What Best Lawyers does

Best Lawyers is a privately-held, Aiken, South Carolina-based peer-review publication company that has operated the world's oldest continuously running legal peer-review ranking platform for approximately 40 years (founded circa 1986). It identifies the top 3% of lawyers globally across 151 practice areas through a methodology built entirely on attorney peer review, having aggregated more than 13 million evaluations over its history. The company serves four primary customer segments: recognized attorneys, law firms, legal service consumers searching for representation, and legal-service providers (court reporting, litigation support, practice management, marketing). Its core product surface consists of the Best Lawyers consumer-facing attorney directory (bestlawyers.com), the Best Law Firms tiered firm-ranking platform (bestlawfirms.com), regional and business print/digital publications (e.g., Texas 2026, California 2026, Women in the Law 2026), and the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch early-career recognition program.

The company's revenue model is anchored by recurring subscription streams — Premier Placement and Highlighted Lawyer/Firm featured listings, the Best Lawyers Digital Marketing Platform / SEO bundles, the Member Benefits affinity partner program (connecting recognized attorneys with service providers such as U.S. Legal Support), and Member Benefits subscriptions — supplemented by one-time publication sales and professional services revenue from the acquired Good2bSocial digital marketing agency (closed March 2025). Distribution is multi-channel: owned SEO-optimized consumer websites, regional and business publications, an affinity partner network, an AI-native ChatGPT legal search app (launched April 2026, the first legal search app on ChatGPT), and direct sales to law firms for placement and marketing services. Geographic reach spans the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, Colombia, Austria, and Switzerland, with European depth increasing via the 2027 editions. The company is led by CEO Phillip Greer and was co-founded by Steven Naifeh; it remains privately held with no parent company disclosed and operates with 11-50 employees.

Name

Best Lawyers

Legal name

Best Lawyers

Website

https://bestlawyers.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1986

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

251–500 employees

Short description

Best Lawyers is a privately-held peer-review publication company that has ranked the top 3% of lawyers globally across 151 practice areas for 40 years, monetizing recognition through subscriptions, digital marketing services, and affinity partnerships with law firms and legal service providers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Legal Directory and Peer-Review Rankings

NAICS

Offices of Lawyers (541110), Legal Services (5411), All Other Legal Services (541199)

SIC

Services-Legal Services (8111)

akta.pro primary industry

Litigation & Dispute Resolution (BPAHAAAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Litigation Support & Expert Witness Services (BPAHALAG), Legal Practice Management & Case Management (BPAEAPAC)

Keywords

• Legal directory services
• Peer review rankings
• Law firm marketing
• Attorney recognition platform
• Legal publications

Headquarters

HQ city

Aiken

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Premier Placement & Highlighted Lawyer/Firm Features: Paid featured placement on bestlawyers.com allowing attorneys and firms to be highlighted in search results. Subscription-style recurring feature placement for marketing visibility.
2. Digital Marketing Platform Subscriptions: Subscription-based digital marketing and SEO platform offered to law firms via demand-generation bundles to drive client leads and brand visibility.
3. Publications and Subscriptions: Sale of regional and business edition publications (e.g., Women in the Law 2026, Litigation 2025, California Region 2026, Texas 2026, New England 2026, Colorado 2026, Canada 2026) via an online store.
4. Affinity Partner Program: Revenue generated through affinity partnerships where vetted service providers (marketing, legal practice management, litigation support) pay to access Best Lawyers' recognized attorneys and law firms as customers.
5. Member Benefits Program: Membership-based benefits program offering recognized attorneys exclusive resources and benefits, including access to preferred partner offerings.
6. Marketing Services via Good2bSocial Acquisition: Digital marketing agency services for law firms following the acquisition of Good2bSocial, expanding content and marketing services for the legal industry.

