Methodology

Publicizing Guidelines

Congratulations on your recognition by Best Lawyers. The guidelines below provide you with the tools you need to publicly showcase your honors.


General Rules

  • You are permitted to mention that you are recognized by Best Lawyers® or recognized in The Best Lawyers in America®, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, Best Law Firms®, The Best Lawyers in [Country Name], Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in [Country Name], etc., but not that you are a "best lawyer" or “best law firm” or to suggest that an award by Best Lawyers guarantees a desired result nor imply an endorsement of any products or services.
  • Do not include any language the viewer may misconstrue as the honored lawyer being more skilled than lawyers who are not included in the publication.

Use of Best Lawyers Mark

  • Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms are always plural.
  • When referring to Best Lawyers as an organization, domestic or internationally, use Best Lawyers®.
  • When referring to American publications and honors, use the registration symbol. When referring to international publications and awards, use the trademark symbol.
  • The names of all publications, domestically and internationally, should be italicized. The company name is not italicized.
  • All compliant Best Lawyers announcements contain the edition year, country and awarded practice area, because individual awards are released annually, based on specific jurisdictions and practice area based.
    • The only exception to this rule is a firm-wide announcement, which should contain the year, country and total number of lawyers included in the associated edition.
  • "Ones to Watch" awards must be clearly differentiated from Best Lawyers recognitions.
    • The correct trademark symbols are as follows:
      • Domestic: Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America
      • International: Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in [Country Name]
  • Any promotion of Best Law Firms awards must be accompanied by a prominently specified label of country, differentiation of if the ranking is a National or Metro designation, the specialty and tier.
    • The exception to this rule is a firm-wide announcement, which can contain the edition year, country and summation of awards.
    • For more information on the Best Law Firms rankings, please visit the Best Law Firms website.
  • The registration or trademark symbols should be included in the first mention of Best Lawyers® or the country's launch name. All following mentions of Best Lawyers and publications in the same document must be italicized, but do not need to include the registration or trademark symbols.
  • When publicizing Best Lawyers awards online, a hyperlink to your Best Lawyers profile or https://www.bestlawyers.com/ is required. Similarly, when promoting Best Law Firms rankings online, a hyperlink to your Best Law Firms profile or https://www.bestlawfirms.com/ is required.
  • When publicizing Best Lawyers awards on social media, tagging Best Lawyers in your posts is encouraged.
  • Promotion of Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" awards must include the appropriate practice area, metropolitan area and edition year in which the award was given.
  • Promotion of Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" awards must be accompanied by the appropriate practice area, country and edition year in which the award was given.
  • Permission for use of any Best Lawyers logos or Best Law Firms begin on the date that your licensing agreement is fully signed and last either 12 months after or until the next edition of Best Lawyers or Best Law Firms releases in your country, whichever comes first.

Advertising Rules

  • When publicizing Best Lawyers awards using a group photo from the firm, the specific lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers must be identified by name in a caption with the notation of at least one of the awarded practice areas per recognized lawyer.
  • Advertisers should check their state or jurisdictional bar associations’ rules on specialty certification before including specialties and subspecialties in any advertisement.
  • Under no circumstances may a firm use the logo of Best Lawyers or any other creative, including badges, from Best Lawyers without the express licensing by Best Lawyers.


  • Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms logos and badges must be officially licensed for use.
  • Permission for use of Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms logos and badges begins on the date of purchase and lasts either 12 months after such purchase or until the release of the next publication of rankings in your country.
  • To be eligible to use Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms logos and badges, the lawyer and/or law firm must appear in the print or online versions of Best Lawyers or Best Law Firms rankings.
  • Best Lawyers and Best Law Firms logos and badges shall only be used in the form and colors indicated, without modifications or alterations. Such logos and badges will not be used in a way that would reflect poorly on Best Lawyers.
  • Any display of Best Lawyers or Best Law Firms logos or badges should be accompanied by the appropriate required verbiage.

