The Legal 500


The Legal 500 is a research, ranking and publishing firm based in the UK. The company assesses global law firms and lawyers for its publications, including annual lists and guides.

Overview

The Legal 500 is a trade name of publishing and legal analytics firm Legalease Ltd, which also publishes Legal Business Magazine.
The Legal 500 publishes online editorials and GC Magazine; produces resources for in-house lawyers, such as client insight reports; hosts live events and roundtables; and aggregates legal news on its website.
Rankings in The Legal 500 are merit-based, relying on both publicly available information and law firm self-reported information, and are published on the company's website. Annually, the company also issues several annual awards, such as The Legal 500 Awards, and recognizes lawyers with various accolades, including its "GC Powerlist" designations.
The Legal 500 is frequently misstated, in various media, as Legal500.

Leadership

The Legal 500 was founded by its first editor-in-chief, John M. Pritchard. Since 2015, the managing director is David Goulthorpe, with David Burgess as publishing director and, as chief editor of The Legal 500, former Europe, Middle East & Africa editor Mike Nash, who had joined the company, following five years at Euromoney publication International Tax Review. The company is a London living wage employer.

GC Powerlist

The Legal 500 publishes its GC Powerlist,, annually, which includes its 500 top-rated lawyers in various regions of the world.