General commercial law encompasses a number of areas of commercial law relevant to high-end professional users. The focus is on corporate and commercial law, but instead of separate areas of practice, general commercial law can also cover many areas, including dispute resolution, banking and finance law, and industry-specific practice areas. This section classifies companies and lawyers who advise individuals, companies or professional associations on professional matters, including studies on practicality, disciplinary procedures and the development of codes of conduct. This section addresses contentious and non-contentious regulatory issues related to the financial services sector. On the litigation side, this includes Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) investigations, sales practices, market abuse, misuse of confidential information and handling of complaints about retail products. This section focuses on a number of legal issues affecting the travel industry. The rankings of law firms and lawyers are divided into three separate sub-tables. The table Travel: International Bodily Injury (Claimant) focuses on firms and lawyers that specialize in representing individuals with overseas accident claims, including those involving catastrophic injuries, critical illnesses, death and terrorist attacks. Similarly, the Travel sub-table: International Personal Injury (Defendants) focuses on companies and lawyers involved in defending insurers, travel agencies and tour operators against these claims. Finally, the Travel sub-table: Regulation and Commercial Law recognizes businesses and individuals who provide advice on a range of industry-specific issues. The work covered includes advising tour operators, travel agencies and other large companies operating in the travel sector on various regulatory issues, with a particular focus on package travel regulations and ATOL regulations. Legal advice, which covers a wide range of business operational issues for these entities, is also relevant in this subsection.

This is primarily an industry-specific section that focuses on companies and individuals advising technology companies. Researchers examine the legal advice given to suppliers and buyers in the context of major IT supply and services contracts. Work in this sector may include seed investments, mergers and acquisitions, stock market listings, outsourcing and business transformation projects focused on information technology, infrastructure projects and product launches, and litigation. The UK Legal 500 Solicitors Guide 2023 will be published in autumn 2022. We make relatively few changes to the practices we evaluate, but all additions and reductions are highlighted in red below. Other areas of work include advising on responding to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, developing data protection guidelines and providing guidance on the further development of EU data protection regulation. Another important type of work is defending customers who face potential fines for data breaches. This section focuses on lawyers specialising in the field of retirement provision and covers transactional work (transfer of pensions in the context of corporate transactions), pension disputes, professional negligence and changes in benefit structures. Mainly companies that work for employers or trustees. This section focuses on advice to borrowers, developers and lenders. Chambers UK considers a wide range of banking services for its purposes, exploring areas such as acquisition finance, syndicated loans, leveraged finance, Islamic finance and refinancing issues. Outside of London, we will also look at real estate financing work (London has its own real estate financing table).

In London, firms are classified in the lower middle market, middle market or high price tables for their work for borrowers and lenders (a transaction valued at up to £99 million is considered a lower middle market, a transaction valued between £100 million and £499 million is considered an intermediate market, and any transaction valued at £500 million). sterling or more is considered a big bill). We also evaluate companies for their sponsorship advocacy work and separately recognize individuals for their expertise in fund finance and Islamic finance. The banking and financial tables do not cover asset financing, restructuring and insolvency, capital markets or financial services, as they are dealt with in other sections. In addition, we will not consider the disputed work, as it will be covered by a table for banking disputes. This section lists the companies and individuals who advise in the world of mutual funds. A company may upload separate bids for each of the following areas: private equity, real estate, hedge funds, open-ended funds and closed-end exchange-traded funds. Interviews are based on a standard questionnaire.

However, follow-up questions and more comprehensive conversations about specific law firms and key issues that influence the purchase of legal services are indeed the norm. This is partly due to the fact that the interviews are conducted by experienced journalists and researchers with a high level of market knowledge. Not all interviews are assignable. Throughout the year, we also receive many unsolicited comments and recommendations from customers. This section focuses on corporate and trade, regulatory and capital markets issues arising from the energy sector. This includes the regulatory components of mergers and acquisitions and other transactional work, as well as purely regulatory work related to license applications and compliance. Companies and lawyers based in England and Wales must submit a reference table of up to 20 examiners and a ranking document containing up to 20 highlights to cover all submissions for the following subsections: Oil and Gas: The Oil and Gas subsection covers all upstream work, downstream and downstream, including exploration, infrastructure and pipeline developments, and service contracts. License fees, licenses and operating agreements. This includes mergers and acquisitions, capital increases and regulatory compliance.

Renewable and Alternative Energy: The Renewable and Alternative Energy subsection recognizes companies and lawyers with expertise in financing and developing renewable energy projects, as well as those dealing with corporate transactions and regulatory issues in the industry. Projects covered include onshore and offshore wind farms, solar developments, biomass plants and waste incineration plants. Energy: The Energy subsection recognizes law firms and lawyers with expertise in a range of energy assets, including nuclear power plants, gas-fired power plants (including combined cycle plants), interconnection structures and battery storage facilities. Project development, corporate transactions and regulatory issues are relevant in this subsection. Water: This subsection covers a wide range of work related to water management, including regulatory, pricing and competition aspects. Disputes: This subsection covers all disputes (including litigation and international arbitration) in the energy and natural resources sectors. In addition to our UK-wide tables, we also have two Scottish tables, Energy & Natural Resources: Oil & Gas and Energy & Natural Resources: Renewables & Alternative Energy, as well as a general section Energy & Natural Resources – Northern Ireland. Mining: We are also accepting separate submissions and lists of experts for the UK-wide section – Energy and Natural Resources: Mining. Lawyers are recognized for their expertise in domestic or international work, while companies are ranked for their expertise in mining matters, regardless of the jurisdiction in which the work takes place. The section focuses on legal issues surrounding mineral exploration, development and production by mining operations.

Negotiating licensing, streaming and supply deals is just as relevant as M&A transactions, development finance, restructuring initiatives and regulatory matters. The new Banking & Finance table includes banking and general finance, as well as regulations affecting banks and their products. Regulatory work includes the application of legal instruments as well as the representation of clients before the Swiss regulatory authority. This section lists companies and lawyers who advise on contentious and non-contentious licensing work, including new licence applications, amendments to existing licences, and related litigation or reviews. We also have a dedicated UK-wide gaming table for specialist gaming companies, which includes licensing issues as well as wider issues related to traditional and online gambling activities. The rising stars of the Bar Association are defined as lawyers between the ages of four and eight who are considered by clients and colleagues as aspiring members of the Bar Association in their respective fields of activity. You will already be informed on large-scale, complex and high-quality contentious and non-contentious matters and will work with and for more experienced senior lawyers. The UK Infrastructure section lists firms and lawyers advising on transactions related primarily to completed and operational projects. Infrastructure assets may include (but are not limited to) airports, ports, transmission lines, pipelines, and storage (resources).

Secondary market transactions, where infrastructure is the underlying asset, are an essential aspect of the work covered, while contractual amendments, asset management and other legal issues that arise in the course of operating an asset are also relevant. The PFI/PPP Infrastructure section is a separate subsection that recognizes those who perform the above work primarily on PFI/PPP projects. In addition to assets structured on a PFI/PPP basis, other non-traditional models such as the Regulated Asset Base (RAB), the Mutual Investment Model (MIM), the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) and Direct Sourcing for Consumers (DPC) are also relevant to this section.