The logo or badge may be used in the following ways:

  • Lawyer or firm's website
  • Footer of email messages
  • Print or online marketing brochures, materials or statements
    • Must first be provided to Best Lawyers for approval prior to production.
    • Best Lawyers logos and Best Law Firms badges may be used on billboards, outdoor advertisements and television ads only after the purchase of an additional license.
  • Social media websites


Firm-Wide Announcement:

  • Hibbens & McKay, LLC is proud to have 14 lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers® in 2024 in America.
  • Hibbens & McKay, LLC is proud to have 14 lawyers awarded in the 2024 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America.
  • Hibbens & McKay, LLC is proud to have 10 lawyers recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® and four lawyers recognized in the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America 2024 editions.
  • 10 lawyers from Hibbens & McKay, LLC were recognized in the 30th edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.
  • Four lawyers from Hibbens & McKay, LLC were recognized in the fourth edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America.
  • Elston & Rhoden PLLC is proud to have seven lawyers awarded in the 2024 editions of The Best Lawyers in Germany and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Germany.
  • Elston & Rhoden PLLC is proud to have three lawyers recognized in The Best Lawyers in Germany and four lawyers recognized in the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Germany 2024 editions.

Individual Best Lawyers Announcement:

  • Amelia June was recently included in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America® for Family Law and Family Law Mediation.
  • Julie Martin was recently selected by her peers for inclusion in the 14th edition of The Best Lawyers in France in the fields of Litigation and Tax Law.
  • William Wright was included in the 12th edition of The Best Lawyers in the United Kingdom for Social Housing Law.

Individual Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch Announcement:

  • Susan McDavid was included in the 2024 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for her work in Construction Law.
  • Anthony Forsberg received a 2024 Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in Germany recognition for Medical Malpractice Litigation.

Individual Lawyer With "Lawyer of the Year" Award:

  • Robert Brown was named the Best Lawyers® 2024 Family Law "Lawyer of the Year" in Atlanta.
  • Catherine Neal received the Best Lawyers® 2024 Real Estate "Lawyer of the Year" award in Winnipeg.
  • David Potter was recognized by Best Lawyers® as the 2024 Superannuation Law "Lawyer of the Year" award winner in Sydney.

Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" Awards:

  • Elston & Rhoden PLLC was named the 2024 Best Lawyers® "Law Firm of the Year" in Germany for Arbitration and Mediation.
  • Edmonds, Ladd and Cordova PLLC was honored with the 2024 Best Lawyers® "Law Firm of the Year" award in Australia for Corporate Law.

Best Law Firms:

For more information on the Best Law Firms rankings, please visit the Best Law Firms website.

When announcing a Best Law Firms recognition, the ranked firm is required to prominently specify the following:

  • Best Law Firms®
    • The correct name of the publication is Best Law Firms® and should be formatted exactly as written, retaining the capitalization style and registration mark.
  • Edition number or edition year (example: 14th edition or 2024)
  • Tier designation
  • Metropolitan or national classification
  • Practice area(s) in which the award is given

EXAMPLES OF CORRECT LANGUAGE:

  • Smith & McClean has been named a Tier 1 firm in Los Angeles for Appellate Practice in the 2024 edition of Best Law Firms®.
  • Smith & McClean has received a First-Tier ranking in L.A. in Appellate Practice by Best Law Firms® for the 14th edition.
  • Smith & McClean has been named by Best Law Firms® as a Tier 1 national firm in three practice areas in 2024.
    • If your firm has multiple awards, it is OK to state the number of rankings instead of listing them all — but please correlate the number of rankings to the metro / national designation and be sure to specify the tier.

The official 2024 Best Law Firms badge must be licensed for use on your website or any other marketing materials. If found using an unauthorized badge, Best Lawyers will request that the badge be removed. If you have additional questions about marketing opportunities, you can always contact a Best Lawyers team member.


Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers recognitions are compiled based on an exhaustive Purely Peer Review® evaluation. More than 123,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and we have received more than 20 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world.

For the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, more than 13.7 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 76,000 leading lawyers included in the milestone 30th edition.

For the 2024 edition of Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America, more than 2.4 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 25,000 lawyers honored in the new edition.

