MARTINDALE-HUBBELL® PEER REVIEW RATINGS™
The Martindale-Hubbell® Peer Review Ratings™ are an objective indicator of a lawyer’s high ethical standards and professional ability, generated from evaluations of lawyers by other members of the bar and the judiciary in the United States and Canada. The Peer Review Ratings reflect a combination of achieving a Very High General Ethical Standards rating and a Legal Ability numerical rating. The numeric ratings range may coincide with the appropriate Certification Mark:
- AV Preeminent® (4.5-5.0) – AV Preeminent® is a significant rating accomplishment – a testament to the fact that a lawyer’s peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence.
- BV Distinguished® (3.0-4.4) – BV Distinguished® is an excellent rating for a lawyer with some experience. A widely respected mark of achievement, it differentiates a lawyer from his or her competition.
SUPER LAWYERS®
Super Lawyers is a rating service of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high-degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. The selection process is multi-phased and includes independent research, peer nominations and peer evaluations.
Super Lawyers selects attorneys using a patented multiphase selection process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis.
The objective is to create a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource for attorneys and consumers searching for legal counsel. Since Super Lawyers is intended to be used as an aid in selecting a lawyer, the lawyer ratings are limited to those who can be hired and retained by the public, i.e., lawyers in private practice and Legal Aid attorneys.
The Super Lawyers patented selection process involves three basic steps: creation of the candidate pool; evaluation of candidates by the research department; and peer evaluation by practice area.
The final published list represents no more than 5 percent of the lawyers in a state.
BEST LAWYERS®
Best Lawyers is the oldest and most respected peer-review publication in the legal profession. A listing in Best Lawyers is widely regarded by both clients and legal professionals as a significant honor, conferred on a lawyer by his or her peers. For more than three decades, Best Lawyers lists have earned the respect of the profession, the media, and the public, as the most reliable, unbiased source of legal referrals anywhere.
The lists of outstanding attorneys are compiled by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which tens of thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. If the votes for an attorney are positive enough for inclusion in Best Lawyers, that attorney must maintain those votes in subsequent polls to remain on the list for each edition.
Best Lawyers are not permitted to pay any fee to participate in or be included on the lists.
BEST LAW FIRMS®
Best Lawyers has partnered with U.S.News & World Report, the leading rankings publication in the U.S., to rank law firms in the United States. The U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” survey ranks more than 10,000 firms in 118 practice areas in 170 metropolitan areas and 8 states. Results are based on a rigorous evaluation process that includes the collection of client and lawyer evaluations, peer review from leading attorneys in their field, and review of additional information provided by law firms as part of the formal submission process. The purpose of the “Best Law Firms” publication, which is distributed to general counsel and private practice lawyers worldwide, is to guide referring lawyers and clients.
Avvo 10.0 Rating
According to their website, “The Avvo Rating is our effort to evaluate a lawyer’s background based on the information available in an attorney’s Avvo profile.” The rating is calculated using a mathematical model, all lawyers are evaluated on the same set of standards, and there is no human bias in the rating system. Additionally, the Avvo rating cannot be bought. Developed by attorneys, the Avvo rating system is based on a simple 10 point system with one equal to Extreme Caution and ten equal to Superb. Only an Avvo rating of 10 can qualify an attorney for the AccidentAttorneys.org directory.
