The Legal 500 is pushing back its research schedule in response to the coronavirus pandemic, suspending all client contact for the next four weeks.
At a time when law firms and their clients are under unprecedented pressure, we have taken the decision not to add to the burden. All client feedback surveys for the UK Solicitors Guide, the UK Bar and Latin America will be suspended for four weeks, until the end of April. For the UK this will affect first-time contact with London clients and client survey re-sends for everywhere outside London.
Our reason is clear: in-house legal teams have more than enough to deal with now with the impact coronavirus is having on their businesses and infrastructure. Neither they, nor the firms they instruct, need us to add to this strain.
For the same reason, we will also be extending the interview period for both London and Latin America research. It will now be possible for firms to speak to our London research team until 26 June, and to our Latin America researchers until 22 May. Interviewing for London will not start until after 30 April.
Our relationships with law firms, and their clients, are fundamental to The Legal 500’s ethos, and critical to our research. For this reason it is vital that we are as flexible as possible during this crisis.
We will continue to assess the on-going impact of the coronavirus outbreak on future research projects such as Asia Pacific, EMEA, Deutschland and the US over the coming weeks and will be equally flexible. Research for everywhere in the UK outside London is unaffected as most interviews have already taken place.
If you have questions or concerns, please do get in touch. Stay safe.
Georgina Stanley is UK editor at The Legal 500, the sister brand to The Lex 100