What is a Super Lawyer?
What is a Super Lawyer? “Super Lawyer” is a designation given to lawyers who meet particularly high standards within their specialty and demand the respect of their peers. Being voted as a Super Lawyer is not just an endorsement of performance, but an endorsement of character as well. Ten-time Texas Super Lawyer Ross Sears II of Sears Crawford is here to tell you exactly what a Super Lawyer is, and why that knowledge might help you hire the right attorney for your case.
How are Super Lawyers chosen?
The Super Lawyer designation is given to a handful of exceptional lawyers from certain legal specializations who have distinguished themselves in their area of law. You must be nominated by your peers and only a small percentage of attorneys are nominated and approved to be Super Lawyers. Not all lawyers are good, and even fewer are great. At Sears Crawford, where we sue lawyers for misrepresenting their clients, we know this fact well, because over 30 years we have seen just about everything you can imagine an attorney doing to their client. Looking for an attorney with a Super Lawyer designation is a great way to find a respected, professional attorney to take on your case. There are many good lawyers who are not nominated or selected to be “Super Lawyers,” but it is just one more way to make sure you are hiring a good attorney.
Super Lawyers hold a rare designation — in fact, the Super Lawyers list gives out designations to no more than 5% of attorneys in each state. The selection process is a rigorous gauntlet of nominations, independent research, and peer evaluation. Attorneys may not solicit or campaign for nominations. The nomination process must begin with either their peers, third-party feedback, or the Super Lawyers board research team themselves.
Independent research
A nominated attorney will be evaluated according to 12 standards:
- Verdicts and settlements: The standard by which performance in court is evaluated.
- Transactions: Measures proficiency in transactional law.
- Representative clients: The type of clients a lawyer represents can indicate character.
- Experience: This can include years spent practicing as well as specific events that have shaped an attorney’s career.
- Honors and awards: Can help tell the story of a distinguished career.
- Licenses and certifications: These can indicate how specialized an attorney is in their area of law.
- Position within their law firm: Can indicate commitment and success.
- Bar activity and professional activity: What exactly have they done with their career?
- Pro bono work and community service: Does an attorney give back to the community?
- Scholarly lectures and writings: Can show whether an attorney is interested in educating others and lifting up the profession as a whole.
- Education and employment background: Law school and previous firms can further fill in an attorney’s background.
- Other noteworthy accomplishments: Achievements that, although they don’t fit neatly into any of the other standards, make an attorney one who deserves recognition.
If an attorney does not inspire respect and admiration in most, if not all twelve of the categories for evaluation, they will likely not move on to the next stage.
Peer recognition
Nominees who net the highest point totals from the independent research phase move on to the peer evaluation stage. In peer evaluations, the high-scoring candidates are sent to a committee whose job will be to evaluate all of the attorneys in consideration for a Super Lawyer designation.
Making it past the peer recognition stage signifies that an attorney has won the respect of their peers.
As some of the most experienced legal malpractice attorneys in Houston, we can tell you that the respect and admiration of one’s peers in the legal profession mean admiring more than an attorney’s success rate — this respect extends to the way that they treat their clients and the way that they treat the law as a whole.
Are Super Lawyers worth it?
Now that you know how a lawyer is given this designation, the burning question is most likely “should I hire a Super Lawyer?” The short answer: yes. Finding the right attorney to represent you is an arduous process. You have to make a very important decision with very little time with very little knowledge of whether the attorney that you are hiring is right for you.
A Super Lawyer designation is a sign that you’re hiring someone who is successful and honorable to the degree that even their competition voted for them to receive this award. If you’re thinking of hiring an attorney, find out if they’re a Super Lawyer, and if they’re not, find one who is.
If you already hired an attorney whose actions were less than super and you believe that this resulted in your case going south, call Sears Crawford and tell them you want Super Lawyer Ross Sears II to represent you. He is dedicated to bringing justice to your case, whether you want to sue a lawyer for barratry in Texas or need a commercial litigation attorney in Houston. Sears Crawford inspires peer recognition and respect because we win cases, and show our clients how much they matter every day.
Ross Sears II is a ten-time Texas Super Lawyer
What is a Super Lawyer? A Super Lawyer is an attorney who does high-level work in service of their clients and their profession. If you are wondering which attorney is right for your case, checking their Texas Super Lawyers designation is a good place to start.
Ross Sears II, co-founding partner of Sears Crawford, has been selected as a Texas Super Lawyer 10 years in a row and is Board Certified in the area of the law encompassing legal malpractice. If you’re looking for trustworthy and experienced representation for your legal malpractice or personal injury case, call Sears Crawford at (713) 223-3333 or contact us online for a free consultation.
More Helpful Articles by Sears Crawford:
- Hire a Board Certified Lawyer for Your Legal Malpractice Case
- Reasons to File a Lawsuit Against an Attorney
- What is the Legal Malpractice Statute of Limitations?
- Top Plant Explosion Lawyer in Houston
- What to Do in an 18 Wheeler Accident