Frequently Asked Questions
What makes the BLF credible?
The BLF is a data led, and independently audited process. There is no element of "pay to play" for participating firms or professionals.
In addition to this, the survey questionnaire is designed to not collect any personally-identifiable information, to ensure that professionals can participate in the survey without the possibility of their responses being attributed back to them. Further, the results of the survey shall undergo an independent audit to eliminate the unlikely possibility of any bias in the entire process.
Who do we share the survey response data with?
Responses to the BLF 2022 Survey are kept strictly confidential by Vahura and the independent auditor for BLF, 2022.
Individual responses to the BLF 2022 Survey are kept strictly confidential by Vahura. With the exception of the independent auditor, no response to the survey has been shared with any third-parties, including our media partners who have featured the BLF 2022 Report. Any data shared with any third-parties is limited to the overall insights and trends featured in BLF 2022 Report.
In addition to this, any particular insights and trends attributable to a particular law firm are kept confidential and shared exclusively with the law firm in question, upon request.
Who is the independent auditor for BLF?
Stakeholder Empowerment Services (SES) is the independent auditor for BLF, 2022.
As one of India’s leading not-profit proxy advisory and governance research firms, SES has a rich, demonstrated history of conducting in-depth and robust analysis that have consistently enabled enterprises and investors to make better informed decisions.
As independent auditors for the BLF, SES shall independently evaluate the survey and attest to the accuracy of the results, prior to them being published.
How do we prevent fake or multiple responses to the survey?
The survey questionnaire is designed to accept only one response per user.
While fake responses are always a reality in surveys such as this, where we don’t have a direct line of sight on the respondents, we have taken steps to limit the number of fake respondents. To this end, we’ve ensured that no respondent can attempt the survey twice from the same link. Therefore, even if someone from the IT team for example, were to participate in the survey, our presumption here is that their responses would not statistically skew the overall result.
Why should a professional participate in the survey?
The BLF survey aims to objectively capture the opinions of law firm professionals with respect to the overall work experience and culture of their workplaces.
We believe that honest and transparent feedback from professionals will ultimately go a long way towards facilitating conversations and discussions that could help law firms move towards creating cultures that are fair and equitable.
How is a participant's confidentiality protected?
The BLF survey questionnaire is designed to ensure that professionals are not matched to their survey responses in any manner.
Professionals are asked to participate anonymously and no self-identifiable information is analyzed to ensure strict confidentiality. This ensures that no person, including any member of Vahura, can match a survey response to any particular individual. We realize that this problem is all the more acute for professionals from smaller law firms, and therefore any other questions that may indicate the professional's identity (such as the name of their law school) are optional and not mandatory to answer.
What insights does a law firm get by participating in the BLF?
The BLF offers law firms an opportunity to truly understand their brand perception amongst legal professionals.
The BLF allows all participating firms an opportunity to determine industry benchmarks when it comes to defining the future of work. In addition, we will also endeavour to recognize the featured Best Law Firms to Work by providing them a platform to showcase their best practices to the legal community.
We only publish the names of the featured Best Law Firms to Work. We do not publicly reveal the names of any other firms whose professionals have participated in the survey.
In addition to this, once the results of the survey are published, we plan to conduct individual debrief sessions with firms, on request, and help them identify the areas where they have performed well and areas where there is scope for improvement in their cultures.
How are law firms ranked as one of the Best Law Firms to Work?
The Best Law Firms to Work are determined based on rigorously analysing the responses to a survey that is designed to accurately factor in the key aspects of law firm culture and leadership.
The survey will be shared directly with professionals working in law firms and will also be publicly accessible on Vahura’s social media handles, to allow direct participation by law firm professionals. This methodology is specially designed to reveal the consistency in the pattern of rating law firms by participants and thereby allow for greater accuracy in our response analyses.
If the responses particular to a firm result in a score that is higher than the firm's industry peers, the firm would be accredited as one of the "Best Law Firms to Work" in 2022.
How do firms qualify to be ranked in the BLF?
Qualification to be ranked in the BLF depends on a minimum number of participants from each firm, as mentioned below
Firms with 10 - 50 fee-earning members: at least 40% of such members.
Firms with 51 - 250 fee-earning members: at least 20% of such members.
Firms with 250+ fee-earning members: at least 15% of such members.
