Benchmark Litigation is the only publication on the market to focus exclusively on dispute resolution. Since its inception in 2008, the Benchmark brand has grown dramatically and garnered industry-wide accolades as the definitive hub for in-depth analysis of the players shaping the dynamic practice of litigation. In keeping with Benchmark’s sharp rise in popularity, its publishing staff increasingly aims to respond to the demands of its audience.

The Asia-Pacific guide officially launched in 2018, with a dedicated team located in Hong Kong and actively researching the market on the ground. We exclusively cover the litigation and disputes markets and aim to provide law firm and lawyer rankings on the market’s most important cases and firm developments across the region.

Research is conducted through extensive interviews with litigators, dispute resolution specialists and their clients to identify the leading litigators and firms. During these interviews, we examine recent casework handled by law firms and ask individual litigators to provide their professional opinions on peers and practitioners within their jurisdiction or practice area.

The annual research cycle begins in August every year and the results are published in May the next year. The 2025 edition of Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific research has been concluded and it's been published online.

The Benchmark Litigation awards are held every year based on the submissions and research for the guide.

A well-attended webinar was held on 10 September 2025. A huge thank you to those of you who joined and took the time to listen in, your patience is much appreciated.

You may watch the recording HERE and download the webinar slides PDF.

As requested by many participants, a practice area definition guide can be downloaded HERE.

During the webinar, we received many thoughtful questions about the research process that we did not have time to answer. We have prepared a follow-up webinar Q&A document that can be downloaded HERE (2026).

Last year's webinar Q&A was quite comprehensive, so for further guidance, you may review our follow-up and download it HERE (2025).

BENCHMARK LITIGATION APAC RESEARCH FORM 2026

BENCHMARK LITIGATION APAC CLIENT REFEREE FORM 2026

To take part in our research simply:

1. Download our RESEARCH FORM and CLIENT REFEREE FORM
2. Complete the form(s)
3. Upload them to our ONLINE SUBMISSION TOOL (ACCREDITATION PORTAL)

_{** Note: You will need to sign up for and register an account on the accreditation portal before you can upload the submissions **
** Due to GDPR compliance, we cannot accept submissions outside of the portal **}

DO NOT USE THE FORM AND LINKS FROM THE PREVIOUS YEARS. THE FORM AND LINKS ARE MADE FOR EACH RESEARCH CYCLE AND ARE UPDATED EACH YEAR.

Practice area submission: Due to our submission portal requirements, you must submit SEPARATE research forms for each dispute resolution practice area (e.g. commercial and transactions, competition, international arbitration, white-collar crime etc).

Client referee submission: Each firm should submit only ONE referee excel form with all client details as we do not require practice area specifications. As you upload the excel form, when prompted to select a practice area, simply select any one of the relevant practice areas to your firm and submit. This will link the excel to your submission account irrespective of practice area selection (thus, each submission account should have only one excel form uploaded).

We publish law firm and lawyer rankings and accompanying editorial online.
We research the following dispute resolution practice areas (but not limited to):

_{*Kindly note that 'Commercial and transactions' refers to general commercial, corporate, transactions-related disputes only. We do not cover non-contentious, transactional work. Benchmark Litigation Asia-Pacific practice area definitions can be downloaded HERE.}

In each jurisdiction that we cover we have different practice area ranking tables depending on the nature and sophistication of the market.

Below we have listed the ranking categories that we cover in each country.

New categories may be introduced if, during the course of the research period, the level of market feedback indicates enough evidence for an addition. 

Australia – Class action, Commercial and transactions, Government and regulatory, Insurance*, Intellectual property

China – Commercial and transactions, Construction, Financial services regulatory*, Government and regulatory, Insolvency, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Labour and employment

China and Hong Kong SAR (International firms) – Commercial and transactions, Construction, Family and matrimonial, Financial services regulatory*, Insolvency, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Private client, Shipping, White-collar crime

Hong Kong SAR (Domestic firms) – Commercial and transactions, Family and matrimonial, Financial services regulatory*, Labour and employment, Insolvency, Intellectual property, Private client, White-collar crime

India – Commercial and transactions, Competition/antitrust, Construction, Government and regulatory, Insolvency, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Labour and employment, Tax, Technology, data and privacy*, White-collar crime, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi (please include the city/cities your submission is reflecting in the form at the top)

Indonesia – Commercial and transactions, Insolvency, Intellectual property, Labour and employment, White-collar crime*

Japan – Commercial and transactions, Intellectual property, International arbitration, White-collar crime

Malaysia – Commercial and transactions, Competition/antitrust, Construction, Intellectual property, Labour and employment, Shipping, Tax, White-collar crime

New Zealand – Commercial and transactions

Philippines – Commercial and transactions, Government and regulatory, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Labour and employment, Tax, White-collar crime

Singapore – Commercial and transactions, Commodities and trade*, Construction, Family and matrimonial, Insolvency, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Labour and employment, Private client, Shipping, Technology, data and privacy*, White-collar crime

South Korea – Commercial and transactions, Competition/antitrust, Construction, Government and regulatory*, Insolvency, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Labour and employment, Product liability and recall, Tax, White-collar crime

Taiwan – Commercial and transactions, Intellectual property, Labour and employment, White-collar crime

Thailand – Commercial and transactions, Government and regulatory, Intellectual property, Labour and employment, Trade and customs

Vietnam – Commercial and transactions, Construction, Energy, Intellectual property, International arbitration, Labour and employment, White-collar crime*