"Law Firm of the Year" awards recognize a single top firm for its work in a specific legal practice area nationwide. Awards are determined based on a handful of factors including lawyer feedback, the number of lawyers included in Best Lawyers® for that firm and practice area, the number of office locations a firm has, historical analysis of the firm’s "Lawyer of the Year" awards, materials submitted by firms and the firm’s overall scope and areas of expertise.

"Lawyer of the Year" honors are awarded annually to only one lawyer per practice area in each region with extremely high overall feedback from their peers, making it an exceptional distinction.

Lawyers are not required nor allowed to pay a fee to be listed; therefore, inclusion in Best Lawyers is considered a singular honor.

For any questions related to our Publicizing Guidelines, contact Megan Edmonds, Public Relations Manager, at medmonds@bestlawyers.com.

Download Publicizing Guidelines PDF


Legal advertising is regulated by your state or jurisdiction. It is the sole responsibility of the advertiser to first comply with jurisdictional guidelines. Always refer to your state or local bar society’s rules if you have specific questions or concerns.

The Best Lawyers publicizing guidelines contain general recommendations but are not intended to be legal advice. Best Lawyers assumes no responsibility for advertiser compliance with jurisdictional guidelines.

After compliance with your state, provincial and national bar’s rules, any promotional material containing the Best Lawyers name must be emailed for approval before release in any public medium to ensure compliance with Best Lawyers' Guidelines. Please send drafts to our team who can provide feedback on any press release, announcement or advertisement.

Send materials for approval to Megan Edmonds, Public Relations Manager, at medmonds@bestlawyers.com. Please allow at least one full business day for approval from Best Lawyers.


Best Lawyers will monitor relevant advertising to ensure that any usage of its trademarked or copyrighted material complies with these guidelines. If any usage is found not to comply with the guidelines, Best Lawyers will inform the advertiser and request that the inappropriate advertising be brought into compliance. If timely and appropriate efforts are not made by the advertiser to bring the non-compliant advertising into compliance with the guidelines, Best Lawyers may temporarily suspend or permanently exclude the advertiser from any or all Best Lawyers databases and publications and take appropriate action to ensure that its trademarks and copyrights are not infringed.

Best Lawyers does not assume, and hereby expressly disclaims, any liability to any person or entity for any loss or damage claimed to arise from the failure by any advertiser using Best Lawyers materials of any kind to comply with these guidelines.

  • Best Lawyers rankings shall only be used for the purpose of identifying a lawyer as having been recognized by Best Lawyers and not to imply an endorsement of any product or services.
  • Best Lawyers has the right to monitor mentions of the Best Lawyers rankings, and if a lawyers' description of its recognition in the Best Lawyers list is inaccurate, or otherwise unacceptable, Best Lawyers will notify the lawyer and the lawyer agrees that it shall immediately remove or change such materials in accordance with Best Lawyers' request.
  • Under no circumstances may the logos of Best Lawyers, or any other creative from Best Lawyers, be used without the express written permission of Best Lawyers.
  • These guidelines are subject to change without notice, and Best Lawyers may withdraw or change these guidelines at any time and for any reason.

PLEASE NOTE that in consideration for the limited use of the marks Best Lawyers®, Best Law Firms®, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® and Purely Peer Review® in connection with publicity or other advertising, all awarded lawyers and/or law firms expressly agree to abide by the terms and conditions of these guidelines AND ANY APPLICABLE STATE BAR LEGAL ADVERTISING LAWS, RULES AND REGULATIONS.

Best Lawyers®, Best Law Firms®, Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® and Purely Peer Review® are registered trademarks of BL Rankings, LLC d/b/a Best Lawyers and Co., LLC. The names, logo and database are protected under the trademark, copyright and fair use laws of the United States of America. Any use of name, including in electronic form, must be made only by permission and under the guidelines of BL Rankings, LLC d/b/a Best Lawyers and Co., LLC.

BL Rankings, LLC d/b/a Best Lawyers and Co., LLC has used its best efforts in assembling material for inclusion in Best Lawyers but does not warrant that the information contained therein is complete or accurate, and does not assume, and hereby disclaims, any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in Best Lawyers whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.