How it works
The whole campaign, in one place.
A directories campaign is hundreds of cases and referees, dozens of submissions, several guides and one deadline. handyside.legal gives it a single home: barristers enter, admins review, the documents are generated, the rankings are tracked. Accessible anywhere there is an internet connection: in chambers, at home, on the train.
01Barristers enter
Each member adds their own cases and referees, in their own time.
No forms emailed round chambers, no chasing for the same case twice. A barrister signs in to the set's own portal and keeps their cases and referees up to date through the year, from a laptop or a phone. They see only their own work.
- Cases and referees are entered once, with the details the directories will need.
- Works on a phone, so a case can be added on the way back from court.
- Each member sees only their own work, and nothing of anyone else's.
- From there, the admins take it forward.
My cases
| Case | Status |
|---|---|
| Caldera Marine v Harbourmaster Shipping | Ready |
| Re Northgate Pension Trustees | Ready |
| Aldwych Capital v Brennan | Draft |
| Oakhill Developments v Rivermead Utilities | Draft |
| Meridian Freight (in administration) | New |
| Hollin & Cray v The Pelham Trust | Submitted |
Commercial Dispute Resolution
| Forward | Case |
|---|---|
| Caldera Marine v Harbourmaster Shipping | |
| Hollin & Cray v The Pelham Trust | |
| Wrenfield Holdings, re the 2019 facility | |
| Sable Row Partners v Kestrel Logistics | |
| The Grantham Street arbitration | |
| Ferrier v Ferrier |
02Admins review
Check the material, tick what goes forward, keep the record straight.
The marketing team or practice manager sees everything the members have entered, by practice area, by member, by directory. They check it, tick which cases go forward, chase the gaps, and keep the practice areas, the membership and the rankings history in order.
- Every practice area has its own list of cases and referees, by member and by directory.
- Tick what goes forward; the submission is built from exactly those cases.
- A practice-area admin can be given just their areas and nothing else.
- Members, practice areas and rankings history are kept in one place, in order.
03Generate
The submissions and referee spreadsheets, in each directory's own format, at a click.
This is the part that used to take weeks. The Chambers & Partners and Legal 500 submissions and referee spreadsheets are produced from the reviewed data, in each directory's own format. The marketing team edits the copy, not the data: no cutting and pasting between Word and Excel, so no keying errors, and the written submission and the referee spreadsheet can never disagree.
- One click per practice area, for either directory.
- The submission and the referee spreadsheet, each in the directory's own format.
- Nothing is retyped, so nothing is mistyped.
- A set with dozens of submissions across several guides runs the whole campaign this way.
Generate documents
Commercial Dispute Resolution · 14 cases · 23 referees · reviewed by J. Mallory
Chambers & Partners, by practice area
| Practice area | 2026 | 2027 | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Dispute Resolution | Band 2 | Band 1 | ▲ Up one band |
| Banking & Finance | Band 2 | Band 2 | — Held |
| Insurance | Band 2 | Band 2 | — Held |
| Professional Negligence | Band 4 | Band 3 | ▲ Up one band |
| Construction | Band 3 | Band 3 | — Held |
| Energy & Natural Resources | Not ranked | Band 4 | ▲ Newly ranked |
04Track
Rankings year on year, so next year starts from this one.
When the guides are published, the rankings are recorded against the set and against each barrister. Over the years that becomes the record a head of chambers actually wants: which practice areas moved, which members were newly ranked, and where the next campaign should put its effort.
- Rankings per practice area and per barrister, for both directories, by year.
- Movement shown plainly: up, held, newly ranked.
- Next year's campaign starts from this one, not from a blank page.
05Who sees what
Each person sees their own work, and no more.
Every chambers has its own private portal on its own domain, with its own isolated database. Within it, access follows the job.
| Role | Own cases and referees | Every member's material | Practice areas | Generate documents | Rankings history |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barrister | Enter and edit | — | Their own | — | — |
| Practice-area admin | — | In their areas | Just their areas | Their areas | Their areas |
| Chambers admin | — | All | All | All | All |
| handyside consultant | — | As a chambers admin, by invitation | As invited | As invited | As invited |
Admins are the chambers' marketing team, practice managers, or handyside's own consultants, as each set prefers. Sign-in with a Microsoft account is coming.
The platform
Rebuilt in 2026.
The fourth iteration of a system sets have used for many years, rebuilt from the ground up on a modern platform. The first chambers are live on it.
Private by design
A portal for each chambers on its own domain, with its own isolated database. Nothing is shared between sets.
Anywhere, any device
Fast on a laptop; works properly on a phone. Members use it in chambers, at home and on trains.
Both directories
Chambers & Partners and The Legal 500: submissions and referee spreadsheets, in each directory's own format.
Dark mode
For the end of a long day. The same portal, easier on the eyes.
Microsoft sign-in
Coming soon: members and admins sign in with the account chambers already uses.
Time
What our clients tell us they save.
The time goes back to the people who were spending it: silks who had a day of form-filling each campaign, and marketing teams who had weeks of collation before the copywriting could begin.
Barristers
75% less time on submissions
Admins
66% less time on submissions
Next step
See it with your own practice areas.
A conversation with our team, then a demonstration of the system. No self-serve sign-up, no obligation.