Last Updated: October 10, 2026
This page explains the order of law firms in our directory: our state, city and practice-area listings and site search, where the default order is “Top rated.”
Verified Firms Appear First
Law firms in our Verified Program pay Elite Litigators for advertising and enhanced placement, and they appear ahead of other firms in every sort option. Appearing first is paid placement. It is not a finding that a firm is better than others. Learn about the Verified Program.
Every Other Firm Is Ordered by Its Reviews
Payment has no effect on this order. We apply the same formula to every firm.
What Determines the Order
- Average star rating from the firm’s reviews.
- Number of reviews. A firm with a handful of perfect reviews does not automatically appear above a firm with hundreds of strong reviews. Firms with few reviews start close to neutral, and the more reviews a firm has, the more its position reflects them.
- Share of 1-star reviews. Firms with more 1-star reviews than is typical across our site appear lower.
The exact weights are proprietary and we don’t publish them.
The stars and review count shown on each listing are the firm’s simple average and total. That is why a firm with slightly fewer stars can appear above one with more: it has many more reviews behind it.
Where the Reviews Come From
Reviews come from two sources: reviews submitted on our site, and reviews Elite Litigators collects from public review platforms, including Google, Yelp, Facebook and Avvo. We do not verify the identity of reviewers or the accuracy of individual reviews (see our Review Guidelines). Our collection may not include a firm’s most recent reviews, so review counts on our site can differ from what you see elsewhere.
Other Ways to Sort
“Highest average rating” orders firms by their simple average star rating, whatever their number of reviews. “Most reviewed” orders firms by their number of reviews. “Most recent” shows the most recently added listings first. Verified firms appear first in all of them. In the three rating sorts, firms with no reviews yet are listed after the firms that have reviews.
What the Listing Order Is Not
Apart from Verified placement, the Top rated order reflects what reviewers have said. It is not Elite Litigators’ evaluation, recommendation or endorsement of any law firm, and it does not predict the outcome of your case. Elite Litigators does not operate a lawyer referral service. See our Advertiser Disclosure for more.