Go-to-market motion5 records

Distribution channels6 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Best Lawyers operates a peer-reviewed lawyer directory and rankings platform spanning 151 practice areas across the U.S., Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, and other markets. It monetizes its recognition database through featured placements (Premier Placement), a digital marketing and SEO platform for law firms, member benefits/affinity programs, regional and business publications, AI-driven attorney discovery (ChatGPT app, SmithyAI), and the companion Best Law Firms tiered rankings platform.

Product overview

Best Lawyers operates a unified platform-plus-modules architecture anchored on its flagship peer-reviewed lawyer directory and rankings platform (Best Lawyers in America, Best Lawyers in Canada, Best Lawyers in Australia, Best Lawyers in Spain, Best Lawyers in Germany, Best Lawyers in France, etc.), which feeds its companion firm-level rankings property (Best Law Firms) and its various sub-brands such as Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch. Layered on top of the core directory are a set of growth and AI-driven modules: the Best Lawyers Digital Marketing Platform / Premier Placement for SEO and AI-search visibility, the new Best Lawyers Legal Search App on ChatGPT (the first legal search app on ChatGPT, leveraging the company's peer-reviewed rankings to surface attorneys via natural language prompts), the SmithyAI AI tool, the Best Lawyers Member Benefits (Affinity Partner Program) connecting honorees with service providers, and the acquired Good2bSocial digital marketing agency. The platform is monetized and distributed both to consumers searching for lawyers and to lawyers and firms buying marketing placement, member benefits, and recognition via annual publications and awards.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Best Law Firms: The Best Law Firms rankings platform, operated as a related product line under bestlawfirms.com, ranking U.S. law firms by metropolitan and national tiers across practice areas.
• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch
• SmithyAI
• Premier Placement

Products and services

• Best Lawyers Lawyer Search & Rankings Flagship peer-reviewed attorney directory and rankings platform covering 151 practice areas, allowing users to search for top-rated lawyers by country, state/province, city, or practice area across the U.S., Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, and other markets.
• Best Law Firms Companion firm-level tiered rankings platform (National Tier 1, Regional Tier 1/2/3) awarding recognition to U.S. and Canadian law firms, including the annual Law Firm of the Year award.
• Best Lawyers Legal Search App on ChatGPT AI-native legal search application on ChatGPT allowing users to find attorneys by practice area and location via natural conversational prompts, powered by Best Lawyers peer-reviewed rankings data.
• SmithyAI Proprietary AI tool developed by Best Lawyers to support modern legal practice and AI-driven client connections with attorneys.
• Best Lawyers Member Benefits (Affinity Partner Program) U.S. affinity partner program connecting Best Lawyers-recognized attorneys and law firms with preferred service providers offering marketing, legal practice management, and litigation support solutions, with national expansion plans.
• Best Lawyers Digital Marketing Platform (Premier Placement) Marketing and SEO product for law firms designed to grow leads, build brand, and improve visibility across traditional and AI-driven discovery platforms (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews); includes the Premier Placement featured-listing tier.
• Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch Recognition program for earlier-career attorneys, identified via the same peer-review methodology as the flagship Best Lawyers listings, operating as a separate sub-brand.
• Best Lawyers Publications Annual regional and business print/digital editions (e.g., Women in the Law 2026, Litigation 2025, California Region 2026, Texas 2026, New England 2026, Colorado 2026, Canada 2026) sold via the Best Lawyers online store.
• Good2bSocial Digital Marketing Services Digital marketing agency services for law firms offered under the Good2bSocial brand acquired by Best Lawyers, providing content and marketing services to complement the rankings platforms.

Named customers8 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core, flagship and minor.

