. As our model has matured, we want our expertise to be evidenced in ways that better reflect that reality.
Expertise remains fundamental
Let’s be clear about what this decision is not.
We are not stepping away from complex or specialised legal work. We are not generalists, and we are not diluting our expertise. Across the firm, we have lawyers with many years’ experience operating at the sharp end of highly complex areas of the law, where judgement and technical knowledge are equally important.
That depth of experience is fundamental to our model, particularly when clients are navigating moments of growth, change or uncertainty. What has changed is not the calibre of our lawyers, but how we choose to articulate and demonstrate that calibre.
Experience applied, not just displayed
At White & Black, our expertise is applied, not just theoretical.
Our most complex instructions rarely hinge on a single point of law. They involve imperfect information and competing priorities. Our clients are making decisions that shape the long‑term trajectory of a business. That is where our experience truly comes into its own.
Many of our clients come to us having previously worked with larger, traditionally structured firms. They stay because they value senior‑level input, clear advice and lawyers who are comfortable navigating grey areas, rather than simply reciting black‑letter law.
For those clients, credibility is built over time. Through outcomes delivered and risks navigated. Not through how many badges sit alongside a name.
Return on investment
Preparing directory submissions is a significant undertaking. It demands many hours across the firm, even with the AI tools that are now available to bear the brunt of the administrative burden. Collating matter lists, drafting narratives, coordinating referee feedback – all of these take valuable fee earner time.
That time is not free. It is time that could otherwise be spent advising clients, mentoring emerging talent, developing our service offering or contributing more meaningfully to our community.
As our firm has matured, we have become increasingly intentional about where we invest our energy. The question we asked ourselves was a simple one. Given the organisation we are and the clients we serve, is this still the best use of that resource?
For us, the answer is now no.
Redirecting efforts
In choosing not to submit, we are releasing time and energy to reinvest elsewhere, in areas we believe will deliver a greater return for our clients and organisation.
This includes spending as much senior time as possible advising on complex, high‑impact matters, progressing our B Corp submission, and focusing on recognition that better reflects our values, including leadership, diversity and client experience.
It also means being more intentional about the types of recognition we engage with and pursue. Directory rankings remain a useful indicator of technical capability, but they are not the only, or necessarily the most relevant, signals of quality for the work we do or the culture we are building.
As part of this shift, we are choosing to focus our time on awards and external validation that genuinely reflect who we are and what we value. That includes recognition for technical expertise, leadership, client experience and how we operate as an employer.
On the technical front, we will be engaging with the Thomson Reuters Stand-out Lawyers programme, which draws directly on client feedback and continues to evidence the depth of our technical expertise in practice. We will also be pursuing rankings in The Times Top 250 Law Firms, an recognition we have already received on multiple occasions.
Our CEO, Victoria Wright, has recently been shortlisted for Women and Diversity in the Law awards. This kind of recognition speaks directly to the leadership ethos we are committed to and the standard we set for ourselves as advisers and employers.
We are also exploring employer focused recognitions, including initiatives such as the Sunday Times Best Places to Work, which assess organisations on culture and people experience. These are measures that matter to us, both internally and to the clients and partners who choose to work with us.
Alongside these pursuits, we are launching Project 50, an initiative that redirects the 50 hours typically spent on directory submissions back into our immediate community. Project 50 combines our schools outreach programme with local Citizens Advice clinics. Through our schools’ outreach programme, we regularly open our offices to state school students, giving them insight into life inside a law firm and the routes into a legal career. By participating with Citizens Advice clinics, our lawyers provide hands on support to individuals and communities who need it most.
The decision to leave Legal 500 and Chambers behind is not about opting out. It is about evolving, and opting in to a way of working that better reflects who we are today.
Ultimately, this decision reflects a broader shift in how we define success as a firm. We believe success should be measured by the quality of outcomes we deliver, the trust we build with clients over time, the opportunities we create for others and the positive impact we have beyond our own organisation.
Legal directories will continue to play an important role within our profession, and we wish those who submit every success. For White & Black, however, measuring what matters now means focusing our time and energy where it makes the greatest difference.