What Does It Mean When a Personal Injury Lawyer is Included on the “Best Lawyers” List?

I am looking for a personal injury lawyer and see that a few lawyers are included on the "Best Lawyers" list.  What does that mean?

 

“Best Lawyers” is a national organization that recognizes outstanding lawyers in each state in a large number of legal specialties. Best Lawyers compiles lists of outstanding attorneys by conducting exhaustive peer-review surveys in which thousands of leading lawyers confidentially evaluate their professional peers. In the U.S., Best Lawyers publishes an annual referral guide, The Best Lawyers in America, which includes 39,766 attorneys in 80 practice areas, covering all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This publication is one way you can determine if the lawyer who you are thinking about hiring is respected by his or her peers.  You can read more about the selection process here.

I am honored to have  been listed in Best Lawyers in America every year since 1993, when I was 36 years old.

The Best Lawyers organization has recently started to select "Lawyers of the Year."  Here is a description of the criteria:

The lawyers being honored as “Lawyers of the Year” were selected because they received particularly high ratings from most of their peers. In some cases, they also received particularly effusive comments from some of those same peers. The selected lawyers have earned a high level of respect among other leading lawyers in the same communities and the same practice areas for their abilities, their professionalism, and their integrity. 

I was recognized as the Best Lawyers as “Personal Injury Lawyer of the Year” in Nashville in 2009 and the “Medical Malpractice Lawyer of the Year” in Nashville in 2010.

There are some fine lawyers who are not included on these lists. Nevertheless, it is fair to say that the "Best Lawyers" list is yet another way for a consumer to gauge the reputation of a lawyer in the legal community.

Do you want more information on what factors you should consider as you decide who  to hire as your personal injury or wrongful death lawyer? Read here.