Attorneys are nominated and elected to membership in The American Board of Trial Advocates by exhibiting high personal character and honorable reputation.  Membership is limited to only those attorneys who have tried a specific minimum number of jury trials to verdict as lead counsel and who receive a positive vote from not less than 75% of  the membership.

Martindale-Hubbell’s exclusive Peer Review Lawyer Rating System evaluates attorneys and law firms in the U.S. and Canada with its independent peer review process. To establish a rating, Martindale-Hubbell sends confidential questionnaires to other lawyers and judges within the same geographic location as the attorney or law firm under evaluation. Martindale-Hubbell staff also participates in the review process by conducting personal interviews with members of the bar who may be able to shed some light on the credentials of a specific attorney or law firm. Information obtained during the interviews is then combined with the geographic surveys.
 

The AV rating is the highest review available and denotes that the lawyer's peers rank him or her at the highest level of professional excellence

Best Lawyers of America compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers.

The Bar Register of Preeminent Lawyers™

For over 90 years, the Bar Register has been a unique guide to the legal community's most eminent professionals. It includes only those select law practices that have earned the highest rating in the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and have been designated by their colleagues as preeminent in their field.

In selecting attorneys for Super Lawyers, Law & Politics employs a rigorous, multiphase process. Peer nominations and evaluations are combined with third party research. Each candidate is evaluated on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement. Selections are made on an annual, state-by-state basis. This creates a credible, comprehensive and diverse listing of outstanding attorneys that can be used as a resource to assist attorneys and consumers in the search for legal counsel