Many clients looking for a lawyer to work with in their local area use resources such as listings and rankings of the best lawyers for specific areas of law. One of the most common is Super Lawyers, which brings together state-by-state lists and designations across the legal spectrum.
Here, learn more about the Super Lawyers Rising Star honor, what it means, and how it’s awarded. That will give you more clarity about what it means to work with an attorney who has received the designation.
The organization grants Rising Star status to no more than 2.5 percent of all attorneys in the specified region or state. That offers a very small total pool of people who will receive the designation each year.
Attorneys named on this list must first be formally or informally nominated. They then go through what has become a proprietary screening process to narrow down the pool of candidates. More than a dozen factors are considered and evaluated, incorporating career achievement, peer recognition, and a variety of additional indicators.
After this, there is still a new round of peer reviews, known as the Blue Ribbon Review of Super Lawyers. This is what makes the final cut of the remaining candidates the real individuals who are referred to as Rising Stars.
There are also other qualifications to be considered. For example, Rising Stars must have been in practice for no more than 10 years. In addition, they must be 40 years old or younger. Both separate Rising Stars from attorneys who are qualified to receive other Super Lawyers designations.
More details about the process itself are available on the Super Lawyers website. Ultimately, however, if you work with an attorney who has been named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, you can rest assured that Super Lawyers considers you one of the best attorneys in the area.
It is also important that lawyers cannot buy their place on these lists. While many other “rankings” are little more than paid advertising, with premium positions costing more money, the Super Lawyers Rising Star process is based entirely on the aforementioned nomination, review, and evaluation process.
So it’s an easy way to be sure who you decide to hire or not, and viewing the designation on a lawyer’s website should help you know their status.