International legal research Chambers and Partners (Chambers) has announced its acquisition of Top 3 Legal, founded in 2017.

“The combination of Chambers and Top 3 Legal will create the de facto source of research and analysis for corporates in choosing legal advice and representation”, said Tim Noble CEO at Chambers in a press release.

Top 3 Legal is an innovative online platform that assists businesses in managing their relationships with external law firms. Top 3 Legal allows in-house legal departments to access live information from their colleagues and peers from other organisations to help them identify the external counsel that is right for a particular project.

The acquisition represents a great opportunity for Chambers to further enhance its market leading position by integrating the Top 3 Legal platform into its existing product portfolio, as part of its digital growth strategy. 

Also, it has been announced the hiring of the founders of Top 3 Legal, Richard Fleetwood (former partner at Addleshaw Goddard) and Gareth Stephenson (former partner at Freshfields), to Chambers after the acquisition. 

“Chambers is a fantastic brand and we are delighted to be able to accelerate Top 3 Legal’s growth with the Chambers’ team and content behind it. Richard and I are excited to be working with the team to carry on with our vision of evolving the legal directories market and creating a legal ecosystem for the benefit of all players in the legal sector”, has explained Gareth Stephenson.