What is Super Lawyers Directory❓

8 min

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Sasha Berson

9/23/2024

With its comprehensive list of lawyers from all 50 states, this legal directory makes it easy for attorneys to showcase their legal services, especially to potential clients. The directory serves as a helpful guide for those looking to hire a lawyer by offering insight into your credentials, ratings, and backgrounds as an attorney. If you’re not on it, you’re missing out on a vast number of prospective clients and their cases.

The Super Lawyers award is a prestigious recognition within the legal community, known for its exclusive selection process involving peer nominations, independent research, and various indicators of professional achievement.

Additionally, the Super Lawyers review section gives an in-depth analysis of the best lawyers in each state, helping prospective clients make informed decisions. The legal resources section also enables visitors to understand the ins and outs of different legal cases, providing valuable information and tips on navigating through them.

Is Being a Super Lawyer a Big Deal: The Selection Process

Becoming a Super Lawyer is a great way to build your reputation as a legal professional and join a network of distinguished lawyers who have been recognized for their excellence in the legal profession. The selection process is thorough and involves several steps that must be taken to be accepted as a Super Lawyer. Additionally, the designations of Super Lawyers and Rising Stars recognize outstanding lawyers, and being listed can significantly impact your SEO and marketing efforts.

This part of the guide will explore the step-by-step process of becoming a Super Lawyer.

1. Nominations

Lawyers can enter the candidate pool for Super Lawyers when they get a formal nomination from their peers in the same state they are licensed in. Nominations from other lawyers within the same law firm are considered valid, but those from lawyers outside the own firm carry a higher 'point value' in the rating system. They cannot nominate themselves.

Super Lawyers’ in-house team of experts can also nominate candidates. When searching for new attorneys, the research department will go through national publications, local magazines, legal directories, and other sources. They will then add a certain number of people to the candidate pool.

The third and last method for candidates to join the pool is through informal nominations. An informal nomination is made by directory users, past clients, or attorneys from states other than the one where the nominee is licensed.

Jurisdiction Rules About Nominations

Before you nominate someone for Super Lawyers, solicit nominations for yourself, or put that badge on your website, make sure that your state bar approves of these activities.

Of the various state ethics boards that have issued guidance on marketing on Super Lawyers, New Jersey is one of strictest. While the board allows attorneys to inform clients that they made the cut, they must explain the title.

With that in mind, thoroughly review the ethics board guidelines in your state. Not sure where to begin? Don't worry. Grow Law Firm has created a comprehensive list of rules you need to know when advertising your legal services.

2. Evaluation Process

Super Lawyers will evaluate candidates based on 12 criteria. Since specific criteria have a larger maximum point value than others, they are not regarded equally. The review board will assess the following factors:

Verdicts/Settlements
Transactions
Clients represented
Legal experience
Honors and Awards
Special licenses and certificates
Position in the law firm
Professional and bar activities
Pro bono and community service
Scholarly talks and writings
Education and work history
Other notable accomplishments

3. Peer Assessment by Practice Area

The candidates with the highest point totals in each practice area are selected to serve on a blue ribbon panel. As part of the blue ribbon review process, these panelists are tasked with assessing other attorneys within their specialty areas.

Each panelist receives a list of candidates in their field, which they then evaluate and rate on a scale from one to five. This peer recognition system plays a key role in the Super Lawyers rating system, ensuring that only top legal professionals, as judged by their peers, are recognized.

4. The Final Decision

Candidates are divided into four firm sizes. The top ranks in each category are chosen. Super Lawyers include 5% of all lawyers in the state. Each candidate is subjected to a last Internet check to ensure no ongoing issues that would negatively affect the lawyer.

The lists are published yearly in Super Lawyers Magazine state and regional editions and inserts in major cities or regional publications and newspapers.

5. The Selection Procedure for Rising Stars

The Rising Stars list is selected similarly to the Super Lawyers list, with one exception. A candidate must be less than 40 years old or have been in practice for less than ten years to be considered for Rising Stars.

