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OP here. I hear you. The people that I know on the list didn't even know they were on it.Iowahawk wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 1:40 pmThe only rankings service that isn't garbage is Chambers imo. Lots of them are pay to play. Don't know much about this one but someone I know hasn't argued an appeal this year won their "Lawyer of the Year" for appellate law and some truly random lawyers/firms were recognized in my jurisdiction... Little if any correlation to Chambers/reputation/book of business/etc. that I can tell and certain firms seem bizarrely heavily represented which is suspicious.
Me too actually. Not because I want it. But because I'm not above a little pay to play if there's a chance it'll advance my mediocre career. But if TLS is on to it, I'll just sit tight.Definitely Not North wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 3:00 pmdamn and I was just about to pull the trigger on a sick plaque from my LAWYERS OF DISTINCTION nomination
Not as directly. There's some mutual backscratching that goes on, but the firm can't pay to sponsor into its attorneys for awards like some publications. They actually interview clients of the lawyers identified, and their practice area bands usually are usually pretty close to the general reputation of the firm's practice. I've actually been interviewed by Chambers as a client.
nealric wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:18 pmNot as directly. There's some mutual backscratching that goes on, but the firm can't pay to sponsor into its attorneys for awards like some publications. They actually interview clients of the lawyers identified, and their practice area bands usually are usually pretty close to the general reputation of the firm's practice. I've actually been interviewed by Chambers as a client.
Superlawyers and Bestlawyers kind of reminds me of those "who's who in American high school students" thing I was solicited for back in the day. I remember people putting that on their college resumes
Never seen that one. Not as bad as a resume I once received that had the applicant's entire salary history down to their minimum wage high school job.2013 wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:27 pmnealric wrote: ↑Wed Oct 28, 2020 5:18 pmNot as directly. There's some mutual backscratching that goes on, but the firm can't pay to sponsor into its attorneys for awards like some publications. They actually interview clients of the lawyers identified, and their practice area bands usually are usually pretty close to the general reputation of the firm's practice. I've actually been interviewed by Chambers as a client.
Superlawyers and Bestlawyers kind of reminds me of those "who's who in American high school students" thing I was solicited for back in the day. I remember people putting that on their college resumes
I cringe when attorneys have The Who’s who for college students or some crap on their profiles.
It's not foolproof, and does require someone to bother to nominate you. Also, the bands tend to correlate more with prominence, not necessarily quality. A firm that gets nothing but AAA work in a practice area due to reputation but actually does a pretty mediocre job of it will still get ranked highly. In many practice areas, a mediocre job may not be all that apparent to a client, even if opposing counsel thinks they are sloppy.nahumya wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 5:39 pmI agree that the award is pretty arbitrary. That said, it's a nice bullet point to have on your partnership memo. C&P is probably the most merit-based, but it's not foolproof. I know some folks from my V20 firm who are ranked as band 2 on C&P and are very mediocre, and also a few rainmakers who are not ranked at all.
This is exactly how I feel about C&P.nealric wrote: ↑Mon Nov 02, 2020 12:09 pmIt's not foolproof, and does require someone to bother to nominate you. Also, the bands tend to correlate more with prominence, not necessarily quality. A firm that gets nothing but AAA work in a practice area due to reputation but actually does a pretty mediocre job of it will still get ranked highly. In many practice areas, a mediocre job may not be all that apparent to a client, even if opposing counsel thinks they are sloppy.nahumya wrote: ↑Sun Nov 01, 2020 5:39 pmI agree that the award is pretty arbitrary. That said, it's a nice bullet point to have on your partnership memo. C&P is probably the most merit-based, but it's not foolproof. I know some folks from my V20 firm who are ranked as band 2 on C&P and are very mediocre, and also a few rainmakers who are not ranked at all.
Hm... I also "won" it, but my marketing department (nor anyone at my firm) told me. I head from someone I graduated from law school with. I also haven't received any of the "stuff" you're talking about, but that could be a function of WFH and the fact that I haven't got into the office for 4 months.Anonymous User wrote: ↑Fri Oct 30, 2020 9:51 amAs "One to Watch," the award is pay to play. I didn't even realize it existed until someone in my marketing department told me I had "won" it. I'm not sure what the fee is to apply for it, but once you "win" they send you a bunch of stuff about website listings and e-mail signature logos--which cost hundreds of dollars.
I assume these awards, like Super Lawyers, are more useful in mid-markets where your clients are lay people who hire directly. If your clients are Fortune 100 companies whose in-house team includes a bunch of former Big Law lawyers, they don't care.