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 distinguished by Best Lawyers®, included in The Best Lawyers in America® or recognized in The Best Lawyers in [International Country Name]™, etc., but not that you are a "best lawyer" or to suggest that an award by Best Lawyers guarantees a desired result.
  • 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 the Best Lawyers Mark

  • Best Lawyers is 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 announcements contain the year, country and awarded practice area, because the Best Lawyers methodology is annual, national/regional 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]™
  • 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.
  • When publicizing Best Lawyers awards on social media, tagging Best Lawyers in your posts is encouraged.
  • Any display of Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" images or text referencing a lawyer’s recognition(s) must be accompanied by the appropriate practice area, metropolitan area and year in which the award was given.
  • Any display of Best Lawyers "Law Firm of the Year" awards must be accompanied by the appropriate practice area, country and year in which the award was given.
  • Permission for use of the “Law Firm of the Year” logo begins on the date that this agreement is fully signed and lasts either 12 months after or until the next edition of Best Lawyers in your country, whichever comes first.
  • For more information on the U.S. News - Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" rankings, please visit the "Best Law Firms" website.

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.
  • Advertisers should check their state or jurisdictional bar associations’ rules on specialty certification before including specialties and subspecialties in any advertisement.

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

The logo may be used in the following ways:

  • Lawyer or firm's website
  • Footer of email messages
    • Email must originate from the listed lawyers.
  • Print or online marketing
    • The Best Lawyers logo may be used on billboards, outdoor advertisements and television ads only after the purchase of an additional license.
  • Marketing brochures
  • Print and online statements
    • Must first be provided to Best Lawyers for approval prior to production.
  • Social media websites

Firm-Wide Announcement:

  • Hibbens & McKay, LLC is proud to have 14 lawyers recognized by Best Lawyers® in 2023 in America.
  • Hibbens & McKay, LLC is proud to have 14 lawyers awarded in the 2023 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 2023 editions.
  • 10 lawyers from Hibbens & McKay, LLC were recognized in the 29th edition of The Best Lawyers in America®.
  • Four lawyers from Hibbens & McKay, LLC were recognized in the third edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America.
  • Elston & Rhoden PLLC is proud to have seven lawyers awarded in the 2023 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™ 2023 editions.

Individual Best Lawyers Announcement:

  • Amelia June was recently included in the 2023 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 13th edition of The Best Lawyers in France™ in the fields of Litigation and Tax Law.
  • William Wright was included in the 11th 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 2023 edition of the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch® in America for her work in Construction Law.
  • Anthony Forsberg received a 2023 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® 2023 Family Law "Lawyer of the Year" in Atlanta.
  • Catherine Neal received the Best Lawyers® 2023 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.

"Law Firm of the Year" Award:

Domestic Examples

For more information on the U.S. News - Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" rankings, please visit the "Best Law Firms" website.

When announcing a U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" recognition, the ranked firm is required to prominently specify the following:

  • U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms"
  • Edition or edition year (example: 13th edition or 2023)
  • 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 by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" in 2023.
  • Smith & McClean has received a First-Tier ranking in L.A. in Appellate Practice by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® for the 13th edition of "Best Law Firms."

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.

EXAMPLE:

  • Smith & McClean has been named a Tier 1 national firm in three practice areas by U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" in 2023.

The correct name of the publication is: U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" and should be formatted exactly as written, retaining the italics, the spaces on either side of the en-dash, the registration mark and the quotation marks.

The official 2023 U.S. News – Best Lawyers® "Best Law Firms" Badge must be licensed for use on your website or any other marketing materials. If found using an unauthorized badge, U.S. News or 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.

International Examples

  • Elston & Rhoden PLLC was named the 2023 Best Lawyers® "Law Firm of the Year" in Germany for Arbitration and Mediation.
  • Edmonds, Ladd and Cordova PLLC was honored with the 2023 Best Lawyers® "Law Firm of the Year" award in Australia for Corporate Law.

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 116,000 industry leading lawyers are eligible to vote (from around the world), and we have received more than 17 million evaluations on the legal abilities of other lawyers based on their specific practice areas around the world.

For the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®, more than 12.2 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 71,000 leading 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™, and U.S. News® in connection with publicity or other advertising, all listed 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. Failure to comply with any or all of these guidelines may result in temporary or permanent revocation of listing, civil liability for misappropriation or trademark infringement, and/or report to the appropriate lawyer disciplinary authorities.

Best Lawyers® and The Best Lawyers in America® 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.