A strategic roadmap for prioritizing, submitting, and winning the rankings and awards that actually move your firm’s business development—and your digital visibility.

Rankings shouldn’t feel like a necessary evil.

Every year it’s the same scramble. Thousands of legitimate lists, awards, and directories. Shifting deadlines. Confidential matters you can’t publish. Fee earners who go quiet right when you need their input. And the constant question hanging over all of it: Are we even focused on the right ones?

This year, the stakes are higher than ever. New publications, new categories, and a brand-new layer of digital consequence, because rankings now feed directly into how your firm gets found in AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity.

This webinar gives you a clear, repeatable framework to cut through the noise and build a rankings program that compounds year over year.

What you’ll learn:

By the end of this session, you’ll walk away with:

• A prioritization framework to decide where to focus—and what to confidently skip—so your effort aligns with your firm’s actual business development goals

• The 2026–2027 deadline map for Chambers USA, Legal 500, Law360 Practice Groups of the Year, and the other awards that belong in a year-round strategy

• A practical playbook for confidential vs. publishable work and how to get what you need from fee earners without chasing them

• The rankings-to-AI-visibility connection—why your strongest submissions are now also the building blocks of how ranked attorneys get cited in AI search

• The five-step bespoke strategy (audit → prioritize → calendar → execute → amplify) you can put to work the moment the session ends

What’s changed in 2026, and why waiting costs you.

• Chambers USA has restructured its calendar, moving to six rolling deadlines from July through December and shifting research periods away from the year-end pinch points. The first deadline is July 16. If you’re not already organized, you’re already behind.

• Legal 500 is launching state-level recognitions for the 2027 cycle—a first-ever tier built for mid-market firms (AmLaw 101 and below) with a strong single-state presence. California, Massachusetts, Florida, Illinois, Texas, and New York lead the rollout.

• Rankings now power AI visibility. AI Overviews appear on the large majority of high-intent legal queries, and the firms cited in them gain visibility above all organic results. Your rankings citations, client quotes, and practice-area descriptions are exactly the structured, authoritative content AI systems pull from.

Preparing awards and rankings submissions is a marathon, not a sprint. Getting an attorney or firm ranked is a strategic, multi-year process, and the firms that treat it that way are the ones that win.

Your Speakers:

Evyan O’Keefe | Executive Director, 9Sail | Evyan is a recognized expert in legal rankings and awards strategy, with years of experience helping law firms build and execute comprehensive, integrated rankings programs—from first submission to multi-year roadmap.

Kushraj Cheema | North American Research Director, Chambers & Partners | Kush joined Chambers in 2015 as a researcher on the UK and US teams, focusing on litigation. After various roles at Chambers, he became the North America Research Director in 2021, overseeing the Chambers USA and Chambers Canada research.

Who should attend:

This session is built for in-house legal marketing and business development professionals who own (or are about to inherit) their firm’s rankings and awards strategy:

• Marketing and BD directors at Am Law 200 and mid-market firms

• Rankings, awards, and submissions managers

• CMOs and marketing leaders building a multi-year visibility program

• Anyone tired of treating rankings as an annual fire drill

Event Details

Date: Wednesday, July 15, 2026

Time: 12:00 PM ET

Format: Live webinar (60 minutes) · Q&A included

Can’t attend live? Register anyway and we’ll send you the recording