The Lawdragon Process

The Lawdragon selection process has been created over 30 years of researching and reporting on the legal profession and creating lists and guides to the most effective legal professionals. Our team brings more than 100 years in the lawyer reporting and information business.

The foundation of our selection is in journalism. We research each guide extensively, studying which lawyers and law practices have had significant impact, including an emphasis on recent matters handled. We accept submissions and review them alongside thousands of candidates we identify and consider for each guide. We also work with editorial advisors in each substantive area to develop the focus of the guide and identify talent.

To make a Lawdragon guide, a lawyer will have been in practice 10 years, with extremely rare exceptions. Similarly, virtually all will be partners in their law practice or hold a designation that indicates the regard of those with whom they practice. Leadership within their practice in a firm and or in relevant bar organizations is considered.

For the Environmental & Energy 500, we researched veteran environmental lawyers who helped establish the field as well as energy and natural resource lawyers at the forefront of renewable and sustainable advances. To those we added their counterparts in the conservation bar, those lawyers who protect air, water, wildlife, forests and other precious resources. Included, as well, are lawyers whose principal expertise is transactional or development, but who now focus in large part on environmental safe practices. We also dove deep in the area of environmental justice to highlight the lawyers and academics advocating for equitable siting of heavy energy and other industrial projects. Finally, included are the plaintiff lawyers fighting for environmental justice, bringing lawsuits for vast damage done. Within each market we identified a cross-section of esteemed practitioners with decades of experience as well as more junior talent already making an impact in the field.

Lawdragon is an advocate for inclusion in the legal profession and searches extensively for female candidates, attorneys of color and others who represent diversity.

Thank you for your interest in Lawdragon.