We are pleased to note that Martindale-Hubbell has awarded our attorney Eric S. Ruff a peer review rating of AV® Preeminent™ 5.0 out of 5.0, the highest possible rating. According to Lexis-Nexis, “The AV Preeminent status is bestowed on fewer than 5 percent of attorneys.”
But who or what is Martindale-Hubbell and why would this rating matter? It is quite likely that you have never heard of this company or this award unless you are an attorney yourself. But almost every attorney will tell you that, of all the lawyer-rating services out there, the one rating coveted by attorneys above all others, is the AV rating from Martindale. Why? Two reasons. First, Martindale-Hubbell is the oldest lawyer rating service in the U.S. and has been rating lawyers for over 135 years. Literally generations of lawyers have looked to Martindale-Hubbell for reliable lawyer ratings. Second, and perhaps more importantly, the Martindale AV rating is a “peer review” rating. That is, the rating is based evaluations of a lawyer by other lawyers and judges. Here are some comments from around the web concerning the Martindale-Hubbell ratings:
From Forbes, article entitled How To Hire A Lawyer.
Next step: Hit the Web. To be fair, there are still a few accurate rating systems for lawyers. One useful online resource is martindale.com, which rates lawyers on a scale of A, B and C. Those ratings are done by other lawyers and are fairly reliable.
And then there is this colorful comment found on the web:
Hell, the boss didn't get a rating until his 35th year of practice. It's a career achievement that not everyone receives. A lot is about who you know, but because the survey is anonymous, your adversaries are free to dump on you so they have no incentive to lie or exaggerate your ability. It says a lot when you're rated 4.5 or 5.0 out of 5.0 by your peers (AV). My boss is 5.0. Martindale is way, way more prestigious than SuperLawyers.
Client Distinction Award. Martindale-Hubbell has been publishing peer reviews of lawyers for over 100 years, but a few years ago they added another rating, this one based not on the opinions of other lawyers, but upon the opinions of the lawyers’ actual clients. Martindale has awarded Eric S. Ruff a Client Review Rating Score of Preeminent 5.0 out of 5.0 and as a result Martindale has awarded him the Client Distinction Award. This award is given only to lawyers who earn a Client Review Rating Score of 4.0 or higher (on a scale of 1-5) on martindale.com and lawyers.com. Less than 1% of the 900,000+ attorneys listed on Lawyers.com and Martindale.com earn this honor!
AV®, BV®, AV Preeminent® and BV Distinguished® are registered certification marks of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under in accordance with the Martindale-Hubbell certification procedures, standards and policies.