The Super Lawyers selection process is the initial step for all lawyers. Suppose a candidate meets any of the Rising Stars eligibility standards but is not chosen for the Super Lawyers award. In that case, they must go through the Rising Stars selection process. Up to 5% of the state's attorneys can be found on the Super Lawyers list, while only up to 2.5% can be found on the Rising Stars list.

Super Lawyers Marketing Proven Growth Tactics

There are several ways that law firms can leverage the Super Lawyers directory. We have outlined a few such tactics below:

Mention Super Lawyers Listing on Your Website

The most obvious way to market your Super Lawyers listing is to promote it directly on your website.

You can incorporate the Super Lawyers listing into your law firm website content in several ways. One approach involves adding the Super Lawyers badge to your web pages. Additionally, you can mention that you are listed on Super Lawyers in your ‘About Us’ content.

Explore Super Lawyers Directory Marketing Services

If you're a big fan of the Super Lawyers brand and hold the Super Lawyers designation, you should explore its built-in paid marketing tools to maximize your visibility.

You can run targeted ads directly on the platform to reach potential clients. These ads often come at a lower cost compared to traditional lawyers pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns. However, the downside is that these campaigns don't offer the same reach as broader platforms like Google.

Super Lawyers Directory and Paid Advertising

To be completely transparent, advertising on Super Lawyers platform can be tricky. Whereas platforms like Google allow you to set up campaigns and start advertising immediately, Super Lawyers requires you to jump through a few extra hoops.

The first step to advertising on the platform is purchasing your profile.

Once the platform's team approves an award nomination, they will create a profile for you and add you to the directory. However, you have very little control over this profile unless you purchase it.

Purchasing a profile can sometimes cost up to a few hundred dollars a month. After your profile has been purchased, you can pay additional fees to launch advertising campaigns on the platform. Due to the complexities of this system, many lawyers prefer to hire PPC services for attorney.

Super Lawyers Directory and SEO

Being listed in the Super Lawyers Directory provides many SEO benefits. For example, if a client types in ‘best bankruptcy lawyer in Chicago,’ Super Lawyers appears on the first of the SERP. When they click the fourth link on the page, they will see a list of top attorneys who deal with bankruptcy.

Being listed in the Super Lawyers directory enhances your law firm's visibility and search engine ranking. The listing highlights your professional achievements, credentials, reviews, and testimonials, making it easier for potential clients, law firm peers, and local licensing authorities to find you online. With more people discovering your firm, you increase your chances of attracting new clients and solidifying your standing in the legal community and the law firm bar.

Super Lawyers vs. Avvo vs. Justia

Super Lawyers is by no means the only game in town regarding online legal directories. Two of the most popular options out there are Avvo and Justia. The question is, how does Super Lawyers stack up to these other directories?

Where Super Lawyers sets itself apart from these alternatives is in its exclusivity. This exclusivity means you compete against fewer attorneys on the platform. The Super Lawyers designation is a commendation conferred only upon those who have undergone a rigorous selection process, elevating badge holders above their peers and providing reassurance to clients. The downside, as outlined above, is that getting on the Super Lawyers list is a process — and a lengthy one at that.

To sum up, Avvo and Justia are easier to join and offer as many benefits as Super Lawyers, if not more. With that in mind, we recommend joining both platforms, even if you decide to pursue a Super Lawyers’ listing. You can also read our review of Justia for lawyers and the Avvo lawyer marketing guide.

Is the Super Lawyers Directory Right for Your Firm?

This Super Lawyers review highlights its value for both lawyers and clients, but some concerns remain. The selection process for the Super Lawyers distinction may have conflicts of interest, and the criteria used are not fully transparent.

Super Lawyers maintains its rankings based on its own opinions of what makes a good attorney, with no clear explanation of how certain factors weigh more than others.

If you are ready to take your law firm to the next level, Grow Law Firm’s high-performance lawyer SEO agency can help you do just that.

Contact our team to learn more about our SEO, PPC, and website-building services for a lawyer. We can even help you decide whether participating in the Super Lawyers selection process is smart for your firm. While there are mixed opinions in the legal community, the rigorous selection process involving peer nominations, evaluations, and independent research suggests that Super Lawyers is legit.