Lexology Index: Arbitration 2025 is the culmination of months of research by Lexology Index and GAR. Our main Arbitration lawyers' report identifies 1,626 prominent lawyers recommended for their expertise in resolving complex international disputes. In addition, we highlight 520 leading expert witnesses, selected for their excellence across a wide range of matters, and nearly 900 top Future Leaders lawyers aged 45 and under. Through nominations from peers and clients, the arbitrators, tribunal members, chairs, counsel and experts listed have been recognised by their peers and clients as the leading names in the field.

We are proud to be able to share the results of this research with Lexology's readership of over 900,0000 subscribers.

Research statistics

• More than 160,000 data points analysed
• 2,900+ research submissions from leading law firms worldwide
• In person interviews conducted in London, New York and Hong Kong
• 2,200+ submissions from leading corporates across the globe
• Only 53% of nominees considered in our research were ultimately selected for inclusion

Lexology Index has never considered so many, or such a variety of, data points in a single report before now.

Research methodology

The 2025 research process saw thousands of practitioners and referees responded to our requests for feedback on the market, resulting in the listings see lawyers and expert witnesses from 102 countries listed, while more than 1,100 law firms, barristers’ chambers and consulting firms are represented. For the first time, we also looked at evidence of work highlights collected by our sister publication, GAR, as well as from publicly available sources, to assist our decision making

Leading firms

Lexology Index does not rank firms or sets, only individual practitioners. The charts below show the firms and sets home to the most listed practitioners in this year’s guide.

Lawyers

Freshfields takes the lead this year in terms of total number of practitioners listed, although more than two-thirds of its listings are Future Leaders. White & case has the most practitioners selected in the main Arbitration category. King & Spalding, Clifford Chance, Herbert Smith Freehills and A&O Shearman all have 30 or more listings. Many firms now possess talented rosters of younger practitioners, including 10 firms now with more than 10 Future Leaders.

Experts

Among expert firms, Secretariat edges out FTI Consulting as the firm with the most listings for the first time. closely followed by HKA continue to improve their standings. Eight top firms dominate the listings this year, earning more than 20 listings each.

Global Elite Thought Leaders

Lexology Index considered 5,734 practitioners for inclusion in our main Arbitration and Arbitration Expert Witnesses listings (not including Future Leaders). Of these, 2,044 practitioners were listed as recommended practitioners, while only 172 (2.99 per cent) were accorded our highest ranking of Global Elite Thought Leader.

The 116 lawyers and 56 expert witnesses selected were regarded as the very best by peers and clients, achieving the highest number of recommendations in the research.

In the Future Leaders category, we also name top practitioners as 'Most Highly Regarded', reflecting their excellent performance this year.

You can view the full lists of Global Elite Thought Leaders and Most Highly Regarded Future Leaders using the links below

View Global Elite Thought Leaders

View Most Highly Regarded Future Leaders

Further details on our research process can be found on our Methodology page. If you have any feedback on our research, please email us at [email protected].