2010 LAWDRAGON 500 INFORMATION

Congratulations! The designation of Lawdragon 500 is the highest and most elite honor that any of the 1.2 million members of the U.S. legal profession can receive. Only 500 lawyers annually are selected for this award.

Here are a few things you might want to know:

1. Lawdragon is the nation’s leading online legal media company, founded in 2005 by a group of award-winning legal journalists and attorneys. We produced our first guide to the nation’s 500 leading lawyers in Fall 2005, and have been publishing online and in print ever since. This year’s magazine will be distributed online as well as released in print at a ‘First Monday in October’ celebration in New York later this year.

2. The Lawdragon 500 is an entirely different approach to rating lawyers than the standard methods and traditional publishers have provided. No one can buy their way onto our list, nor can they lobby, berate or flatter their way to inclusion. We are an independent news agency and ferociously guard our Lawdragon designation.

The process takes more than six months, commencing with online balloting, followed by research and review of more than 25,000 candidates annually in every area of practice and in every state. These candidates are narrowed down to the ‘finalists’. We then subject our finalists to a deep and rigorous peer review, looking for those lawyers who had the biggest impact on the law that year and those who have gained near universal respect from other top lawyers, clients and judges.

Our combination of objective criteria (partnership required, peer recognition mandatory, 15+ years in practice almost always, and so on) with the subjective wisdom imparted by in-depth interviews with the nation’s leaders yield an unparalleled guide to the lawyers you want to know.

3. The Finalists (also known as the Lawdragon 3000) are an equally exclusive recognition available to all U.S. lawyers. We select roughly 3,000 U.S. lawyers through the same rigorous process outlined above, who represent the perennial leaders of the U.S. legal profession, including seasoned veterans, the up-and-coming stars and those handling the biggest deals and trials. The 500 are selected from the Finalists based principally on which lawyers had the biggest impact that year.

4. As U.S. legal journalists, we recognize that it is the synthesis of plaintiff and defense lawyers, dealmakers, judges, prosecutors, academicians and corporate counsel that yield the marvel that is the finest legal system in the world. Nothing is perfect, but we are unabashed supporters of the finest lawyers in the land and the Lawdragon 500 is our annual celebration of the nation’s leading legal minds.

More questions about about the Lawdragon 500 or the Finalists? Here is our contact information:

*Founder Katrina Dewey oversees the research and selection process of the Lawdragon 500.
Phone: 213-908-1237
Email: Katrina@lawdragon.com

*Co-founder John Ryan oversees the editorial process for the magazine and website, and is a core member of the Lawdragon 500 team.
Phone: 213-446-3726
Email: john@lawdragon.com

*Publisher Adam Schaffer can address any questions you have about promotional opportunities in the magazine, the website or for our annual magazine release event.
Phone: 818-996-6953
Email: adam@lawdragon.com