Legal 500 Apologizes for Publishing Harsh Barrister Reviews in Website Error

By Legal Cheek on Oct 2 2026 4:34pm Someone at legal directory Legal 500 is in big trouble after accidentally publishing a series of incredibly harsh reviews of lawyers. Among other things, barristers were criticised for the standard of their work, their lateness and their temperament, while clerks were slammed for their billing. Lawyers who didn’t feature grabbed the popcorn across social media… #Legal500 negative reviews!!! 👀 🍿 — Gareth Weetman KC (@Barrister7) October 1, 2026 …and soon after the Legal500 website disappeared. May we refer you instead to the Wigapedia series from Legal Cheek ’s early days. Legal 500 issued this statement: “During a recent website update, an error in the upload process resulted in a small amount of testimonial information being published incorrectly. As soon as we became aware of the issue, we removed the content from our website and began additional verification checks. We recognise the importance of ensuring that the information we publish is accurate and take this matter extremely seriously. We apologise to our customers for any concern or inconvenience caused and are taking immediate steps to strengthen our quality assurance processes and safeguards to prevent a recurrence.” But were they true from a particular source or created by the person inputting information? If so, then I would want the truth not a false glowing character reference. 5 Reply Bigtime 2 days ago I have been around since before legal 500 and remember being hassled relentlessly by research staff for Chambers details and specialisms. The way they present their conclusions of barristers and chambers has been based on how much we were willing to pay. Just another way to fool the punters. Oh and no negative reviews ever until the most recent mistake. 4 Reply See, for instance, 2KBW 1 day ago Reply to Bigtime One of the reasons many chambers don’t engage with these directories and let their reputations speak for themselves instead… 0 Reply Related Stories careers Inside the commercial bar mentoring scheme for under-represented groups Pupils at top sets urge applying 'Totally inappropriate'