Legal ratings of the
jurisdictions of the world

The project is probably the largest university project of its kind in the world. The project involves a series of legal ratings carried out by students at selected leading universities around the world in respect of major fields of law in their jurisdiction.

The programme is designed and sponsored by the Allen & Overy Global Law Intelligence Unit, a think-tank of the international law firm, Allen & Overy LLP headed by Philip Wood who designed the programme. Melissa Hunt is the Project Director.



Philip Wood CBE, QC (Hon)

Head of the Intelligence Unit Download CV

Philip R Wood CBE, QC (Hon) BA (Cape Town), MA (Oxon) LLD (Lund, Hon), is one of the world’s leading comparative lawyers and practitioners. He has written about 19 books on financial law and a book for the general reader about the role of law. He was formerly a partner and head of the banking department of Allen & Overy and is now Head of the Global Law Intelligence Unit there. He is Visiting Professor at the University of Oxford, Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University, London and Yorke Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the University of Cambridge. For many years he has been developing innovative and pioneering methodologies for assessing legal jurisdictions and has published a book of maps of world financial law. His university textbook on the Law and Practice of International Finance has been translated into Chinese and Japanese.


Melissa Hunt

Project Director

Melissa Hunt is Project Director of the project. She is also project director of other global legal surveys carried out by the Intelligence Unit and compiler of World Legal Infrastructure Tables prepared by the Intelligence Unit.

The survey uses colour-coding as follows:

True Color Blue Color Green Color Yellow False Color Red Can't say Color White

Selection of universities

The universities include Oxford, Paris Assas, Harvard, Bologna, Peking, Bangalore, Tokyo, Lagos, Montevideo and Cairo.

Generally, the participating university is the most renowned university in its jurisdiction.  In a few cases there is more than one university.

In October 2017 over 70 universities were participating.  The target is over 100.

The jurisdictions include both developed emerging countries and those in-between.  They include tiny jurisdictions and some extremely large ones.  They belong to all the main families of law.  They are located in all continents. 

Topics covered

The topics by the legal ratings covered include the main fields of law practiced by major international law firms, notably, wholesale banking and finance, corporate law, commercial and contract law, litigation, real property, employment law, environmental law, openness to foreign business and other matters.

Retail and personal law are not covered.  The topics are almost all concerned with the written law, not the legal infrastructure, or political system or rule of law issues.

The intricacy of the law has increased globally because of the enormous growth of law, because of its intensity, because many businesses are global, but the law is national, and because nearly all countries are part of the world economy.  The law is considered to play a very significant role in the future of our societies. 

Aims of the project

The purpose of this project is to introduce students to ideas involved in wholesale cross-border financial, corporate and related law with a view to developing their potential for understanding what is going on in the world.

The question is - how do we grasp the law in the world’s jurisdictions in these fields without having to read whole libraries?  Are there any patterns?  Can we use the methodology of using key indicators to determine ratings?  If the key indicator method is right, have we chosen the right indicators?

The survey is a rating, not a legal treatise.  The results are not meant to be a legal textbook or dissertation on comparative law.  They should not be relied on as legal data.  The intellectual side is an assessment of positioning on an international spectrum of the legal policy choices made by jurisdictions – a rating.

The universities enhance legal knowledge and foster the participation of students in advanced projects of this type.  They promote ground-breaking research into fields of law which are important to societies but which often seem obscure. 

The fact that the students are only from leading universities in each jurisdiction gives them considerable international recognition which is likely be helpful in their future careers.


The methodology involves a sophisticated way of delivering highly complex legal data in an accessible way. The project uses colour-coding key indicators to carry out the assessment.

The key indicators are intended to be (1) important in economic terms (2) significant for major transactions in international market, and (3) potentially symbolic of the general approach of the jurisdiction. They must be measurable with reasonable certainty. Generally they must play a major practical role in deals and involve very large amounts.

The students are given a series of statements and are asked to put a cross in the appropriately coloured box as to whether it is true or fake or in-between and then to write a very short commentary of not more than a few lines. In some cases, the student was given a number of criteria to make the evaluation. They are then asked to add up all the colours for an overall ranking and to add a one-page overall commentary and any suggestions for change.  They are provided with a standard template to be filled in.  There are 23 “questions”.

In most cases the measurement is based on whether the legal regime is unregulated or whether the law intervenes, not whether a particular legal policy is good or bad. The survey is intended to be neutral on the policies. The only measure is whether the law is free or whether it is restrictive.  Whether the area of law should be open or is ordered by the law is a matter of opinion.  You can often legitimately characterise liberality as either freedom or anachy, and characterise restriction as order or disposal – it depends on the issue and ones moral philosophy.

The colour-coded boxes are blue, green, yellow, red or blank (“can’t say”).

How are students selected?

The universities choose as many or as few students as they wish. The range so far is between two students and 72 (the whole class).

Six to eight students is a common selection.  The method of selection, e.g. whether formed or unformed, is determined by the university.

The students are not remunerated, nor are their expenses paid.  Participation in the programme is considered the prize.

One student is usually appointed leader of the group to schedule the work, be a point of liaison and generally to co-ordinate the work.

Academic guidance

An academic at the law faculty concerned generally guides the students in their work. In most cases the supervision required is small, although some faculties have conducted classes around the work.

Often two or three conference calls between the students and Philip Wood in London are arranged to discuss progress.

One of the purposes of these calls is to facilitate a discussion of whether the key indicators are the right ones, and how they affect transactions.  Philip Wood also seeks to moderate the answers in light of the international comparative spectrum which students might not otherwise know.  Otherwise the students are given the freedom to express their views with minimum interference.

Practitioner's expert panel

In each jurisdiction a participating law firm often arranges for the appointment of a panel composed of a member of one or more leading local law firms and general counsel or equivalent from leading local banks and corporations or from the public sector.

This group constitutes a Practitioners’ Expert Panel who can talk to the students about how the law is working in their fields.  The panel is subject to the approval of the university.

The participating law firm is often a relationship firm of Allen & Overy or the firm’s local office.  The firm’s relationship firms are normally leading firms in the country.  The participating law firm can also provide guidance for the students, if required.

The members of the Panel are not expected to approve the detail of the students’ work but rather to discuss with the students how the law works in practice.  This typically involves one meeting with the students, such as a lunch and a short seminar.

Profiles and foreword

The profiles of those involved appear at the end of each survey.

Those profiled are:

  • the students
  • the academics and any project director
  • the members of the Practitioners’ Expert Panel
  • the law faculty and the university


The effect is that those involved achieved considerable visibility amongst a unique group of people.  They are on a big international stage.

Often the students invite a prominent local jurist to write the foreword, such as the Dean of the Faculty or a member of the Supreme Court.


Most students complete the survey in around six to eight weeks in term-time.

The timing should not conflict with revision periods for examinations.