Best Lawyers Testimonials

Since Best Lawyers was founded in 1981, prominent lawyers – from presidents of the American Bar Association to general counsel of the largest corporations – have commented on the usefulness, thoroughness, and integrity of the peer-reviewed lists published by Best Lawyers.

Below is a small sample of comments about Best Lawyers and its peer-reviewed listings from general counsel and corporate officers of some of the most significant corporations in the world:

• "Best Lawyers is the gold standard in selecting a lawyer."
  

  Kevin R. Hackett
  President and Chief Executive Officer
  Rockefeller Group International, Inc.

• "I don't have time to waste on mediocre lawyers. Best Lawyers gives me some idea of who is out there who won't."
  

  Laurie Breitenstein
  Associate General Counsel
  J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.

• "Each year I make note of the Best Lawyers results and make it a point to network into some of the attorneys that I don't already work with in case my go-to firms are conflicted out on a particular case. It is nice to have some pre-screening done before I make the contact."
  

  Robert A. Sajdak
  Senior Vice President and Group Business Manager
  Comerica Bank

• "Best Lawyers is a wealth of information especially if you are not familiar with the local professionals."
  

  Samuel Ballesteros
  Director
  SunTrust Banks, Inc.

• "I use Best Lawyers because it has credibility. I have considered what you report about firms I know and it is true to my experience. Consequently, I have confidence in what you report when I need a firm or attorney in a venue where I don't have any existing relationship."
  

  Richard Anderl
  Executive VP & General
  Counsel
  Mutual of Omaha

• "Best Lawyers has been a useful resource to confirm recommendations and anecdotal impressions of various attorneys we have considered using in the past."
  

  Assistant General Counsel
  Fortune 10 company

• "Best Lawyers is a reliable source of user-friendly information that assists those seeking legal services in evaluating attorneys and law firms."
  

  Associate General Counsel
  Fortune 20 Company

• "Best Lawyers is more reliable than "word of mouth" or "industry meeting" if you need legal talent references and contacts."
  

  Robert Penn
  Director Complex Property Claims
  AIG Domestic Claims, Inc.

• "Best Lawyers provides a reliable means to evaluate attorneys because the rankings are based on input from people with personal knowledge of a firm's or an attorney's competence and cost-effectiveness."
  

  Associate General Counsel, Fortune 20 Company

• "I have used this volume on quite a number of occasions and find the information to be quite complete and informative."
  

  Daniel Cooperman
  Former Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
  Apple Inc.

• "I have always read the Best Lawyers list with interest each year. It isn't so much that I find new contacts in the list as that it confirms that I have made an effective choice."
  

  John Gibson
  Chairman - Board of Directors
  American Pacific Corporation

• "Best Lawyers has been a helpful background reference that I share with my legal colleagues around the world."
  

  Senior Vice President, General Counsel & Secretary
  Major Pharmaceutical Company

• "I have found Best Lawyers helpful in identifying lawyers unfamiliar to me, or confirming my instincts even as to those whom I already know."
  

  Senior Vice President, Fortune 75 Company

• "The evaluation process utilized by Best Lawyers is impressive, and it reflects a thoughtful and honest assessment of the firms involved."
  

  Litigation Counsel
  Fortune 500 Company

• "I appreciate that Best Lawyers provides the opportunity to evaluate lawyers based on written comments as well as surveys. I believe the written comments are the most valuable when looking for new lawyers."
  

  Senior Legal Counsel
  Major Energy Company

• "We have found Best Lawyers to be a consistent and reliable resource."
  

  David Walker
  Vice President & CFO
  EBSCO Industries, Inc.

• "The rating of lawyers by Best Lawyers is beneficial to the insurance company because it helps us select highly-rated attorneys to defend our policyholders."
  

  John Bronga
  Major Case Specialist
  The Travelers

• "I have had to find legal advice in other localities. Best Lawyers is most helpful in this search."
  

  John Stollenwerk
  Former President & CEO
  Allen Edmonds Shoe Corporation

• "Many of the lawyers I use are included in the Best Lawyers. They have become like family, and like extensions of the company. They make me feel that my company's interests come before their firms' interests."
  

  Joseph Kelly
  Assistant Vice President, Risk Management
  CSX Transportation

• "Best Lawyers provides an "objective third-party" confirmation for senior management and boards of the quality of the firm and lawyer I am working with."
  

  Vice President & Associate General Counsel
  Fortune 150 Company

• "I have used Best Lawyers for finding a law firm in a state or jurisdiction where I have not previously had litigation. It is an excellent resource for finding good law firms and lawyers, easy to use and reliable."
  

  Mimi Snyder-Rawlings
  Corporate Claims Manager
  Alcoa Inc.

• "Best Lawyers is one of many tools we use to identify the best lawyer for a specific case."
  

  Senior Vice President & General Counsel
  Major Broadband Internet Company

• "Best Lawyers is a wonderful resource and it is 'independent,' which is important to the client."
  

  Suku Radia
  CEO and President
  Bankers Trust Company, N.A.

• "Being the General Counsel of a corporation that does business in many parts of the world, I have to use different tools to find competent lawyers when going into a new jurisdiction. Best Lawyers has proven itself to be a very useful tool, since its source of information comes from high-demanding purchasers of legal services, like myself."
  

  Thomas Edlund
  General Counsel
  BMC Management AB

• "In the electronic age, where information is at our fingertips, we need reliable sources like Best Lawyers to provide accurate information and to give us the Best Lawyers to match our needs."
  

  Patrick Smith

• "Best Lawyers is an effective tool in identifying critical expertise when that expertise is required and/or needed quickly."
  

  Shawn Endsley Chief Financial Officer
  USA Mobility

• "Best Lawyers is a wonderful resource of information and one which I highly regard and reference when choosing counsel."
  

