Martindale Hubbell Law Directory
This annually published directory is the oldest and best known of those available today. It includes lawyers practicing in the United States as well as 159 other countries. This coverage of foreign countries will continue to become more important as laws in the United States are affected by foreign and international law.
Each individual lawyer entry will contain the date of birth, the year first admitted to a state bar, numeric codes indicating where all listed educational degrees were earned Specialized areas of law in which they practice, and a listing of representative clients, the firm where the lawyer practices, and contact information. If the entry has the bar registry designation (BR), it means that they are also listed in the Martindale Hubbell Directory for Pre-Eminent Lawyers.
Despite its enormous size, not all practicing attorneys are listed. In order for an attorney or firm to be included in this directory, they must send the appropriate information to the publisher.
Many, but not all of the attorneys and firms listed, are rated according to their degree of legal skill and whether they follow the highest ethical standards. The rating “AV” is the highest rating given. A “BV” rating is still above average in terms of legal skills and an indication the attorney subscribes to the same high ethical standards as those given the “AV” rating. The “CV” rating denotes an average rating in terms of legal skills and an indication the lawyer also follows the highest ethical standards. No attorney is given a rating without their consent. The ratings are based on confidential written evaluations by practitioners and judges in the position to know the given lawyer. There is no rating to indicate that a lawyer is below average in legal ability or that he does not follow the highest ethical standards.
Martindale Hubbell Bar Register of Pre-Eminent Lawyers
Listings are restricted to those individual attorneys and firms that have earned the “AV” rating and who practice in the United States and Canada. Instead of being grouped by state and within each state by the locality in which the lawyer practices, the lawyers are first grouped according to the specialty in which they practice. Sixty specialties are included.
The primary value of these directories in your search for an attorney is that they tell you how long that lawyer has been in practice, whether he specializes in an area relevant to the problem you are facing, and whether there may be a conflict of interest if you retain that attorney based on the clients they represent.
The Best Lawyers in America 1999–2000
Now in its eighth edition, the information is based on the polling of 11,000 lawyers who were asked which attorneys in practice for a minimum of ten years they consider to be the best in their specialty. In the 1995–1996 edition only one and one half percent of all lawyers practicing in the United States were listed.
Lawyer’s Register International by Specialties and Fields of Law. 16th ed. 1999
This directory gives a worldwide listing of attorneys who represent themselves as being certified or designated as practicing in one or more of 390 legal specialties. The designation as a specialist is given for one of three reasons. First, the attorney has successfully completed a certification program given for that specialty in the state in which they practice. Second, the state in which the lawyer practices has designated them on a defacto basis that they have sufficient experience to be qualified in a given specialty. Third, they have been certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. There is a separate designation given for each of these three reasons why a lawyer is designated as certified in a given specialty.
The directory is arranged alphabetically by specialty, and within each specialty alphabetically by where they practice. In order to assist the consumer, a separate table lists all states that have established certification programs in particular specialties. By using this table, you are able to more easily select attorneys that have been certified by a state program in a given specialty.
Chambers Guide to the Legal Profession 2000–2001
Chambers Global The World’s Leading Lawyers
Published in London, England, by Chambers and Partners, this source is designed for those trying to find an attorney practicing in one of over sixty specialized areas of business and corporate law.
Evaluations are from leading practitioners in each specialty obtained through telephone interviews averaging thirty minutes. During these interviews, the person interviewed is asked who they consider to be the best attorney in their specialty and why they hold such a high opinion of them. This procedure, unlike the written questionnaires upon which other lawyer directories rely, allows for a more thorough investigation of the legal abilities of a given attorney. This is because a interview by telephone avoids the bias that is inherent in written questionnaires since the ones returned in such surveys are much more likely to be favorable. Conversely, attorneys who do not respect the abilities of another practitioner are less likely to send in their written responses.
