We are delighted to announce the launch of IFLR Middle East Awards 2026 and IFLR1000 rankings, celebrating excellence in legal innovation across the GCC and Egypt.
As ever, IFLR will be celebrating the region's most legally innovative cross-border deals from the past year, as well as the most outstanding law firms, in-house legal teams and individual lawyers of the past year.
Last year’s 2025 winners and shortlist can be found here.
In a break with past years, for all law firms and lawyers we have now merged the IFLR1000 rankings and IFLR Awards submission processes into a single submission process. We have done this to make it easier to participate by:
Reducing the number of submission forms
Reducing the number of processes and deadlines
Through these submissions, we will collect relevant data, deals, and insights that will inform both our rankings and awards.
There is a dedicated awards portal for all in-house teams entries.
How to submit (law firms)
Submission deadline: June 30 2026
Awards shortlist: August 2026
Awards ceremony: October, Dubai (TBC)
Rankings release: November
How to submit (in-house teams)
Submission deadline: June 30 2026
Shortlist publication: August 2026
Awards ceremony: October, Dubai (TBC)
About IFLR awards
Details of the categories, criteria and research methodology can be found in the AWARDS SUMMARY.
IFLR will award the best deals, national and regional firms and teams of the year, as well lawyers of the year, rising star lawyers, and in-house teams and lawyers. The awards will also recognise outstanding achievements within legal technology, sustainability, and market regulation and frameworks.
For deals to be considered eligible for awards, they must be cross-border (the exception being the Domestic Deal category), must have closed in the awards review period (July 1 2025 - June 30 2026), and must be publicly disclosable.
For questions about the research, please contact Sophie Notter.
For queries about business development and commercial opportunities, please contact Nick Heath.
How to participate
Any law firm advising on financial and corporate transactions or financial regulatory matters, or supporting on energy & infrastructure projects, can participate in our research. Firms simply need to by submit a research form – under the combined IFLR1000 and IFLR Awards process – and provide a list of supporting client referees.
We ask firms to submit one research form and client referee form per practice area, per jurisdiction, in which they can detail their expertise, teams, highlight projects, and provide clients who can corroborate.
You will find everything you need HERE.
All in-house teams that have supported their organisations in deal execution or corporate transformation, or set a benchmark for how in-house legal functions in corporate finance can maximise their impact, are welcome to enter. In-house teams in banks that have supported clients on their corporate finance activities are also invited to submit. Teams need to follow the in-house entry process noted above.
There is no fee to participate in IFLR.
What we look for
The IFLR1000 rankings evaluates and benchmarks law firms and lawyers by practice area within a jurisdiction. Our research focuses on the calibre of the deals delivered and client feedback, supported by corroborating evidence on market standing and bench strength.
Our team will assess transactions by evaluating their legal innovation, sophistication and market impact within a practice area, and consider the role that a firm or lawyer played in delivering projects. Firms and lawyers with consistent year-on-year records advising on the highest calibre transactions in their markets, and whose excellent work is corroborated by clients, will be ranked or rated most highly.
We do not research arbitration, competition, disputes, employment, IP, life sciences, litigation, or tax work.
Full details of our methodology, and practice area and ranking definitions are available HERE.