Last updated: 26 October 2026
These Terms of Use (together with the documents referred to in them, the “Terms”) govern your use of our website at www.legal500.com and all other Legal 500 applications and websites (the “Site”), whether you access the Site as a guest, a registered user, or a paid-for registered subscriber user. Please read these terms of use carefully before using the Site. By using the Site, you confirm that you accept these Terms and that you agree to comply with them. If you do not agree, please immediately stop using the Site.
The Terms form a legally binding agreement between you and us. Please take time to read them carefully. In particular, please:
• see how we limit our liability to you in clause 9; and
• note that we can suspend, terminate or otherwise restrict your access to the Site or any account you may have with us if you breach these Terms as set out in clause 2.
1. Information about us
The Site is operated by Legalease Limited (trading as Legal 500) (“we”, “us” or “our”). We are registered in England and Wales under company number 02427356 and have our registered office at 188 Fleet Street, London, United Kingdom, EC4A 2AG. Our Group VAT number is GB 321 5727 22.
You can contact us by post at the above address or by using the contact form on the Site.
2. Accessing the site
We do not guarantee that the Site, or any content on it, will always be available or uninterrupted. We may suspend, withdraw, or restrict the availability of all or any part of the Site, for example, for business or operational reasons. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any planned suspension or withdrawal where practicable.
You are responsible for making all arrangements necessary for you to have access to the Site including the use of compatible equipment and software. You are also responsible for ensuring that all persons who access the Site through your internet connection are aware of, and comply with, these Terms.
If you breach these Terms, we may suspend, terminate or otherwise restrict your access to the Site and any account you may have (whether you are a free registered user or you are a user of a paid-for subscription).
3. Account security
If you choose, or you are provided with, a user identification code, password or any other piece of information as part of our security procedures to create a registered account (whether as part of a free registration or a paid-for subscription), you must treat such information as confidential, and you must not disclose it to any third party.
We may disable any user identification code, password and/or account, at any time, if we reasonably believe you have failed to comply with any of the provisions of these Terms.
If you know or suspect that anyone other than you knows your user identification code or password, you must contact us as soon as possible using the contact details in clause 1 above.
4. Guest and registered users
You can browse and use certain areas of the Site as a guest, free of charge, without needing to create an account.
You may also be able to register for an account with us free of charge. Registering may give you access to additional content, features and services on the Site that are not available to guest users. The level of access to content, features and services may also depend on what category of registered user you are (for example, a registered user working in-house, or a registered user working in private practice). The specific content and features available to registered users may change from time to time.
From time to time, we may also offer certain registered users the opportunity to participate in reward schemes to access additional content, features and services on the Site.
5. Paid-for subscriptions
Paid-for subscriptions may be arranged with companies or law firms (the “Subscriber”) to enable the Subscriber’s permitted users (“Permitted Users”) to access certain additional paid-for content, services and features. The subscription itself is governed by separate enterprise subscription terms between us and the Subscriber; however, each Permitted User accessing the Site is subject to, and must comply with, these Terms.
A Permitted User’s access to any paid-for subscription may be withdrawn by the Subscriber at any time. For example, if the Permitted User moves organisation, their access to paid-for subscription content, features and services will come to an end.
A Permitted User’s access to any paid-for subscription may also be terminated if the relevant subscription comes to an end for any reason.
6. Automated access, AI use and data extraction
You must not access, extract, scrape, harvest, copy or reuse any part of the Site or its content using automated means, including bots, crawlers, scripts, AI tools, machine learning systems or similar technologies, or otherwise extract or download content systematically or in bulk, except where expressly permitted by us in writing or where such access is permitted by applicable law.
You must not use any content made available on the Site for the purposes of training, fine-tuning, validating or otherwise developing artificial intelligence or machine learning models, or to create or enrich any dataset, database or product or service that competes with the Site or Legal 500’s services, without our prior written consent. This does not prevent you from using reasonable amounts of content within AI-enabled productivity or research tools solely for purposes otherwise permitted under these Terms, provided that the tool does not retain the content to train or improve its models and the use does not involve automated or bulk extraction.
You must comply with any instructions communicated through technical measures, including our robots.txt file and other access-control mechanisms.
Where our content is reproduced, summarised, referenced or otherwise reused with our permission or as permitted by law, such usage must at all times: (a) give appropriate attribution to Legal 500; (b) be in accordance with our Brand Guidelines; and (c) where relevant, comply with any applicable subscription agreement, unless we agree otherwise in writing.
7. Intellectual property rights
We are the owner or the authorised licensee of all intellectual property rights in our Site and the material published on it, including without limitation text, graphics, logos, images and software. Those works are protected by copyright, trade mark and other intellectual property laws around the world.
