Farrer & Co tops legal firm rankings

In the second annual Credible Voices legal rankings, Farrer & Co has emerged as the top firm across all 150 participants, achieving an impressive score of 67.0%. Following closely behind in the UK rankings is Linklaters, with a score of 65.4%. On the US side, Skadden has clinched the top spot among the Top 50 US Law Firms operating in the UK with a score of 66.4%, succeeded by Sidley Austin at 65.1%. Williams Lea, an RRD company, announced the results at a ceremony on 31 July 2026.

The rankings are derived from a comprehensive analysis of 442,150 publicly available articles released on 24 July 2026. These articles account for 123,333 unique authors, with an average of 1.6 articles attributed to each author. Notably, 56.3% of the articles reviewed had no named authors, underscoring a significant gap in attribution within the sector. The overall average firm score across all 150 rankings is 60.6%, with individual scores ranging from 49.6% to a remarkable 67.0%. Each firm's score reflects the average of the assessments derived from public content evaluated against a stringent 16-point framework, rather than its volume of publications.

In response to the achievement, Anna Gregory, Partner and Marketing & BD Director at Farrer & Co stated, “We are delighted that Farrer & Co has achieved the highest score across both Credible Voices firm rankings. Our lawyers invest considerable time in producing content that is technically rigorous, accessible and genuinely useful to clients and the wider market.” She further emphasised the significance of the recognition, noting that it is based on an objective evaluation of publicly available work rather than self-selected entries.

The Credible Voices framework is designed to be evidence-based, assessing the public content of all firms without reliance on materials they may choose to highlight. This systematic method evaluates various content types based on depth, accuracy, readability, engagement, and overall presentation. Artificial intelligence plays a role in the scoring process, maintaining a consistent and predefined approach to evaluation.

The annual rankings serve not just as a snapshot but also as a baseline for continuous improvement in the legal sector. With updates occurring every 14 days, firms are encouraged to enhance their content offerings and eliminate outdated materials that could misrepresent their current expertise. During a recent monitoring period ending March 2026, the assessed firms augmented their article count significantly, adding approximately 30 new articles for every one removed.

Richard Chaplin, Founder of Credible Voices and Chief Executive of the Managing Partners' Forum commented, “Rankings matter when they change behaviour. We want firms to understand the evidence they are putting into the market, strengthen what is useful and remove what no longer represents them. People buy people, yet 56.3% of assessed articles have no named author. Better attribution alone would make expertise considerably easier for clients to find.”

Firms are now prompted to take advantage of tools such as the ‘Audit own website’ service, enabling a comprehensive examination of both their online presence and the content they provide. This ongoing commitment to excellence aims to ensure that legal firms not only maintain a strong public profile but also deliver reliable and accessible information to clients and the wider market