Beyond the Submission: Why the Best Chambers Programs Are Built Year-Round

By Jennifer Simpson Carr and Maria Aronson

In our first article, “The Chambers Game”, we explored what many legal marketers and attorneys learn only after years of managing submissions: Chambers rankings are not won solely on the strength of a well-written submission. Instead, they are the product of independent research, client feedback, market perception, and a firm’s ability to tell a compelling story about its work.

Understanding how the process works, however, is only half the challenge.

The next question is far more practical: “How do firms build a Chambers program that consistently improves year after year?”

For many firms, Chambers season still follows a familiar pattern. Marketing circulates timelines, partners promise to start early, and everyone agrees that this year will be different. Yet as deadlines approach, attorneys struggle to recall their most significant matters, representative work must be recreated from scratch, referee lists need updating, and marketing teams race to assemble a submission that captures an entire year’s worth of accomplishments.

It’s easy to conclude that the submission process is the problem. It isn’t.

Chambers isn’t an annual project. It’s a year-round business development and marketing strategy. The firms that consistently improve their rankings aren’t simply writing stronger submissions, they’re building better systems for capturing, organizing and communicating their experience throughout the year.

Over the years, we’ve worked with firms of all sizes on Chambers submissions. The firms that make steady progress share one characteristic: they don’t start preparing when submissions open, they start the day the previous cycle ends.

Start with Strategy, Not the Submission Calendar

One of the biggest misconceptions about Chambers is that every practice group should pursue every possible ranking. That approach often spreads already-limited marketing and attorney resources too thin, resulting in average submissions instead of exceptional ones.

• Before the first representative matter is drafted, firm leadership should ask several strategic questions:What practices are most important to the firm’s long-term growth?
• Which rankings matter most to current and prospective clients?
• Where has the firm invested in laterals or new industry initiatives?
• Which rankings strengthen recruiting and retention?
• Where can recognition support cross-selling opportunities?

Just as importantly, firms should ask where they should not invest.

Choosing not to pursue a ranking isn’t a sign of weakness. It’s a strategic decision to focus resources on where they can have the greatest impact. The strongest Chambers programs reflect the firm’s broader business objectives rather than competing in every category.

Chambers Is More Than a Legal Directory

Many firms still view Chambers primarily as a rankings publication. In reality, it is one component of a much broader marketing and business development strategy.

The work that goes into a Chambers submission should rarely be used only once. A compelling representative matter can become the foundation for an award nomination, website content, an attorney biography, a proposal, a client pitch, a speaking engagement, or a media opportunity. Likewise, articles, significant case victories, transactions, presentations, and industry recognition developed throughout the year should strengthen future Chambers submissions.

When firms connect these efforts instead of treating them as separate initiatives, they create a more consistent market presence while reducing duplicate work. The result isn’t simply a stronger submission. It’s a stronger brand.

 Capture Great Matters Before They’re Forgotten

One of the most effective Chambers practices we’ve seen has nothing to do with writing. It involves documentation.

Rather than asking attorneys to remember their most significant matters months after they close, leading Am Law firms maintain a living inventory of their top representative work throughout the year. Some keep a “Top 10” or “Top 20” list for every practice group, updating it as significant matters conclude.

This simple discipline changes everything. Instead of recreating descriptions under deadline pressure, marketing teams begin with a curated collection of matters that have already been vetted, summarized, and categorized. They can identify trends, compare similar matters, track industry experience, and quickly determine which work best demonstrates market leadership. Then, they use this information for RFPs, business development, cross-selling, and revenue generation.

We’ve seen firms spend weeks reconstructing deals and litigation victories that could have been documented in minutes immediately after they concluded. Those lost hours are entirely avoidable. Perhaps more importantly, maintaining a current repository creates institutional knowledge. It preserves accomplishments that might otherwise disappear as attorneys change firms, retire, or simply forget the details of work completed many months earlier.

Build Institutional Knowledge, Not Annual Submissions

The best Chambers programs aren’t built around documents; they’re built around knowledge.

Some firms designate a partner or senior associate within each practice group to serve as a Chambers champion. This individual works with marketing throughout the year to identify significant matters, update representative experience, encourage referee participation and ensure that information is captured while it’s still fresh.

The benefits extend well beyond the submission itself. These attorneys gain a deeper understanding of the practice group’s experience, become more engaged in business development and develop stronger relationships with marketing professionals. Marketing, in turn, has a consistent point of contact who understands both the practice and the firm’s strategic goals. Over time, this approach transforms Chambers from a once-a-year exercise into an ongoing knowledge management process.

Measure More Than Rankings

It’s natural to celebrate moving up a band or earning an individual ranking. But those achievements shouldn’t be the only measures of success. Why not ask whether the rankings are worth the time investment?

• Did a particular ranking help attract a new client?
• Did it support a successful lateral recruitment?
• Has it strengthened the firm’s reputation in a target industry?
• Did the submission process uncover opportunities for cross-selling among practice groups?
• What feedback did researchers provide that can improve next year’s submission?

Viewed through this lens, Chambers becomes more than an accolade. It becomes a source of market intelligence that informs future business development decisions.

The Best Chambers Programs Never Really End

One of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned is that successful Chambers submissions are rarely created during submission season. They’re built one client matter, one business development opportunity and one marketing initiative at a time.

• Every significant victory should be documented.
• Every notable transaction should be captured.
• Every thought leadership opportunity should reinforce the firm’s market position.
• By the time submission season arrives, the work should already exist.

Emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, will undoubtedly make many administrative aspects of the Chambers process more efficient. They can help organize information, identify patterns and streamline project management. But technology cannot determine where a firm should compete, what stories best demonstrate its strengths or how to build lasting relationships with clients and researchers. Those remain strategic decisions.

The firms that consistently improve their Chambers rankings will be the firms that recognize Chambers as a year-round investment in reputation, relationships, and long-term business development.