Stark Narrative’s proprietary analysis reveals that NautaDutilh, Van Doorne and DLA Piper were top performers for positive reputation amongst their peers.
The second edition of the Positive Law Firm Reputation Index, or REPDEX, analyses how the top laws firms ranked on Advocatuur Top 50 2024 are featured in Tier 1 media.
We focused on business-facing media, including legal press titles and market-facing subsidiaries. The sample includes coverage with a neutral or positive sentiment published 1 January –31 December 2024 mentioning the respective law firms. In total, the sample size consists of 627 entries.
We excluded overtly negative coverage and incidental mentions of firms to ensure that REPDEX effectively measures a firm’s reputation and ability to proactively generate media profiles that support their broader business and strategic goals.
Coverage was categorized as Thought Leadership, Deals & Cases or Firm News. Additionally, we analyzed the names, practice area of the main spokesperson, as well as the topics they commented on. We applied a proprietary weighted scoring methodology to generate the index result itself. The firm with the most points then becomes the index firm, with all other firms ranked accordingly.
It was our first opportunity to conduct a comparative analysis with the data gathered from 2023 and 2024, which yielded some very interesting general findings:
1. The sample size drastically decreased and we saw a remarkable drop in coverage earned by firms across all categories.
2. The dispersion between the top firms’ overall index scores greatly reduced year on year, indicating reduced disparity. In other words, there is a mild flat-line effect amongst the highest performers.
3. The biggest improvers in the index achieved their heightened performance as Thought Leaders.
The index comparison broken down per firm, per annum:
Congratulations to NautaDutilh for placing first in the overall index and for being featured most frequently in Tier 1 media. The firm ranks second Firm News and third in Thought Leadership & Commentary, showing that a robust performance in both categories is key to elevating a brand’s reputation.
To inquire about the possibility of receiving a full copy of the index, or to simply learn more about the methodology and findings, please contact legalpr@starknarrative.com.