How to Nominate a Super Lawyer For an Award
Is a Super Lawyers award worth It? How does the process work? And most importantly, how can you make it happen?
Is a Super Lawyers nomination or award worth it? In short, yes! There are an estimated 1,200 legal rankings and awards globally – a big jump from the approximately 700 nominations of a decade ago.
Legal nominations are creating a buzz, and for good reason. From a client’s perspective, your being nominated signals credibility and, most importantly, reliability and quality. These factors are essential to those seeking legal services because they are not only making a high-ticket purchase but also one that has a significant emotional component. People looking for a lawyer want to be reassured that they’re going to be in good hands. Recognition from Super Lawyers tells them they will be.
With that said, how does Super Lawyers fit in among the numerous legal awards and nominations? First it’s important to consider them as 4 different types of nominations:
- Global
- National
- Local
- Vote-based
Super Lawyers, a rating service company, fits into the last category, vote-base nomination.
Super Lawyers is composed of outstanding lawyers from over 70+ practice areas who have attained a high degree of peer recognition and professional achievement. As a rating service, they manage a selection process that is based on voting.
Benefits of a Super Lawyer Nomination for Firms
Super Lawyers was created by Thomson Reuters, known worldwide for distributing reputable information and data in fields including law, tax, compliance, government, and media to help them function better. Because of Reuters status, a Super Lawyers award is meaningful.
Some of the benefits of receiving this prestigious award include:
- Recognition that accompanies receiving a very selective award that focuses on finding the most qualified attorneys in each state.
- Opportunity to improve marketing outreach to those seeking legal services.
- Networking with other professionals.
- Solidifying the award winner’s standing in the legal profession.
How the Super Lawyer Nomination Works
If you’d like to nominate someone, or simply want to expand your network, you’ll need to create an account here. With an account, legal professionals and attorneys can:
- Manage their profiles
- Nominate peers
- Evaluate other lawyers
- Purchase marketing solutions
For the nomination process, there are rules all lawyers need to abide by:
- Self-nominations are not permitted.
- In-firm nominations are counted only if an equal or more significant number of lawyers outside the firm are nominated.
- You may nominate a maximum of 21 lawyers. This means 7 in-firm nominations, 7 out-of-firm nominations and 7 Rising Star nominations.
- No advertising, as this may lead to disqualification.
- Nominations must be based on firsthand knowledge rather than the opinions of others.
Now, let’s look at the criteria behind nominating a legal MVP.
The Tri-Level Method Used to Nominate the 2022 MVP Super Lawyers by State
Please keep in mind that the nominations are made only once a year during a specific time frame on a state-by-state basis.
- Don’t miss the deadline to nominate someone who deserves it! Click on this link to find the specific state deadline.
- Click the drop-down menu and select your state.
Super Lawyers uses a patented selection process that includes 3 steps: nominations, research, and evaluation.
1. Nominations. To reiterate, lawyers are invited once a year to nominate the top attorneys they have personally observed in action. Even if you aren’t an attorney, you can still nominate someone! For example, clients, marketing directors, and others that aren’t formally invited to vote can still submit an informal nomination to Thomson Reuters.
2. Research. At this point in the process, Thomson Reuter has an appointed research staff that carries out extensive research on nominees in the following areas:
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- Verdicts/Settlements
- Transactions
- Representative clients
- Experience
- Honors/Awards
- Special licenses/certifications
- Position within the law firm
- Bar and/or professional activity
- Pro Bono and community service
- Scholarly lectures/writings
- Education/employment background
- Other outstanding achievements
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3. Evaluation. In this stage, the attorneys with the highest points (according to steps 1 and 2) are asked to serve on a blue-ribbon panel. The panelists are requested to review and rate each candidate on a scale of 1-5.
4. The final selection. The final candidates are grouped into firm-size categories, and in the end, the ones with the highest points per category are the winners!
This brings us to a frequently asked question: what’s the difference between the Super Lawyer and Rising Stars awards?
- These are 2 separate awards. The Super Lawyer award and the Rising Stars award both have the same selection process, except that the Rising Stars awards are for candidates 40 years or younger who have been practicing for less than 10 years, and only the top 2.5% are given the award.
- The Super Lawyers cover the remainder of the group, and the selection process is much more competitive; however, the top 5% are given the award.
How to Improve Your Chances of Winning the Super Lawyers Award
There are some best practices firms can begin to implement to up their chances of winning this award (and perhaps others, too!)
1. Develop a broad professional network in your community
Like all other voter-based nominations, Super Lawyers is based on peer reviews. Attorneys cannot nominate themselves; therefore, 100% rely on other’s opinions, and this is where the importance of networking comes into play.
2. Get non-lawyers to vote under ‘Informal Nominations’
Super Lawyers accepts “informal nominations” from individuals who aren’t lawyers but know the attorney’s quality work and ethic.
3. Stay active
Community service will always be important regardless of achievements and success. In addition to education, work ethic, quality of work, and results, the level of how active a firm and an attorney is within the community and with pro-bono work matters.
4. Contribute!
Have you ever written something worth sharing with other legal professionals? Have you ever given a scholarly lecture? Those more involved in these areas also have a big plus.
5. Advance your career in other areas
Those going the extra mile are noticed. By advancing your educational and professional base through licenses and certifications, you’re going the extra mile and showing continued dedication.. That is true professionally and personally.
Takeaway
Lawyers, as well as other professionals never really know who’s watching and taking note. Remember that you’re always being scrutinized for how you carry yourself–by clients, co-workers, other attorneys, judges, executives, and others in the community.
Whether you want to nominate an attorney that’s going the extra mile or simply want to expand your professional development – we can help you maximize your visibility.