* New areas for 2026

Research Timeline

• RESEARCH BEGINS (Submission portals open) – 25 August 2025
• SUBMISSION DEADLINE (firms and client referees) – 24 October 2025 
• RESEARCH INTERVIEWS (firms and client referees) – Late September to December
• RANKINGS AND EDITORIALS PUBLISHED ONLINE – 6 May 2026

Please contact the relevant researcher for your country if you have any specific questions:

Candice Mak at candice.mak@legalbenchmarkinggroup.com (India, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam)

Kelsey Li at kelsey.li@legalbenchmarkinggroup.com (Australia, China, China and Hong Kong SAR, Hong Kong SAR, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Philippines)

Miao Sha at miao.sha@legalbenchmarkinggroup.com (Benchmark China regions, Taiwan)

Do NOT use a research form from the previous years as there are adjustments in the research form each year. Download the latest available research form every year.

Please indicate if a matter is confidential or partially confidential by writing in 'Yes' or 'No' into the relevant box. If there is any confidential element to a matter, it will not be published.

The first section on the form is for the awards nominations. You may nominate up to three cases per practice area and fill out the form accordingly. We will only consider the cases filled out in this section.

Provide up to 20 case highlights per practice area, listing in order of importance or significance. Although not advised, if you wish to submit more than 20 cases, please provide them in a shortened, list format (contact your relevant researcher to discuss further).

Case highlights must be ongoing or completed within the last 12 months. This time period should roughly cover August 2024 - October 2025.

Clearly indicate correct practice area(s) for each case highlight.

Try to fully complete the form by filling in all required information.

Do NOT delete any question or section in our research form. Leave it blank, if you do not wish to provide any specific information.

Do NOT capitalise or highlight the text. Do NOT adjust or alter the format of the research form.

Keep the contents concise and to the point. You may bold some sentences indicating importance.

Remember to include reasons why the case is important or significant.

Please include your firm’s name and jurisdiction (and practice area) when saving your research form. The suggested format is FirmName_Jurisdiction_BMAP2026. If you are submitting by practice areas, save as follows: FirmName_Jurisdiction_PracticeArea_BMAP2026.

Upload it to our online submission portal once completed. We do not accept submissions via email.

Please make sure all your research forms are fully completed and are correct versions. We cannot guarantee any corrections or amendments to what you first submitted will be implemented.

There is NO LIMIT on the number of client referees you can submit.

Please follow the client referee excel format exactly and do not make any changes. We do not need to know the recommending lawyers and/or practice areas.

Only submit ONE excel sheet per firm. Please include all firm clients on the single excel form.

All client referees that are submitted will be contacted.

All client information provided will be treated as confidential.

We do not accept late submissions for client referees.

Our Lawyer survey is a quick and easy way for lawyers to tell us about their practice and promote their credentials, colleagues and peers. Lawyers can also provide feedback on our existing lists of ranked firms and individuals. The survey is open to all disputes lawyers and a notification will be sent to registered firms once it is launched.

Take the Lawyer survey HERE.

The survey will close on December 31, 2025.

• Guaranteed basic editorial coverage
• Accurate and in-depth representation of your firm’s activities
• Exposure to our global readership at the world’s most significant corporations and financial institutions
• No cost involved

Our law firm rankings are based on three key criteria:

Case evidence
In each research cycle, we ask firms to provide recent case highlights and this is used to determine their position in the market.

Firms should provide their most complex and interesting cases in the research form and explain clearly to our research team why they are important and what they tell us about the firm’s abilities.

Peer feedback
In addition to conducting virtual or in-person interviews with practitioners, we will offer an online lawyer survey for all dispute resolution practitioners to complete. The lawyer survey collects feedback on the practitioners, and on our current law firm rankings and leading lawyers.

Client feedback
We speak to a wide range of corporate and in-house contacts as part of our client feedback survey to get their opinions on the firms and lawyers they use. Please note that law firms and referring practitioners are not given direct access to the survey. We also do not guarantee that client feedback will be published.

Alongside our firm rankings, we also recognise the work of outstanding individuals. Our recommendations are based on the same three factors as our law firm rankings and consist of the following categories:

Lawyers who are highly regarded by their peers and possess a strong case record and positive client feedback.

'Ones to watch' these are lawyers who are building their reputations in the market.

^{*Please note only submitted cases via the Benchmark Litigation research form will be accepted for awards consideration. Please fill in the required information in the top blue section for awards nominations. Even if your submission is in another template/format, we must receive the awards nomination cases in our specific form *}

For the industry sectors to note down for the awards case highlights, please use one of these:
Aviation and shipping - Banking and financial services - Consumer goods and services - Energy - Industrials and manufacturing - Infrastructure - Insurance - Materials - Media and entertainment - Mining - Oil and gas - Pharmaceuticals and life sciences - Real estate - Transportation - Technology and telecommunications

The awards assessment is highly case-based. The editorial team reviews specific work matters and focuses on those that are landmark, novel, precedent -setting or unusually complex. The criteria is different from what we evaluate for the rankings.

It is possible for a lower-ranked firm to be shortlisted or for a top tier firm not to be shortlisted. To ensure the nominated matters you put forth reflect their merits, please remember to include relevant information in the significance portion of the submission form.

Additional awards for 2026: 

1. Top 100 Women in Litigation in Asia (extra submission materials not required)
2. Top 40 Litigators under 40 in Asia (nominations accepted via the research form)