Meridian West Africa 50

Methodology

1. Eligibility. Law firms headquartered in a West African state, including locally owned members of international networks. Regional platforms headquartered elsewhere are scored and shown separately.
2. Evidence. A matter counts only where a public source names the firm in a role: firm announcements, regulatory or exchange filings, court and tribunal records, development finance releases and reputable press. Undated compilations and secondary reports count at half weight and are labelled “secondary”.
3. Transactions and matters. Each deal or dispute scores 1 point (regulatory mandates 0.75), plus 0.5 where the disclosed value is at least US$100m or 1.0 where it is at least US$500m, plus 0.25 for cross-border work. Values are converted at approximate rates and are used only to band size.
4. Breadth, footprint and people. 0.25 per evidenced practice area (maximum 1.5); 0.5 per additional West African country with an own office (maximum 1.5); 0.25 per verified lawyer-activity item such as lateral hires or silk appointments (maximum 0.5).
5. Independence. Third-party guides and awards are not used as evidence. Only named, sourced matters count.
6. Confidence. High: five or more dated, named matters. Moderate: two to four. Limited: one, or only secondary matters. Insufficient: none. Firms with no verified matter share the position marked “=” and are not ordered against each other.
7. Limits. Public evidence favours firms that publish their work. Confidential mandates, most litigation and much regulatory work never become public, so a low position can reflect disclosure practice rather than activity. Research effort was capped per firm, which compresses differences at the top.
8. Corrections and conflicts. Firms may submit evidence or corrections at any time; accepted items are applied in the next edition. No firm can pay for inclusion or position.