Legal Business’ Euro Elite comprises independent law firms based in more than 40 European jurisdictions, rather than branches of international firms or Vereins.
To compile the 100 firms featured in this report, we used a scoring system based on the rankings of firms in the 2020 edition of The Legal 500 EMEA. Points were allocated for firms ranked in tiers 1-3 in tables featured in the guide. Top-tier rankings earned three points, second tier two and third one point.
Points were given for rankings in key strategic practice areas only: corporate/commercial; banking/finance; disputes; real estate; and tax. Corporate/M&A was given extra weighting, so rankings in this category earned a +50% points score. Therefore a top-tier ranking in M&A would score 4.5 points.
Jurisdiction weighting
Points scored for The Legal 500 EMEA rankings were adjusted depending on the size of the jurisdiction, according to the banding below. Jurisdictions in Band 3 received no mark-up on points, while rankings for countries in Band 1 scored a +75% mark-up. Scores in countries in Band 2 received a +50% mark-up. Those in Band 4 received a -25% mark down.
Band 1
Germany
Band 2
France, Italy, Spain
Band 3
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey
Band 4
Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Kosovo, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Ukraine
Therefore, for example, a tier-one ranking in Germany for M&A, real estate and banking would score a total of 18 points, while the same rankings in those practice areas in Ukraine would receive seven points.