Deadline Extended for Bloomberg Law’s Unrivaled Litigators Award

Nominations are now open for the inaugural issue of Bloomberg Law’s Unrivaled, our new award celebrating leading litigators.

About this Award

This award will celebrate litigators at law firms, in the government, at corporations, at universities and at non-profits who lead the legal industry in high-stakes jury and bench trials on impactful litigation matters.

Impact may include setting a legal precedent, shifting an industry, securing significant damages, or defending against claims for damages.

Criteria to Apply

Candidates for this award should have at least two significant wins in jury or bench trials from Jan. 3, 2023, to Feb. 28, 2025.

Submission Requirements

• Each submission should focus on a single litigator that led or a team of up to two litigators that co-led and successfully resolved a client matter or matters at trial.
• Essay: Please submit an essay of up to 1,250 words detailing:

1. Your trial wins or settlements within the submissions period (Jan. 3, 2023, to Feb. 28, 2025),
2. Your strategy to resolve the matter(s),
3. How you and your trial team achieved success and,
4. The impact of the resolution of your matters.
5. Also briefly discuss your history of litigation excellence and success.

• Letter: Please submit at least one client reference letter focusing on one of your two client matters successfully resolved during the submissions period. The letter should include email contact information for the clients. (Optional: You may submit up to one additional reference letter. Read more under “Other Award Details” below.)
• Contact Info: In your submission package, include the nominee’s name, email address and phone number. For nominations submitted by communications professionals, please include their phone and email contact information as well.
• Optional: You may also include supplemental information related to your successful litigation matters such as media reports. Please limit those materials to up to three pages.

Deadline and How to Submit

Submit your nomination here by 6 p.m. EST on March 10, 2025.

Other Award Details

How do you define “winning” in bench or jury trials? Will settlements be considered?

For this contest, winning will include successful resolution of client matters in jury or bench trials and favorable settlements.

What is the maximum number of submissions we can enter for this contest?

Organizations should not submit more than two submissions for this contest. Our review team will consider a maximum of two submissions per organization.

What is the maximum number of reference letters we should include?

Submit at least one reference letter from a client. You may submit one additional reference letter, for a total of two reference letters. The second, optional letter can come from a client, a colleague, a mentor or other professional knowledgeable about your work in litigation.

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.

Is this nomination open to candidates outside of the US?

Yes, we welcome nominations from across the globe for this one. Firms are limited to two nominations — and a maximum of four nominees (either one lawyer or a two-lawyer team per nomination).

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.

Are self-nominations allowed?

Lawyers may submit nominations on behalf of themselves, with the understanding that organizations are capped at two nominations for this award cycle. We encourage self-nominators and their organizations to be in touch about individuals or teams that may be up for the award.

When you say “led” or “co-led” a litigation matter, what percentage of the work is the nominating firm or organization required to have completed?

Law firms and other organizations nominating litigators 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 work was a result of the collaboration of two or more firms, corporate legal departments, non-profits and/or other organizations, you must indicate what percentage of the work each of the organizations handled.

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 those litigators they deem their best candidates with the understanding that they will compete against others who meet the submission requirements.

For other questions, please contact us at submissions@bloombergindustry.com.

Learn about Bloomberg Law’s other rankings, surveys, and awards:

• They’ve Got Next: The 40 Under 40: Nominations for the 2005 class are now open. Read More
• Leading Law Firms: Bloomberg Law’s inaugural law firm ranking. Read More
• Inclusion Framework: Discover our 2024 law firms and stay notified for the opening of 2025 applications. Read More
• League Tables: Learn more about Big Law’s top M&A advisors in 2024. Read More
• Pro Bono Innovators: Read about the ten law firms that were honored in 2024. Read More