How Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® are selected
Becoming a 2008 Pennsylvania Super Lawyer® is a huge honor. The selection process is thorough. Each Pennsylvania Super Lawyer® has been judged and chosen as being among the best in the profession by his or her peers. Super Lawyers® are among the top five percent of all Pennsylvania lawyers.
There are four stages involved in the selection of a Pennsylvania Super Lawyer®: General Survey, Screening Process, Blue Ribbon Panel Review, and Final Selection Process.
General Survey Process
- Pennsylvania attorneys voted for the best Pennsylvania attorneys they had 'seen in action'
- Ballots were authenticated and were only counted if proper verification by the voting attorney was provided
- Nominated Pennsylvania lawyers were scored on the number and type of votes received. Votes received from outside law firms were scored significantly higher than votes received from within the nominated lawyers law firm.
- Any "back-scratch" votes eliminated a lawyer from the list. Back-scratch voting occurs when lawyers agree to vote for each other.
Screening Process
- Pennsylvania lawyers have their credentials reviewed by research staff. They are then scored based on defined evaluation criteria.
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Pennsylvania lawyers are also reviewed to make sure they:
- are properly licensed in Pennsylvania
- are in good standing with the Bar
- have no history of disciplinary actions
Blue Ribbon Panel Review
- Nominated lawyers are divided into approximately different practice areas
- Each of the practice areas has a Blue Ribbon Panel assembled consisting of the top point-getters from the General Survey and from the Screening Process.
- Managing partners of law firms were asked to nominate members of their firms to serve on the Blue Ribbon Panel.
- The panel reviewed the list of nominated Pennsylvania lawyers in their areas of practice.
- The panel assigned a positive or negative point total for each of the nominated lawyers.
- The panel's total was then added to, or subtracted from, the nominated lawyers scores.
Final Selection Process
- A final score for each nominated lawyer was derived by adding all scores from the first 3 stages.
- Nominated Pennsylvania lawyers were divided according to the size of their law firm - small, medium, and large.
- Lawyers with the top points by firm size were then designated Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® for 2008.
- Those chosen as Pennsylvania Super Lawyers® consist of the top 5% of the attorneys in Pennsylvania.