Law firm Allen & Gledhill, one of the Big Four here, has been named in all 15 categories of the inaugural Singapore's Best Law Firms 2021 ranking - the only one to be so named.
But the top two positions in the criminal law category went to smaller outfits - Trident Law Corporation and Eugene Thuraisingam LLP.
The spread of small and large firms featured in the ranking reflects the diverse nature of the legal services market here, a survey undertaken by The Straits Times and German-based research firm Statista has found.
The results released today are based on feedback from professionals in the legal sector and clients, who responded to the survey conducted between June 9 and Aug 8 this year.
A total of 98 firms are represented in 15 different categories, with 265 mentions.
Firms that made it into the "Best Of" in a legal category will be able to obtain a licence to use an official seal created for the ranking.
The eye-catching seal features the trademarks of The Straits Times and Statista.
The list has familiar market leaders as well as niche firms with strong skills in the respective categories, from banking and negligence law to criminal and commercial law.
Adsan Law emerged as the best law firm in the category for charities, non-profit organisations and pro bono work.
A total of 4,716 respondents took part in the online survey and over 10,000 recommendations for awards were received in total.
"The response was impressive, almost overwhelming," said analyst Christian Leve, who is in charge of various law firm projects Statista does around the world.
He added that the strong response was driven by the reach and reputation of The Straits Times and the efforts of the Singapore Corporate Counsel Association, which had reached out to many lawyers.
All recommendations were analysed and studied and the top firms were identified and ranked according to the number of recommendations they garnered.
"The Singapore legal profession is well known for its breadth and depth of quality lawyers. Guides like this provide more information for potential clients and give some measure of feedback to the firms," said National University of Singapore law faculty dean Simon Chesterman.
Melbourne-based innovation and strategy consultant Dharmendra Yadav said: "It is important that The Straits Times, as the primary broadsheet in Singapore, has been able to lend its ground expertise to benchmark law firms. This will engender confidence in these firms."
The organisations previously worked on two other projects - Singapore's Fastest Growing Companies and Singapore's Best Employers.
Mr Warren Fernandez, editor-in-chief of Singapore Press Holdings' (SPH) English, Malay and Tamil Media Group and editor of The Straits Times, said: "Our experience with the first two projects gave us confidence that Statista is the right partner to work with on this new project to focus on legal services in Singapore.
"This will be both of interest to readers and also useful to them when they need to seek legal advice and services."
Dr Friedrich Schwandt, founder and chief executive of Statista, said: "For us, it is always a pleasure to partner with SPH and The Straits Times on mega research projects such as this one - in general, but also with the specific view that Singapore is our Asia hub, with our office here constantly growing."
The full results can be accessed here.
