Be Leery of Lawyer Ratings

The slick looking magazine was laying in my chair when I returned to my office.  The new list of “NC Super Lawyers” was out and I was eager to see which of my peers had been named.  Flipping to the Family Law section, the list of names was familiar to me.  Wait – a few newbies had been added to the list.  Yes, they are all known to me if not personally at least through their reputation and/or marketing.

In Wilmington, North Carolina there were only two Wilmington lawyers named to the Family Law List: Jim Lea and Robin Robinson.  Both excellent attorneys: Jim still practices but Robin has become a District Court Judge.

Super Lawyers has been rating attorneys since 1991 (nationwide since 2009).   Attorney’s can’t pay to be included and they can’t vote for themselves.  Super Lawyers selects its honorees by sending annual ballots to lawyers in a given state, who then nominate and rate their colleagues in 12 categories. The selection process is described on their website (http://www.superlawyers.com/about/selection_process.html). Two huge omissions during the Super Lawyer rating process is that no input is sought from the clients for whom the attorney works or the judges who preside over the attorney’s cases.  It appears the process is heavily weighted on the opinions of other attorneys.

Our State Bar has concluded that Super Lawyers has “strict objective standards” is in its ethics option titled 2007 FEO 14.  While the Bar indicates that attorneys can at least participate, there is significant controversy about the ratings and some claim that the results reflect more of a popularity contest than quality lawyers.

I had always thought the Super Lawyer’s List had merit to it and that it was well vetted.  But a recent email from another attorney got me thinking and caused me to write this blog. The attorney (not a NC attorney) emailed me and basically stated that he was sharing the nomination forms for Super Lawyer with his social contacts and networks.  While he did not directly solicit votes, the unspoken is obvious. So I decided to compare some of the rating systems for local lawyers:

Martindale-Hubbell has had a rating system for lawyers longer than Super Lawyers (some sources say as much as 90 years).  They do seek client and judge reviews of the attorney in addition to information from the attorney’s peers.  However, only paid listings show up in the search engine leaving many excellent attorneys – even those highly rated — out in the cold.  For example, Jim Lea (AV highest rating) and Linda Sayed (BV rating) are the only two attorneys in the family law category that show for Wilmington.  However, there are many highly rated attorneys in Wilmington, NC who do not show unless you specifically search for them (e.g., our very own Charles E. Rice, III is AV rated (highest rated).

Another site for attorney ratings is Avvo.com.  They don’t disclose their methodology and it has been heavily criticized by some.  However, they do consider client ratings and peer reviews.  For Wilmington, NC/Divorce, we currently have the top rating.   And I can assure you I did not ask my friends to nominate me!

So be leery of the lawyer rating systems.  Three different systems are providing different results.  Perhaps the best way to rate a lawyer is on whether they are meeting your needs.