Lawyers of Distinction vs. Best of the Best Attorneys

The legal industry is becoming more and more competitive as time goes on. Attorneys are seeking any upper hand that will allow them to stand apart in this incredibly competitive field. The competitive nature of the industry has spawned several legal vanity organizations whose primary goal is to promote and market their members. Two such organizations are Lawyers of Distinction and Million Dollar Trial Lawyers.

With the legal vanity field saturated with competition, Lawyers of Distinction was founded in 2014 with the aim of creating an organization which fairly and unbiasedly evaluates potential members using a series of objective criteria. Using U.S. Provisional Patent # 62/743,254, Lawyers of Distinction utilizes twelve different facts to evaluate prospective members. The standards used by Lawyers of Distinction to assess potential members includes: Honors/Awards, Reviews (Google and AVVO), Case Results, Educational Background, Published Verdicts/Settlements, Representative Clients, Special Certifications, Legal Experience, Pro Bono/Community Outreach, and Writings/Publications/Lectures. The Lawyers of Distinction website sees thousands of people visit daily and, unlike competitors, Lawyers of Distinction does not recommend specific attorneys to clients and is therefore not considered an attorney referral service.

When an attorney is accepted into the Lawyers of Distinction Organization they are provided a myriad of exclusive benefits including: Customized 14 inch x 11 inch rosewood plaque featuring the member’s name, calendar year, and area of practice; an SEO(search engine optimized) enhanced custom profile in the Lawyers of Distinction Member Directory(includes profile photo, biographical information, backlinks to an attorney’s social media and website, Google Map integration, and curated reviews from Google/AVVO/Yelp); Lawyers of Distinction logo and trademarked materials for marketing, a national press release announcing their membership for immediate publication; Membership Rosters published quarterly in print and online in such publications as USA Today, The American Lawyers, The National Law Journal, and The New York Times; Social Media announcements across Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin; Brochures with business card inserts for the office; Access to the Members Only Private Facebook Group; Access to over $5000 in membership discounts with a variety of vendors such as Hilton, Marriott, Hertz, and more, and access to free; Unlimited CLE and Legal Research through a proprietary platform. Distinguished members receive an 11-inch Custom Crystal Statue in addition to the custom plaque.

Prospective members of Lawyers of Distinction can be nominated via their Steering Committee, third party nomination from a client or colleague, or they may apply directly for membership with the organization. Should an attorney be nominated by a third party, they are informed by Lawyers of Distinction who submitted their nomination.

Million Dollar Trial Lawyers, similarly, to Lawyers of Distinction, is a legal vanity organization which was created in the late 2010s whose goal is to provide recognition to attorneys or firms who have secured a verdict, arbitration award, settlement, or appeal of $1 million or more. This honor can be sought by attorneys, firms, or multiple attorneys from the same firm. Membership in Million Dollar Trial Lawyers is lifelong and does not need to be renewed annually. The organization offers different levels of membership differentiated by settlement/award amount. Firms can also be recognized as Multi-Million Dollar Trial Lawyers and Billion Dollar Trial Lawyers.

Once accepted into Million Dollar Trial Lawyers, member attorneys or firms receive the following benefits: Profile page and varying types of digital logos depending on the level of membership attained with the organization, and a customized plaque featuring a member’s name. For an additional cost, members can purchase the use of an online Reputation Manager at a discounted price which monitors a firm’s online reputation in a similar manner to more mainstream offerings such as Birdeye. Million Dollar Trial Lawyers does not offer social media integration for their members and does not announce their membership on social media platforms. They also do not offer CLE or legal research, nor do they offer additional marketing opportunities to their existing members throughout the year
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While Lawyers of Distinction and Million Dollar Trial Lawyers take differing approaches to the legal vanity market, they both offer their members a comprehensive level of exposure in a competitive legal environment.