Managing IP has today, September 1, launched the research process for the 2027 edition of our IP STARS rankings as well as the Managing IP Awards programme.
The research comprises an analysis of submissions, market feedback from interviews and surveys, and independent research.
Our submission portal is now open for law firms to submit their completed research forms. The submission deadline for firms is November 2 2026.
A reminder that 2026 marked a change in the way we presented our rankings.
Starting this year, we released four batches of jurisdiction-specific rankings. We still ranked practitioners and firms in sector-specific areas: patents, trademarks, copyright, and transactions.
However, rather than being released as separate rankings spanning multiple jurisdictions, those practice area rankings were instead included in each jurisdictional release.
That approach will continue into our 2027 programme.
Chris Adams, research lead at IP STARS, said: "We're going into the next research cycle off the back of an incredibly successful year for IP Stars, so we hope to continue this momentum for the 2027 period. Each successive research year has seen sustained growth, and so far the high level of interest from firms is reflecting that trend line.
“IP law markets globally are seeing significant technological and legal developments, as well as lawyer moves and firm consolidation, so we expect to yield no shortage of interesting results from our research."
Firm submissions
The most important way for law firms to participate in our research is to submit their firm questionnaire and client referee documents. Our research analysts use the submissions to determine the firm and practitioner rankings and the Managing IP Awards programme.
Click here to download the firm questionnaire
Click here to download the referee spreadsheet
The submission deadline is November 2 2026.
The submission portal
Our proprietary portal allows users to create accounts, upload their research documents, and have access to them in the future. You can access the portal here and read the user guide here.
Market interviews
We also conduct market interviews as part of our research process. From this month, we will start inviting firms to participate in our market interviews. The interviews are mainly done between October and December. They are scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. Unfortunately, some firms will not be able to get an interview slot, but they should not worry because this will not affect or influence our research decisions.
