FT Innovative Lawyers awards: FAQs

Mary Ormerod

12 Jan 2024

FT Innovative Lawyers, Innovation

FT Innovative Lawyers awards is a global ranking of the legal industry. We assess hundreds of submissions from law firms and in-house legal teams using our proprietary ranking methodology and publish annual reports as the Financial Times research partner for the Innovative Lawyers annual reports. The FT Innovative Lawyers FAQs page provides quick answers, but you can always email us at ftresearch@rsgi.co

Making a submission to Innovative Lawyers is free and we work closely with the FT to ensure the highest level of editorial judgement.

Ranking by innovation has disrupted many of the industry’s pre-existing notions of what success looks like, and we welcome submissions from any law firm or in-house legal team that is working innovatively, whether in strategy and operations, the practice of law, people management or responsible business.

Please refer to the dates and deadlines page for the 2025 schedule.

For more information on how to make a good submission, please visit our page on How To Make A Good Submission

When is the deadline to make a submission?

You can find all the dates for the FT Innovative Lawyers awards on our information page (https://rsgi.co/ft-innovative-lawyers-awards-2025-everything-you-need-to-know/) but if you are concerned about any deadlines please contact us at ftresearch@rsgi.co

How much does it cost to participate?

It is free to make a submission to the FT Innovative Lawyers programme. For full terms and conditions visit ft.com

How do I access the HighQ site to make a submission?

You will need to contact ftresearch@rsgi.co so we can assign you login details. This applies even if you have made submissions to previous awards.

We encourage you to contact us ahead of the deadline as we experience a high volume of emails around deadline day and may be delayed in responding.

How do I put my organisation forward for the FT Law Index?

The firm will need to make submissions to the FT Innovative Lawyers awards so that we can calculate its innovation score. The more submissions a firm makes, the higher its chances of getting a strong innovation score.

The firm will also need to submit responses to the FT Law Firm Index Survey which is available through the HighQ site.

What makes a good submission?

We have created an advice page which you can access here.

We also recommend looking at previous reports, available at ft.com/innovative-lawyers, to see what past winners have done

Can I nominate a client or another team?

We always welcome nominations for in-house legal teams or industry peers. If you already have login details, please use the nomination form to make your nomination.

Otherwise, please contact us at ftresearch@rsgi.co

Can I share confidential information?

Anything confidential in the submissions should be marked clearly as such, otherwise it may be published. Interviews will be conducted off-the-record so confidential information shared in interviews will not be shared, but it is always worth highlighting this with the RSGI researcher. Full terms and conditions are available at ft.com

Who will be contacted for interview during the FTIL research?

In the firm's submissions, it must include referees who are available for interview. We require an internal referee who worked on the project and can provide more detail about the innovation. We also require an external referee, usually the firm's client, available for a short interview to provide a reference for the firm. The interviews are critical for our research so it is essential that these contacts are included in the submissions. All our research interviews are off-the-record so they will never be published.

What is the FT Law Firm Index survey?

This is a survey that we use in conjunction with the firm's top-scoring submissions to calculate its position in the FT Law Firm Index. Firms are scored on indicators including Digital Maturity, Social Responsibility and People Management. To find out more please visit the report guidelines.

Winners at the FT Innovative Lawyers Europe 2024 awards, Natural History Museum, London