Our editorial standard
We separate facts, inferences, and editorial judgments. Material claims receive an exact source, retrieval date, evidence tier, and reviewer. We prefer statutes, courts, regulators, bar records, official data, dockets, and award-provider profiles.
What we will not do
- Sell organic inclusion, rank, score, or badges.
- Turn a firm award into an award for every lawyer.
- Present a past result as typical or guaranteed.
- Treat a service-area address as a staffed office.
- Use review volume as a substitute for legal quality.
- Publish a missing fact as evidence that a capability does not exist.
Writing and review
Researchers build the evidence table before prose. A second reviewer checks ranking-critical facts. Legal guidance involving deadlines, damages, insurance, fees, or procedure requires review by a California-licensed attorney before indexing.
Conflicts, advertising, and referrals
Commercial relationships must be disclosed where a reader could reasonably believe they affected the work. A referral, advertisement, sponsorship, or technology vendor cannot change eligibility, score, wording, or rank. Sponsored material, if introduced, must be labeled and kept outside the organic ranking calculation.
How claims are labeled
We distinguish court records, independent document review, retained-vendor review, and firm-supplied claims. Verdicts, settlements, judgments, and aggregate recoveries are not interchangeable. A lawyer award is attributed to the named lawyer and year; a firm award is not extended to every attorney.
AI assistance
Tools may help organize sources, identify inconsistencies, or draft from an approved evidence record. They do not create rankings, invent sources, or replace human fact checking and legal review. Published accountability remains with the named editorial team.
Updates
Lawyer status is checked before publication and monitored monthly for ranked lawyers. Reviews and offices are refreshed quarterly, laws quarterly, jury instructions at each edition or supplement, and rankings through a full annual rerun.
Corrections and edition history
Material corrections should identify the changed statement, stronger source, date, and effect on the ranking. Minor spelling or formatting fixes do not alter the evidence record. A future ranking edition reruns the method rather than silently overwriting the conclusions of an earlier edition.