Super Lawyers® is a listing of outstanding lawyers from more than 70 practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement.
Super Lawyers is published as a special supplement in leading newspapers and city and regional magazines across the country. Super Lawyers magazine, featuring articles about attorneys named to the Super Lawyers list, is distributed to all attorneys in the state or region, the lead corporate counsel of Russell 3000 companies and the ABA-approved law school libraries.
Polling, research and selection are performed by Law & Politics, a publication of Key Professional Media, Inc. Law & Politics has been publishing legal magazines since 1990 and Super Lawyers since 1991.
Each year, Law & Politics conducts regional surveys of lawyers across the country. Lawyers eligible to participate include those who have been in practice for at least five years. In 2008, over 800,000 lawyers were invited to participate in their survey. These lawyers are asked to nominate the very best attorneys that they've personally observed in action. Lawyers can nominate attorneys in their own firm, but these nominations count only if each in-firm nomination is matched by at least one out-firm nomination. The Super Lawyers ranking is based on a thorough point scale. Each nomination carries a point value. An out-firm nomination has substantially greater point value than an in-firm nomination. Lawyers cannot nominate themselves; receiving the Super Lawyers designation is a true reflection of how peers perceive lawyers in their legal community.
Within their database, Super Lawyers is able to keep track of who nominates whom. This helps detect any excessive "back-scratch" nominations (lawyers nominating each other) and "block nominations" (where members of the same law firm all cast identical ballots).
Once nominated as a Super Lawyer, Law & Politics' research department examines the background and experience of each candidate searching for evidence of peer recognition and professional achievement. Factors considered in evaluating candidates include verdicts, settlements, transactions, representative clients, experience, honors and awards, special licenses and certifications, position within law firm, Bar involvement, pro bono work, community service, lectures, writing, education, or other outstanding achievements.
Once vetted, candidates are grouped according to primary area of practice. Those with high point totals from the balloting and qualitative evaluation steps are asked to be on a blue ribbon panel for their practice area. Panelists review and score a list of candidates from their practice area. Panelists may add names to the list. These are passed along to research for evaluation.
Final candidates are segmented according to firm size (firm size categories vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction). Those with the highest point totals from each category are selected. Only 5 percent of the total lawyers in the state are selected for inclusion in Super Lawyers.
Prior to publishing, the research staff checks each candidate's standing with the local licensing authority. Each candidate is asked to confirm that they have never been subject to disciplinary or criminal proceedings. Final Internet searches are performed on each candidate to ensure there are no outstanding matters that would reflect adversely on the lawyer. Each lawyer is contacted to ensure accuracy of all published information.
Super Lawyers® is a trademark of Key Professional Media, Inc. More information about the system can be found at www.superlawyers.com.
