Are Super Lawyers worth it is a question with three parts: what the selection actually establishes, what your state lets you say about it on your website, and whether the badge changes what visitors do once it is up.
This page takes the three in order, as one branch of law firm public relations, where awards sit next to press coverage and community stories.
One limit up front: no published benchmark isolates what an award badge adds to a law firm's consultation or signed-case rate, so anyone quoting you a fixed return on a badge is guessing.
Super Lawyers selection: what the company says it does
Super Lawyers says its published list represents the top 5 percent of lawyers in each state, selected each year through what it describes as a patented, multi-phase process.
That process combines peer nominations, evaluations and research on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, per the company's selection page.
Nominations open the cycle, and in-firm nominations count only when matched by at least one nomination from a lawyer outside the firm.
Rising Stars, the companion list, takes candidates who are 40 or younger or in practice 10 years or less, and Super Lawyers says the top 2.5 percent of them are named.
Read it as the seller describing its own product, not as an outside audit; the same company sells "marketing solutions."
Are lawyer awards legit: what a selection does and doesn't establish
What the process documents is real information: peers thought enough of the lawyer to nominate them, lawyers outside the firm confirmed it, and a research pass scored 12 indicators.
What it does not document is anything about your phone: whether prospective clients in your practice area recognize the badge, trust it, or call because of it.
What the selection documents
- Peer nominations, counted only when matched from outside the firm.
- Evaluations plus research on 12 indicators, per Super Lawyers.
- Top 5 percent in the state; Rising Stars at the top 2.5 percent.
What it does not document
- Whether prospective clients in your practice area recognize or act on the badge.
- What the badge adds to consultations and signed cases: no published benchmark isolates it.
- The wording your state allows on a website: that is a separate, state-by-state question.
The sharpest question lawyers ask, whether the list can be bought, has two lines on the record: Super Lawyers' own selection page quotes a court record saying lawyers can't buy their way onto the list, and the same company sells "marketing solutions."
State both lines and stop: neither tells you whether the badge books consultations at your firm, and going past the record in either direction is a claim to defend.
New Jersey's committee has written the most useful buyer's test: under the Official Comment on honors and accolades to New Jersey RPC 7.1(a)(3), amended November 2, 2009, an honor is not misleading when the conferrer made an inquiry into the attorney's fitness, does not issue the honor for a price, and has a publicly available methodology.
Read as a checklist, that is what "legit" reduces to in at least one state's rule: a real selection, no price tag, a published method.
Lawyer award advertising rules
The base standard is ABA Model Rule 7.1, which prohibits false or misleading communications about a lawyer or the lawyer's services; award comparisons are exactly where state variants harden it, and Model Rules bind no one until a state adopts them.
Per the ABA's Rule 7.1 variations chart, last updated July 20, 2022, North Dakota bars comparisons based on an honor or accolade unless the comparing organization is named and the basis can be substantiated.
New Jersey goes furthest on the badge itself: its Committee on Attorney Advertising's May 5, 2021 Notice to the Bar requires three things in proximity to every reference to a comparative award, badge or logo included: a description of the methodology, which can be a link, the name of the issuing organization, and the disclaimer "No aspect of this advertisement has been approved by the Supreme Court of New Jersey."
The same notice says a lawyer may state inclusion in the list called "Super Lawyers" but must not describe the lawyer as being a "Super Lawyer," and it calls awards issued for a price, as a reward for joining, or based on website participation "suspect."
The notice names "AV Preeminent," "Best Lawyers" and "Top Lawyer" alongside Super Lawyers, which is where the "best lawyers worth it" question starts: under the same display rules as every other badge.
California's rule is statutory: Business and Professions Code section 6157.2(a)(6), amended effective January 1, 2026 by SB 37, bars ads from referring to an organization's recognition or awards unless the award is not given simply for being a member and the organization does not charge or ask for a fee for it.
Florida, under the comment to Rule 4-7.14 as of October 1, 2026, takes the permissive route: bona fide awards and ratings may be listed by their actual name and the date given, and skill-based recognition is potentially misleading unless the selecting entity is bona fide and uses objective, uniformly applied criteria.
That is four states, not a survey: the chart is a 2022 snapshot, state rules move, and the only rule that governs your firm is the one your state adopted.
The trust-signal rules for law firm websites work through the badge display requirements in more depth.
- Name the issuing organization next to the badge, with the year it was given.
- Link or summarize the selection methodology.
- In New Jersey, say you were included in the list called "Super Lawyers"; the notice bars describing the lawyer as a "Super Lawyer."
- Check whether your state requires a set disclaimer, and place it where the rule says.
- Substantiate any comparison you build on the award; North Dakota's rule requires the organization named and the basis substantiated.
- Confirm the current text with your state bar's ethics counsel or an ethics lawyer before anything is published.
Worth paying for? Run the badge like a channel
The selection settles none of the money questions: what the badge costs is whatever the surrounding products and licenses add up to, and what it returns is unknown until you measure it.
Award recognition is also a product line: Super Lawyers says it sells "marketing solutions," FindLaw's FAQ lists SuperLawyers.com among what it calls its four legal directory websites, and Martindale-Avvo's contact form lists "Super Lawyers Recognition" as an interest.
The measurement that answers worth is plain: baseline your consultation requests for a period, add the badge with whatever wording your state allows, and compare like-for-like periods, judging on consultations booked and signed cases rather than on impressions.
That is a conversion test, and it is the work More Booked Cases does: one controlled test a month on law firm websites and landing pages, trust-signal placement included, judged on consultation and signed-case rates with read access to the firm's intake or CRM numbers.
If the badge never moves consultations in a fair test, you have your answer for your firm, whatever the plaque says.
Frequently asked questions
How legit are Super Lawyers?
Super Lawyers describes a patented, multi-phase selection that combines peer nominations, evaluations and research on 12 indicators, and its page quotes a court record saying lawyers can't buy their way onto the list. That is the company describing its own product, and some states regulate exactly how a lawyer may word the recognition.
What percentage of lawyers are Super Lawyers?
Per Super Lawyers, the list represents the top 5 percent of lawyers in each state, and Rising Stars, for lawyers 40 or younger or in practice 10 years or less, is the top 2.5 percent. Those are the company's own figures, not an independent count.
Do lawyers pay to be on Super Lawyers?
Super Lawyers' selection page quotes a court record saying lawyers can't buy their way onto the list, while the same company sells "marketing solutions." Both lines are on the record, and your state's rule on paid-for awards, such as California's statute amended effective January 1, 2026, is what governs how you may display the badge.
Does being a Super Lawyer mean anything?
It means what the selection documents: peer nominations confirmed from outside the firm and research on 12 indicators, per Super Lawyers. Whether it means consultations depends on whether prospective clients in your practice area act on the badge, which no published benchmark answers and your own measurement does.
Is Best Lawyers worth it for a law firm?
The same test applies as for any badge: New Jersey's committee names Best Lawyers among the comparative awards that need a methodology, the issuing organization and a disclaimer next to the reference, and no published benchmark says what any badge returns. Measure consultations and signed cases against the cost.