  Tim Edmond
  President
  CNL Real Estate & Development, Inc.

• "I have found the recommendations by Best Lawyers to be very helpful and accurate over the past 25 years."
  

  Timothy Crowley
  Managing Director
  Leerink Swann

• "Best Lawyers is very useful in screening new, potential law firms and lawyers. Excellent work is to be celebrated and rewarded, and you are helping deserving law firms and attorneys receive the recognition they deserve while providing a valuable service to clients looking to engage such talent."
  

  Zena Dickstein
  Former General Counsel
  Capital Z Consulting Corp

Testimonials about Best Lawyers from Other Prominent Lawyers and the Legal Media

Below is a small sample of comments about Best Lawyers and its peer-reviewed listings from prominent practicing attorneys, bar association officers, and members of the media who focus on the legal profession:

• “Best Lawyers is a shorthand way of knowing a person is possessed of all the skill, the integrity, and the qualifications to serve and meet the highest ideals of a lawyer. A professional's professional.”
  

  Bernice B. Donald
  U.S. District Court Judge
  United States District Court, Western District of Tennessee

• “Best Lawyers, one of the country’s few legitimate lawyer-rating services”
  

  Larry Bodine
  Strategic Marketing Consultant and Business Development Advisor
  http://blog.larrybodine.com

• “The Best Lawyers In America has successfully established itself as a reputable and reliable clearinghouse of well-regarded attorneys. Inclusion is exclusive and coveted, and there is regular turnover in the attorneys listed. Woodward/White notes that Best Lawyers lists have been featured in more than 50 major metropolitan magazines in the past two years, an indication of how widely publicized the individual listings have become. ... This kind of exclusivity, and the solid reputation that the directory's selection process has achieved, make the directory a valuable resource for users.”
  

  The North America Guide to Law Firm and Lawyer Directories
  Deborah McMurray and E. Leigh Dance
  ELD Project Marketing, Inc.

• “I always encourage my attorneys to put themselves or their colleagues in for consideration for Best Lawyers. I believe Best Lawyer is a cut above the other "lists" and other attorneys often use the Best Lawyer site for information and referrals. This past year one of the founders of the firm and our president received the coveted letter announcing that he had been named. As soon as he shared the news with me I lobbied for our firm to take advantage of the link to Best Lawyers and we did so that day. I was pleasantly amazed and seriously delighted to learn the very next day that he had had a call directly from the Best Lawyer site and better yet, had landed a matter from that call. The client told him his attorney had a conflict and he knew he was on Best Lawyers so that is where he searched for a replacement. He chose our firm. I really can't ask for better than that.”
  

  Amy Smith-Pike
  Marketing Director, DurretteBradshaw, Richmond, VA

• "Many lawyers appreciate the ground-breaking work which is done by The Best Lawyers In America. Most people ignore the numerous copycats which have followed in your footsteps."
  

  Jeffrey M. Smith
  Greenberg Traurig
  Atlanta, Georgia

• “There are several groups who publish top lawyer lists; however, we consider your publication the 'best of class.’”
  

  Gary S. McKitterick
  Allen Matkins Leck Gamble Mallory & Natsis
  Irvine, California

• “Our firm recently received a call from a prospective client who had found us via the Best Lawyers Web site. They told us that they were impressed that our firm had so many attorneys listed. We met with them, presented our credentials, and got the business, thanks in part to the initial contact through The Best Lawyers in America.”
  

  Jennifer P. Habib
  Director of Business Development and Marketing, Bass, Berry & Sims PLC, Nashville, Tennessee

• “We recently visited an energy client who, when told about the number of our attorneys listed in Best Lawyers, commented, 'Now, that really means something to me.'”
  

  Betsy Beorn Spellman
  Director of Client Services, Steptoe & Johnson, Clarksburg, West Virginia

• “The most respected list of attorneys in practice.”
  

  The American Lawyer

• “A thorough, reliable and valuable resource for all who seek the best in our profession.”
  

  Jerome J. Shestack, Past President of the American Bar Association, 1997-1998

• “When I need a lawyer or to refer a lawyer in another city, and I don't already know someone in whom I have confidence, I turn to Best Lawyers. It is the source for exceptional attorneys.”
  

  Marc E. Grossberg
  Thompson & Knight, Houston, Texas

• “As a nationally recognized honor of achievement to the recipient, Best Lawyers is a valuable resource in locating highly qualified attorneys throughout the country.”
  

  Michael F. Schaff
  Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer, Woodbridge, New Jersey

• "A handy guide... I practiced law in Nashville, Tennessee, and when I looked at the Nashville list, there were all the right lawyers."
  

  Fred Graham, Court TV (when Law Correspondent for CBS News)

• “On many occasions I have had an opportunity to use Best Lawyers for co-counsel and client referral purposes in other jurisdictions and in other areas of the law, both for myself and for others in our 40-attorney boutique practice. Every one of these referrals has worked out well with competent counsel and service. Your publication has served us well for quite a while. Our experience with it exemplifies the quality of its content and of counsel listed. Thank you for a truly useful reference.”
  

  David S. Stallard
  Wood, Herron & Evans, Cincinnati, Ohio

• “When asked for a referral, Best Lawyers is the resource to which I invariably turn. I have a high confidence level in attorneys listed in the book, even without knowing them. The organization of attorneys by geographic location and legal practice area makes the publication very user-friendly.”
  

  Thomas E. Boyle
  Buchanan Ingersoll, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

• “Best Lawyers is the most reliable and, in my judgment, the most respected lawyer designation directory in the U.S. A listing in Best Lawyers carries a great deal of weight within and without the Bar.”
  

  Robert S. Campbell
  Van Cott Bagley Cornwall & McCarthy