Nominations are now open for the 2026 edition of Unrivaled, Bloomberg Law’s award celebrating top trial lawyers.
This award celebrates litigators at law firms, in the government, at corporations, at universities and at non-profits who lead the legal industry in complex, high-stakes jury and bench trials on impactful litigation matters.
We invite those seeking to nominate top trial lawyers to review answers to frequently asked questions we’ve received or anticipate.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the Unrivaled award requirements?
We will consider nominees who have achieved at least two significant wins in jury or bench trials or favorable settlements from Jan. 2, 2024 to March 24, 2026. (Please review the Call for Nominations for more details.)
Can you detail some qualities of previous Unrivaled honorees?
Past Unrivaled honorees led or co-led complex and impactful trial wins and settlements. In many, but not all cases, the high-stakes nature of these trials and settlements have also made them newsworthy.
What is the maximum number of submissions we can enter for this contest?
Organizations may submit up to two submissions for each year’s Unrivaled contest. Our review team will consider a maximum of two submissions per organization per year.
Do you have guidance for letters of recommendation?
The nominee should select a client to write who has knowledge of and proximity to the litigation matter or matters submitted.
Ideally, the client’s letter will describe in detail how the nominee achieved successful trial or settlement results in at least one of the matters. It should also give the reader a good sense of the character and leadership capabilities of the nominee.
Often, client letters are from in-house counsel. However, those in other roles may also be well positioned to speak for client organizations.
How many recommendation letters do you require and who should author?
As noted, we require one client recommendation letter. Our editorial team will consider the client’s knowledge of and proximity to the nominee’s litigation matter.
Nominees may submit one additional reference letter, for a total of two reference letters. Additional letters can come from a client, a colleague, a mentor, or other professionals knowledgeable about their litigation work. However, they are not required.
Will recommendation letters from clients be made public?
Nominators for Unrivaled and other special reports should be advised that we consider information submitted “on the record,” for potential publication. We reserve the right to use materials submitted, including excerpts from recommendation letters, in conjunction with our special report publication.
Should we submit confidential information?
No. Please omit confidential information. As noted, information submitted in Unrivaled nominations should be considered “on the record” for potential publication.
More broadly, please clear any potentially sensitive information with clients that you plan to include in your nomination. Once submitted, our editorial team is unable to scrub submission details on the back-end.
What percentage of the work is a nominating firm or organization that co-led a win required to have completed?
Litigators being considered for Unrivaled should have led or co-led the litigation matters they are submitting for consideration, with their legal teams completing at least 60% of the work on the matters. The nominee lawyer or lawyers should have played the lead role(s) in the resolution of the matters.
If the outcome was a result of the collaboration of at least two firms, corporate legal departments, non-profits and/or other organizations, you must include in your submission what percentage of the work each organization handled.
Can previous Unrivaled honorees apply again?
Yes, we invite previous honorees to apply! This is provided they are submitting wins in new client matters. This would be work on matters on which they haven’t already been honored.
Some examples follow:
- Partner Lucy was a 2025 Unrivaled honoree. Her firm submitted high-stakes IP trial wins she led for companies A and B. Her firm wants to also nominate her for consideration for the 2026 Unrivaled cohort. They’ll include two new client matters, different than those for which she was already honored. They could be new matters for companies A & B or matters for other clients. Fine for Lucy to submit.
- Partner Charles was also an Unrivaled honoree. His firm is considering submitting the same two antitrust matters for which he won in 2025, which he and his team recently won again on appeal. We’d suggest Charlie not submit this year.
- Alternatively, Charles co-led two new matters with fellow firm partner Franklin: a trial win and a settlement. Neither Charles nor Franklin were previously honored for this work, although Charles is a previous Unrivaled honoree. Fine to nominate Charles and Franklin for these two new matters. In this case, we’d recommend nominating these attorneys jointly and focusing the submission on these new matters.
How do you approach complexity and impact?
Broadly, we think of complex litigation as high-stakes matters that took a lot of strategy and, often, cross-practice collaboration, to resolve. The deck may have appeared to be stacked against the victor, due to the facts, circumstances, or prior litigation history of similar matters.
Impact may include, but is not limited to, setting a legal precedent, shifting an industry, securing significant damages, or successfully defending against claims for significant damages. Or it may be that the trial or settlement outcome impacted a large number of people or resulted in a key policy change.
Is this nomination open to candidates outside of the US?
We welcome nominations from across the U.S. and the globe. Firms and other organizations are limited to two nominations, and a maximum of four nominees total per award year (in this case, 2026.)
In which format should we send our nominations?
Submission essays should be sent as Microsoft Word documents. Reference letters may be sent as either Word or PDF documents. Please submit all nominations through our awards portal.
Are self-nominations allowed?
We welcome trial lawyers to self-nominate, with the understanding that organizations are capped at two nominations per award year. We encourage self-nominators and their organizations to communicate about who they intend to nominate.
How strict is the requirement for litigators to have had two significant wins within the time period? Will you consider nominees with one win?
Organizations are free to submit litigators they deem their best candidates with the understanding that they will compete against others meeting all submission requirements.
Still have questions? We’re happy to help. Contact us at submissions@bloombergindustry.com.
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