Legal 500 takes site offline after erroneous negative lawyer reviews publish
Legal 500 publisher Legalease took its rankings website offline for maintenance on October 2, 2026, after an upload error published incorrect negative testimonial text on some lawyer profiles when the directory went live the day before, the Law Gazette and City A.M. reported. A Legal 500 spokesperson said the firm removed the content, began verification checks, and is strengthening quality safeguards.
Report (Law Gazette) → · City A.M.
Key points
- The Legal 500 site showed as down for maintenance on the morning of October 2, 2026, after the directory went live the prior day.Law GazetteCity A.M.
- Legalease said an upload-process error published a small amount of testimonial information incorrectly.Law GazetteCity A.M.
- The company said it removed the content, began additional verification checks, and is strengthening quality-assurance safeguards.Law GazetteCity A.M.
- Screenshots circulating among lawyers included harsh criticisms of named barristers' organization, written work, and speed.Law GazetteCity A.M.
- The outage followed Legalease's settlement earlier the same week of a researcher pay dispute that ended strike action.Law GazetteCity A.M.