Subject to these Terms, we give you a non-exclusive, limited, revocable licence to access and view materials contained on the Site and (where permitted) to print extracts, subject to the following conditions:
• You may view, print off and download reasonable extracts of any page(s) from our Site, and share those extracts with colleagues within your organisation (provided such sharing is permitted under any applicable subscription agreement), for your personal use or your internal professional or business purposes (for example, research, client development or internal briefings), provided that this does not involve reproducing all or a substantial part of the content on the Site.
• You must not modify the paper or digital copies of any materials you have printed off or downloaded in any way, and you must not use any illustrations, photographs, video or audio sequences or any graphics separately from any accompanying text or other context.
• Our status (and that of any identified contributors) as the authors of material on the Site must be acknowledged where attribution is included, subject to our editorial discretion.
• Except as expressly permitted above, you must not, without our prior written consent: (a) systematically distribute or make available any material from the Site to third parties, including by publishing it externally or circulating it outside your organisation; (b) license, resell or otherwise commercially exploit any material downloaded, printed or accessed from the Site; (c) use any material to create, compile or enrich any database, directory or dataset; or (d) use any material to develop or provide any product or service that competes with the Site or Legal 500’s services.
• If you are a Permitted User under a Subscriber’s account, you may use the paid-for services for the Subscriber’s internal business purposes only, in accordance with these Terms and any applicable subscription agreement.
• If you are a registered user (whether under a free registration or as a Permitted User under a paid-for subscription), you must not share, distribute or otherwise make available any content, features or services that are only accessible to you as a registered user or Permitted User (including content behind a registration wall or paywall) to any person who does not hold the same level of content access, including guest users, and you must not use your account to provide such persons with access to that content.
• You must not represent our content as legal advice, and you remain responsible for obtaining appropriate professional advice for your specific circumstances.
• You must not in any way suggest that we endorse any products or services other than our own.
8. Reliance on information posted
Whilst we use reasonable endeavours to provide up to date and relevant information, the research, commentary, analysis and other content on the Site are not intended to constitute legal or other professional advice, and should not be relied upon as such. You understand that the Site may not immediately reflect the most recent changes in the market and we cannot guarantee that all the material on the Site is up to date at all times.
We make no representations, warranties or guarantees, whether express or implied, that the content on the Site is accurate, complete or up to date.
9. Our liability
Whether you are a consumer or a business user
Nothing in these Terms excludes or limits our liability for death or personal injury arising from our negligence, or our fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation, or any other liability that cannot be excluded where it would be unlawful to do so.
We will not be liable for any loss or damage caused by a virus, distributed denial-of-service attack, or other technologically harmful material that may infect your computer equipment, computer programs, data or other proprietary material due to your use of the Site or to your downloading of any content on it, or on any website linked to it.
We assume no responsibility for the content of websites linked on the Site. Such links should not be interpreted as endorsement by us of those linked websites. We will not be liable for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
If you are a business user
We exclude all implied conditions, warranties, representations, or other terms that may apply to the Site or any content on it.
We will not be liable to you for any loss or damage, whether in contract, tort (including negligence), breach of statutory duty, or otherwise, even if foreseeable, arising under or in connection with:
• use of, or inability to use, the Site; or
• use of or reliance on any content displayed on the Site.
In particular, we will not be liable for any loss of profits, sales, business, or revenue, loss of anticipated savings, loss of business opportunity, goodwill or reputation, business interruption, or any indirect or consequential loss.
Our total aggregate liability to you in connection with these Terms shall not exceed £50.
Where you are a business user accessing the Site as a Permitted User under a Subscriber's paid-for subscription, you acknowledge that your access to paid-for content, services and features is derived from the Subscriber's subscription with us. Double recovery is not permitted. To the extent that any loss, damage or other liability suffered by you in connection with paid-for subscription content is also recoverable by a Subscriber under its subscription agreement, we shall have no liability to you under these Terms in respect of such loss, damage or liability and our total aggregate liability to you and all other Permitted Users under the same subscription, taken together with our liability to the Subscriber, shall not exceed the limit of liability under the applicable subscription agreement.
If you are a consumer user
We provide the Site and content to you on the basis that it is for general information only and is not intended as advice on which you should rely.
We have no liability to you for any business losses – for example, loss of profit, loss of business, business interruption, or loss of business opportunity.
If we fail to comply with these Terms, we are responsible for loss or damage you suffer that is a foreseeable result of our breach or our failure to use reasonable care and skill, but we are not responsible for any loss or damage that is not foreseeable.
10. Your personal data
We process your personal data in accordance with our Privacy Policy. Please read the Privacy Policy carefully, as it explains what personal data we collect, how we use it, and your rights in relation to it.
