We are pleased to introduce the inaugural edition of IFLR1000 China, our new research into eight regional legal markets in China.
China’s exponential growth in the past few decades has given rise to a great demand for corporate and business related legal services, with such services becoming increasingly multidisciplinary and transnational, calling for cross-border collaboration of practitioners and warranting a deep dive into the subtleties of its legal landscape.
IFLR1000 China will use our existing methodology, honed over thirty years researching legal markets, and apply it at a domestic rather than national level in China. Our aim with this project is to represent the nuances of local legal markets in the world’s second largest economy.
Any firm working in areas relevant to our research can participate. Please read these guidelines and follow the steps in the 'How to submit your information' section to be considered for our 2020 China domestic rankings and awards.
If you are interested in participating in this year's research, please register through the link below if you have not already done so.
Introduction and coverage
IFLR1000 researches and ranks law firms and lawyers on the basis of transactional advice. Each annual research process culminates in the publication of law firm rankings, individual lawyer ratings, and editorial content.
IFLR1000 China will rank firms and lawyers for their transactional work in eight regions depending on the volume of mandates available*.
Provinces/municipalities
Beijing
Chongqing
Guangdong
Shandong
Shanghai
Sichuan
Tianjin
Zhejiang
Practice areas that make a “Financial and Corporate” submission
Banking and finance
Capital markets
Investment funds
M&A
Private equity
Project finance
Restructuring and insolvency
Please read our practice area definitions to view what type of work can be submitted for the Financial and Corporate category.
*We will produce “Financial & Corporate” ranking tables for all areas in all regions where we have sufficient evidence to.
Leading Lawyers
Alongside our firm rankings we also recognise the work of outstanding individuals at the regional level. Our recommendations are based on the same three factors as our law firm rankings and consist of the following categories:
Highly Regarded
Lawyers who are highly regarded by their peers and possess a strong transactional record and positive client feedback.
Rising Star
'Ones to watch' these are lawyers who are building their reputations in the market.
IFLR1000 China Awards
We will be running awards research in tandem with our ranking research. Any firm that participates in the ranking research will be considered for the awards.
The IFLR1000 China awards will follow a similar format to our renowned IFLR international awards but with the focus on promoting domestic firms and lawyers.
The domestic award categories will be:
Firm of the Year (by region, for all regions)
Team of the Year (by practice area, nationally)
Deal of the Year (by practice area, nationally)
Impact Deal Awards (by region)
Lawyer of the Year (by practice area, nationally)
Rising Star of the Year (by practice area, nationally)
IFLR1000 China Hall of Fame
In-house Team of the Year
Awards criteria
Regional Firm of the Year will be awarded to firms that performed well or developed impressively in 2019.
Only domestic transactions that closed in the calendar year 2019 will be considered for the deal awards.
National deal awards will be awarded on the basis of legal innovation.
Firms win team of the year categories for working on the most innovative deals.
Impact Deal Awards will be awarded to transactions that had legal impact locally in 2019.
The Hall of Fame award will recognise a practitioner for an outstanding legal career and achievements in transactional law.
The in-house Team of the year will be based on innovative transactional work.
How to participate
There is no fee to participate in the research or to be ranked.
If you work for a law firm that advises on transactional work relevant to our ranking categories you can participate in the research by completing the research form.
The research form asks for basic information on the structure and focus of the practice, recent changes to the team, and up to 20 highlight deals per practice area. In the 2020 research cycle, highlight deals should be mandates which the firm has done substantial work on since January 1, 2019, or which closed after this date.
We also ask firms to provide client referees in support of deal examples. While this is not essential, client feedback is used to assess firms (see 'Research methodology' section).
For each regional submission you should submit deal examples that have been executed by attorneys based within the province/municipality. Deals involving two or more regions can be submitted in each individual regional submission.
Firms should submit one financial and corporate research form combining multiple practice areas for each province/municipality.
Firms can provide an unlimited number of client referees in support of submissions. All referees provided by the submission deadline will be contacted by e-mail to ask for feedback on firms' and lawyers' work.
How to submit your information
There are three steps to the submission process:
Download research form and complete it fully (one per region, combining practice areas)
Submission deadline
The submission deadline for the awards and ranking research is: March 13, 2020
Research methodology
Our law firm rankings and lawyer ratings are based on three key criteria:
Transactional evidence
In each research cycle we ask firms to provide transactional highlights from a designated period.
Transactional evidence is the decisive factor we use to determine a firm’s ranking. For a firm to be ranked, it must have a track record of advising on transactional work relevant to our ranking categories.
The same applies to the ratings of individuals; lawyers must have been working on significant deals in some capacity to be rated.
Primarily firms submit deals to us via the research form. Our research team also monitors daily deal news and updates to complement this.
We also analyse statistical evidence of transaction values and volumes produced by external publications.
Client feedback
We survey corporate and in-house contacts provided to us participating firms to get their opinions on the firms and lawyers they use.
Client feedback is used in support of transactional evidence when determining a firm’s ranking or lawyer’s rating. What this means is good feedback alone will not ensure a firm or lawyer is ranked or rated – a firm or individual must be experienced in advising on significant transactional work.
We ask for feedback on attributes including:
Accessibility and communication
Client/lawyer relationship
Depth of team
International network
Technical ability
Value for money
Peer feedback
Peer feedback
We conduct an annual Lawyer Survey of lawyers to get their thoughts and feedback on their markets. All lawyers active in the relevant research categories are invited to take part.
We also conduct a significant number of phone and face-to-face interviews with practitioners, where we ask for feedback on firms.
Peer feedback is secondary to client feedback and we only take this type of feedback into account where it is supported by deal evidence.
Notes on the research
Firms are not required to use the IFLR1000 submission template, firms can submit using alternative formats providing the information requested on the IFLR1000 research form is included.
Please mark confidential information in RED.
All client referees will be contacted.
All client referee information will be treated as CONFIDENTIAL and not published.
You can send us additional deals at any point during the year for consideration for IFLR1000 Deal Data. Deal Data is a database of financial and corporate legal transactions updated daily to complement our existing research and rankings.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I submit information in a different format?
Certainly, as long as the relevant information is provided in a well-organised format.
Why should we submit?
Sending submissions makes the strongest possible case for your firm’s inclusion in the rankings. Firms that submit are guaranteed editorial coverage.
Is IFLR1000 China pay-to-play?
No. Our editorial coverage is independent and all firms that submit relevant work receive the same consideration and guarantee of editorial coverage.
We’re a smaller local firm - is it worthwhile us submitting?
Yes. Although our publication includes many of the largest national firms, the China guide’s rankings are made at a regional level, which means there is plenty of opportunity for firms to be recognised that are based outside financial centres.
If you have any questions, please contact the editor, Ben Naylor.