Welcome to the Chambers Canada Guide 2023. Search the legal market's best law firms and lawyers using the search functionality above.

Chambers Canada differentiates the best legal talent across a range of provincial, national and international law firms based across the country, to assist those looking for the most suitable providers of legal services for when it matters.  

Each ranking is based on the Chambers ranking system which is established from the most in-depth market analysis and comprehensive independent research, that is unrivalled in accuracy, depth and quality and carried out by our experienced team of London-based researchers.  

The Chambers Canada team continues to work with law firms of all sizes, from small local boutique firms to large full-service firms to ensure we champion exceptional talent wherever it exists and deliver unparalleled and indispensable insights.  

To find out more about our research process and how we rank firms please see our methodology page.    

Law firms of all sizes and across all areas of law can submit to be ranked in the guide, to showcase their expertise and connect with buyers of legal services.   

The release of the Chambers Canada 2024 research schedule can be found at this  link.  

Keep up to date with all of your relevant submission deadlines throughout the year and get personalised submission reminders in your calendar here.

Watch our From Submission to Ranking webinar to learn more about this years upcoming research and best practices for submissions.

The Chambers Canada team and Chambers remain committed to ensuring that our coverage of the ever growing and evolving legal market across Canada is reflective of the market realities and trends, as well as the requirements of those looking for detailed analysis and insights on the top law firms and lawyers across the country. 

In interviews this year, our researchers identified a number of key market trends across various areas of law and geographic regions in the country. A particularly interesting development was the early signs of a shift of class action lawsuits away from Ontario, with an increasing number of plaintiff’s initiating lawsuits in other provinces due to a number of recent decisions that suggest Ontario is becoming an increasingly defendant-friendly jurisdiction. 

Other noteworthy trends across research include an increase in M&A activity, particularly in the commodities and technology sectors, the growing significance of Energy Transition work as a proportion of the energy & natural resources market and market uncertainty becoming pervasive across the country, due to rising inflation and supply chain issues caused by the conflict in Ukraine.  

We were also able to introduce a number of changes to the structure of some tables in the Canada Guide, as well as a few brand new tables to ensure we recognize the best lawyers in a number of distinct categories.

In the area of Tax, we have introduced a new Indirect Tax subsection, a spotlight table which recognises the leading lawyers in this area. Simmilarly, we have also this year introduced a sub-table to recognise those litigators based in Alberta who have a focus on Securities matters.

In Ontario, we have fundamentally enhanced our recognition of lawyers and law firms focusing on Mid-market real estate transactions. We have expanded our coverage of law firms, introducing numerical bands to the table for the first time, and we now also recognise individual lawyers for their work in this area too.

Finally, we have also introduced numerically ranked department rankings for Zoning & Land Use real estate matters in Alberta.

We continuously strive to partner with all law firms to ensure their female partners and associates are included in our research process, as diversity and inclusion in the legal market are vital focuses.  

A specific initiative for the 2023 Canada Guide was a concerted attempt to make sure that the gender balance of lawyers interviewed was as close to 50/50 a possible. This was in an attempt to ensure that we avoid an echo chamber effect in our research and hopefully shine a light on individuals who may have been underrepresented in the research process in previous years. 

Across the research period, 45% of our call requests were with male lawyers, 39% with female lawyers and the remaining 9% were balanced, in that we either didn’t request a specific individual, or asked to speak to both a male and female lawyer on the call. 

The result was that 51% of our calls were with male lawyers, 34% with female lawyers and 15% had both a female and male lawyer on the call. 

As a result, the Canada Guide was able to hit a significant milestone, with over 25% of lawyers in the guide being female this year, a 3% increase when compared to last years figures. 

Having almost half our interviews be conducted with at least 1 female lawyer on the call is certainly a positive takeaway from the process, and though many factors determine the lawyers we request interviews in any given year, we hope that continuing to focus on diversity in future years will continue to aid our recognition of female lawyers in the Canada Guide. 

Another focus of the Canada Guide for the 2023 release was to enhance our coverage of both associates and younger partners in the guide, to ensure that we remain at the forefront of identifying the next generation of elite lawyers in the Canadian legal market. 

By instructing the research team to pay particular attention to the presence of associates and recently promoted partners on submission documents, and then cross-reference this against the lawyers attracting significant positive commentary from clients and market sources, we were able to achieve the following increases in recognition: 

The increase in work we have seen in Canada over the last year has also meant an increase in the participation of law firms in our research. 

During this time our researchers spent several months carefully analysing law firm submissions and conducting thousands of interviewees with client referees to ensure our knowledge and understanding of each submitting practice was extensive, allowing us to provide market-leading reviews and rankings. 

For the 2023 Guide, we saw growth in practically every area of the guide: 

*This data is correct as of 29^th September 2022  

Chambers Canada 2023 is the eighth release of the guide. Our skilled team of researchers conducted in-depth research between February 2022 and June 2022.  

During this time our researchers spent several months carefully analysing law firm submissions and conducting thousands of interviewees with client referees to ensure our knowledge and understanding of each submitting practice was extensive, allowing us to provide irrefutable market-leading reviews and rankings that truly reflect ability and talent. 

From Submission to Rankings: Chambers Canada
The Chambers Canada team share the answers to questions asked during the Submission to Ranking: Canada webinar, providing details and insights into all things relating to submissions and referees. 

Key Findings from Research for the 2023 Canada Guide
In this podcast, James Roberts, Head of Canada Research discuss the key results from the Chambers Canada 2023 Guide with Senior Research Analyst Tom Lambert

Diversity and Inclusion in the Chambers Canada 2023 Guide
Learn about the initiatives put in place during research into the Chambers Canada 2023 Guide, to help our rankings reflect a diverse and inclusive legal market, and discover the key results from our research.

Chambers Canada 2024 Research Schedule
The Chambers Canada team share an update and insight into the research schedule for the 2024 guide.

New Chambers Canada Head of Research
Read about the appointment in the Chambers Canada team of a new Head of Research.

The Chambers Methodology involves our Research Analysts collecting information about submitting firms to learn more about their practice, services and previous work to allow our rankings and analysis to reflect the strengths of the top law firms across Canada.  

To learn more about how we research the market and rank firms and lawyers, please visit our methodology page.