An examination of law firm websites reveals that almost every one of them is the best.
Reading the websites of Ukrainian law firms, it seems that every one of them is the “best.”
Each is the “best” in a particular practice, has the most professional lawyer or is just No. 1 in the country.
Dozens of rankings and professional awards are mentioned to back up a firm’s excellence — from Ukrainian Yuridychna Gazeta to the British Legal Awards.
Even market leaders are involved in this vanity fair, which seems more important to the law firms themselves rather than a useful guide for their clients.
To be ranked, you have to pay every year and quite a lot. The firms who have been paying for advertisements for years are guaranteed to participate in one or another nomination.”
– Alex Frishberg, head of Frishberg & Partners law firm.
The problem is that it is often quite hard to understand which awards truly signify professional achievement and which ones simply are paid for.
For Alex Frishberg, head of Frishberg & Partners law firm, “to be ranked, you have to pay every year and quite a lot. The firms who have been paying for advertisements for years are guaranteed to participate in one or another nomination.”
His firm hasn’t participated in the game for a while and, therefore, is no longer rated, Frishberg said. He believes all of the ratings to be just advertisements, which might cost tens of thousands of dollars per year.
“You can take that logo, put it on the website and say that you are rated No. 1 – the best in the world,” he said, chiding colleagues.
It appears that British ratings are somehow better perceived than all the others, probably because many international deals are governed by United Kingdom law and most of the offshore jurisdictions use it as well.
A whole industry exists to nurture this desire to be number one, if not because of real achievements, then just for the willingness to spend money.
The Kyiv Post looked through several offers to participate in the ratings to get an idea of the current prices.
The first email to the Kyiv Post came from one ratings agency, claiming “to represent the leading professional firms, within the various areas of specialization, across the various geographical regions.” Winning the rating costs roughly $2,500, and another $150 will get a trophy.
We believe that good companies do not need advertisement. We are even very selective in submitting the information about our firm to directories and ratings.”– Oksana Buchatska, marketing and PR coordinator for Baker & McKenzie.
Another email with suspicious proposals came from a second ratings firm, considered reputable by some lawyers. It contained a proposal for a law firm to become an “exclusive expert” for a guide about raising capital – all for a discount price of up to $7,500.
“We believe that good companies do not need advertisement. We are even very selective in submitting the information about our firm to directories and ratings,” said Oksana Buchatska, marketing and PR coordinator for Baker & McKenzie, a firm that has a policy against paying for these advertisements to secure ratings.
According to her, the only trustworthy ratings are Chambers Global, Legal 500, IFLR and PLC Which Lawyer.
Andy Hunder, international business development director at Magisters, said that participating in reputable contests is “usually transparent and always free” and buying advertisements would not influence a firm’s position in the ranking.
“Number one is Chambers & Partners, having an approximately 61 percent market share. Then there is Legal 500 with about 21 percent and you have the others, like Who Is Who legal, PLC Which Lawyer, Martindale-Hubbell, which have under 10 percent,” Hunder said.
Rankings done by Ukrainian media are generally believed to be either corrupt or done without interviewing clients for references.
“We have lots of questions about how some firms we even do not know get to the first places there,” Buchatska said skeptically.
Kyiv Post staff writer Kateryna Panova can be reached at [email protected].
