How Forbes Advisor Rates Lawyers And Legal Products

Forbes Advisor’s mission is to make the law understandable for all. We distill complex concepts into accessible information and present it in a neutral way so all readers can make informed decisions, regardless of their legal knowledge. We have a wealth of free, regularly-updated legal content on a wide variety of legal topics and practice areas. We conduct in-depth research to create lists of relevant products or attorneys, then score and rank each via an objective methodology.

We may earn a commission from partner links on Forbes Advisor, but the compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in content.

To find the best lawyer in a given market and practice area, the Forbes Advisor Legal team considers and weighs a wide variety of information to calculate a rating for each lawyer. We then carefully review and rank these results to find the best attorneys in a given location and practice area.

Within the model, we take into account factors that legal professionals and consumers value in an attorney’s qualifications. After assigning weighted scores to hundreds of data points, we narrow the field down to our top choices based on:

• Legal experience
• Special licenses and certifications
• Ethics and bar association disciplinary measures
• Legal thought leadership
• Education and employment background
• Scholarly lectures and writings
• Awards and honors

Forbes Advisor collects public data from a variety of sources, including state bar associations, court records and other publicly available sources.

The data we collect has helped us create dozens of guides to the best lawyers around America, including The Best Personal Injury Lawyers in Los Angeles and The Best Car Accident Lawyers in New York City, among others.

Online legal services have become increasingly popular in the last two decades. These platforms can be easy to use and a low-cost alternative to hiring an attorney or going it alone.

Forbes Advisor’s legal experts research a wide variety of online legal service providers to rate and review. We analyze dozens of data points to create our ratings and reviews. While each category will have its own set of criteria, we evaluate products and platforms for key features that legal consumers actually need and use. After assigning weighted scores to the data points, we narrow the field down to our top choices based on:

• Court acceptance guarantees
• Fees and pricing
• Legal expertise
• Prompt customer service
• Ease of use
• State-specific forms

The data we collect has helped us create articles like the Best Online Divorce Services and Best Name Change Service, among others.

The Forbes Advisor legal team is staffed by two expert editors with law degrees: Valerie Catalano and Jeffrey Johnson.

In addition, our writers have decades of legal writing experience. Many of them practiced law at some point. Each story we publish faces a detailed vetting process. Both staff editors give each story an in-depth editorial review and fact check. After an article is formatted for publication, the initial editor reviews the article again before publishing.

In total, an article is reviewed at least three times before publication to ensure accuracy.

Accurate ratings on lawyers and legal products are our first priority. The Forbes Advisor editorial team regularly updates legal product data and methodology-based articles to ensure that all information and ratings remain accurate. In some cases, specific articles may be updated more frequently, depending on the attorneys or products.