• Good2bSocialcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBest Lawyers acquired Good2bSocial, a digital marketing agency for law firms, as part of its strategy to expand its digital footprint. The acquisition complements Best Lawyers' independent launch of the Best Law Firms rankings platform and aims to enhance content and marketing services for the legal industry. CEO Phillip Greer stated the goal is to better serve the legal industry through unified strategy, quality content, and marketing services.
• U.S. Legal SupportcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerU.S. Legal Support joined Best Lawyers' Member Benefits Program as an affinity partner, enabling the company's court reporting and litigation support services to be offered to Best Lawyers honorees across the United States. The partnership provides preferred service arrangements for court reporting, record retrieval, process serving, interpreting, translations, and trial support in available markets nationwide.
• OpenAI (ChatGPT)flagshipTechnology or IntegrationBest Lawyers released the first legal search application on ChatGPT, enabling users to search for attorneys by practice area and location using natural conversational prompts powered by peer-reviewed rankings. The launch reflects Best Lawyers' investment in AI for modern legal practice alongside its existing SmithyAI tool.
• 5W Public Relations & Haute Lawyer NetworkminorGTM or Marketing PartnerJoint research report by 5WPR and Haute Lawyer Network identified Best Lawyers as one of seven directories (with Chambers, Legal 500, Super Lawyers, Martindale, Avvo, Justia) that control virtually all AI citations for consumer legal queries. Report documents 487 AI hallucination cases in U.S. court filings in 2025 and projects law firm AI citation costs will rise 50-80% annually.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Broad incumbents

• FindLaw: FindLaw is a Thomson Reuters-owned online legal information and marketing services platform serving law firms. It overlaps with Best Lawyers on law firm marketing, websites, and attorney directories, and operates as a broader incumbent offering end-to-end legal marketing technology.
• Martindale-Hubbell: Martindale-Hubbell is one of the oldest legal directories (owned by LexisNexis/RELX) and a broad incumbent in legal information services. It competes with Best Lawyers on lawyer directories, peer-review ratings, and marketing services, while also leveraging the wider LexisNexis legal research ecosystem.
• ALM (Law.com / The American Lawyer): ALM is a broad incumbent in legal media and information, publishing Law.com, The American Lawyer, and other titles serving the legal industry. While not a direct peer-review competitor, ALM competes with Best Lawyers for legal-industry advertising dollars, firm-level intelligence, and content distribution to in-house counsel.

Direct peers

• Justia: Justia operates a free online legal directory and content platform that connects consumers with attorneys and provides marketing services to law firms. It is a direct competitor to Best Lawyers on consumer-facing attorney discovery and one of the seven AI-cited legal directories.
• Super Lawyers: Super Lawyers is a Thomson Reuters-owned attorney rating service that uses a patented multiphase selection process combining peer nominations, evaluations, and independent research. It directly competes with Best Lawyers for recognition-driven marketing spend from U.S. attorneys and firms.
• The Legal 500: The Legal 500 is a leading international legal directory and rankings publication recognized alongside Best Lawyers and Chambers as one of the most important directories impacting legal reputation and client acquisition. It competes directly with Best Lawyers on peer-reviewed rankings, firm tiers, and legal marketing services.
• Avvo: Avvo is a legal directory that rates attorneys on a 1-10 scale using an algorithm that incorporates peer endorsements and other signals. It is a direct peer of Best Lawyers in online attorney discovery and one of the seven directories identified as dominating AI legal citations.
• Chambers and Partners: Chambers and Partners is the closest direct competitor to Best Lawyers, operating the peer-reviewed Chambers rankings for both lawyers and law firms globally. Both organizations compete head-to-head on attorney rankings, firm tiers, and increasingly on AI-powered legal search and marketing services for law firms.

Emerging players

• Lawyer.com: Lawyer.com is an online attorney directory focused on connecting consumers with lawyers by location and practice area. It is an emerging player that overlaps with Best Lawyers' consumer-facing directory motion and represents a lower-cost alternative for attorney marketing.
• Expertise.com: Expertise.com is an online directory that curates top professionals across categories including legal, using a proprietary selection methodology. It is an emerging player competing for attorney discovery traffic and adjacent to Best Lawyers in the consumer-facing legal search category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/bestlawyers

Compliance1 record

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Best Lawyers