11. Prohibited uses
You must not misuse the Site by knowingly introducing viruses, trojans, worms, logic bombs or other material which is malicious or technologically harmful. You must not attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Site, the server on which the Site is stored or any server, computer or database connected to the Site. You must not attack the Site via a denial-of-service attack or a distributed denial-of-service attack.
By breaching this provision, you would commit a criminal offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990. We will report any such breach to the relevant law enforcement authorities and we will co-operate with those authorities by disclosing your identity to them. In the event of such a breach, your right to use the Site will cease immediately.
12. Links from our site
The Site may contain links to third-party websites and resources. These links are provided for your information only. We have no control over the contents of those sites or resources, and accept no responsibility for them or for any loss or damage that may arise from your use of them.
13. Links to our site
You may link to our home page, provided you do so in a way that is fair and legal and does not damage our reputation or take advantage of it.
You must not establish a link in such a way as to suggest any form of association, approval or endorsement on our part where none exists.
You must not establish a link to the Site in any website that is not owned by you.
The Site must not be framed on any other site, nor may you create a link to any part of the Site other than the home page or attempt to bypass any payment or log-on screens.
We reserve the right to withdraw linking permission.
If you wish to make any use of content on the Site other than that set out above, please contact us using the contact details in clause 1 above.
14. Brand and logo usage
This clause applies where we have authorised you (or your firm or organisation) to use a Legal 500 ranking badge, logo, or similar brand asset (a “Brand Asset”) in connection with a ranking published in the Legal 500 guide for a particular edition year.
Brand Asset Intellectual Property and Licence
All intellectual property rights in the Brand Assets remain vested in us (or our licensors). Nothing in these Terms transfers any ownership of intellectual property to you. Your use of a Brand Asset does not create any right, title, or interest in or to the Brand Asset beyond the limited licence we grant you in these Terms.
Subject to compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free licence to display the applicable Brand Asset solely in connection with your own marketing and promotional materials, and solely for the relevant edition year (or such other period as we may specify).
We may revoke the Brand Asset licence at any time on notice. On revocation, you must promptly cease all use of the Brand Asset.
Conditions of Use
When using any Brand Asset, you must at all times:
• comply with our Brand Guidelines as updated from time to time;
• use the Brand Asset only in the form provided by us, without alteration, distortion, recolouring, or animation;
• maintain any minimum size and clear-space requirements specified in our Brand Guidelines;
• not use the Brand Asset in any manner that implies an endorsement, sponsorship, or affiliation beyond the specific ranking to which it relates;
• not use the Brand Asset after the expiry of the relevant edition year (or such other period as specified), unless we have provided an updated Brand Asset for a subsequent edition;
• immediately cease use of the Brand Asset if your ranking in the relevant category is corrected, withdrawn, or otherwise changes to a different ranking.
15. Jurisdiction and applicable law
These Terms and any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with them or their subject matter or formation (including non-contractual disputes or claims) shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the law of England and Wales.
If you are a business user, you agree that the courts of England and Wales shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any claim arising from, or related to these Terms.
If you are a consumer user, you may bring proceedings in England and Wales or in the courts of the country in which you live.
16. Changes to these terms and the site
We may revise these Terms from time to time. You should check this page when you access the Site to ensure you understand the terms that apply at that time.
We may update and change the Site from time to time, for example, to reflect changes to our products, our users' needs and our business priorities. We will try to give you reasonable notice of any major changes.
17. Other important terms
Severance
If any provision of these Terms is found by a court or other competent authority to be invalid, illegal, or unenforceable, that provision shall be deemed modified to the minimum extent necessary to make it valid and enforceable. If it cannot be modified, it shall be deemed deleted. In either case, the remaining provisions of these Terms shall continue in full force and effect.
Assignment
We may transfer our rights and obligations under these Terms to another organisation within our group (or otherwise in connection with a corporate reorganisation or transfer of business). We will ensure that such transfer does not adversely affect your rights under these terms.
You may not assign, transfer, or sub-contract any of your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent.
Waiver
A failure or delay by us to exercise any right or remedy provided under these Terms or by law does not constitute a waiver of that or any other right or remedy, and it will not prevent or restrict any further exercise of that or any other right or remedy. We might not follow up with you for not doing something you are supposed to do under these Terms or for doing something you are not allowed to do, but that doesn’t mean we can’t do it later.
Entire Agreement
If you are a business user, these Terms (together with the documents referred to in them) constitute the entire agreement between you and us in relation to your use of the Site and supersede all previous agreements, representations, and understandings.
Nothing in this clause excludes liability for fraudulent misrepresentation. If you are a consumer user, this clause does not affect any representations or statements made to you on which you relied before entering into these Terms.
Third party rights
These Terms do not give rise to any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999 for any person who is not a party to them. These Terms are between you and us and nobody else can enforce them.