Martindale-Hubbell Rating: Cost and Whether to Show It

A Martindale-Hubbell rating comes from other lawyers' scores, and Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers each select by their own peer process. None of them says a lawyer can buy a place, but each publisher sells marketing to the people it recognizes. The rating is not the expense; the plaque, logo license or profile upgrade that follows is, and whether you may show any of it is set by your state bar (in Canada, your law society). I am not a lawyer, so read all of this as background rather than legal advice.

Quick answer

• Treat the rating itself as a fact about your reputation and the products that follow as ordinary advertising purchases.
• Before you pay for anything, get the price in writing and ask what you receive that you can count: calls, form fills, a link with a tracking tag.
• Before you display a rating, read your own state bar's rule on awards and ratings. Each state sets its own, and an agency checklist may be older than the rule.
• Judge a paid profile by signed cases traced to it, not by how the badge looks on your site.

Who actually decides each rating?

The three publishers use different judges, so the names mean different things.

Martindale-Hubbell lets you submit a list of attorney references, then emails them a survey; it says it also adds attorneys chosen by location and practice area, and starts reviews of its own. Reviewers score a lawyer from 1 to 5 in five categories: Legal Knowledge, Analytical Capabilities, Judgment, Communication Ability and Legal Experience. A confidential minimum of qualifying responses earns one of three awards: AV Preeminent, Distinguished or Notable (Martindale-Hubbell, via the Wayback Machine, checked 2026-10-12). Below that minimum, reviews show as "Peer Reviewed".

Super Lawyers starts with yearly nominations from lawyers, adds staff research on 12 indicators of peer recognition and professional achievement, and has top scorers in each practice area rate other candidates in a "blue ribbon review". It states that "Lawyers cannot nominate themselves" and that five percent of the lawyers in a state are selected. For Rising Stars, a list open only to lawyers who are 40 or younger or in practice 10 years or less, the page names the top 2.5 percent (Super Lawyers, checked 2026-10-12).

Best Lawyers says its recognition "is based entirely on peer review": nominations, a vote by currently recognized lawyers, analysis of feedback, a check of good standing with local bar associations, then release of results (Best Lawyers, checked 2026-10-12).

Which of them can you pay for, and what is sold after?

The table sums up what each publisher's own pages say. A blank on prices is deliberate: none of these pages printed one, and I do not guess.

One more fact belongs beside the first row. Martindale-Hubbell's page footer states that "The attorney listings on the site are paid attorney advertisements" (Martindale-Hubbell, checked 2026-10-12). By the site's own description, then, a listing there is an advertisement, even where the rating shown on it was earned.

What do the advertising rules say about showing a rating?

Rule 7.1 of the ABA Model Rules is one short paragraph, and its first sentence provides that a lawyer "shall not make a false or misleading communication about the lawyer or the lawyer's services" (ABA, checked 2026-10-12). Comment [3] adds that comparing yourself with other lawyers without support may mislead when it is so specific that a reasonable reader would assume it can be proven, and that a suitable disclaimer or qualifying words may keep a statement from being found misleading or from creating unjustified expectations (ABA, checked 2026-10-12). The Model Rules are a template; each state bar sets its own rules.

Florida spells the point out. The Florida Bar's advertising handbook (thirteenth edition, effective December 10, 2025) explains Rule 4-7.14(a)(3): an ad may mention awards, honors or ratings only if the entity giving them is "generally recognized within the legal profession as being a bona fide organization", among other conditions. The handbook also treats a reference as potentially misleading unless it gives the exact name of the rating, the exact name of the organization and the year, which an ad published in the same year may leave out. Its example: a lawyer may say "AV rated", the highest Martindale-Hubbell rating, but may not call that rating prestigious (The Florida Bar, checked 2026-10-12).

In Canada, a lawyer answers to the provincial law society, and each one has its own text. Under Ontario's Rule 4.2-1, marketing has to be "demonstrably true, accurate and verifiable", and its commentary names awards "conferred in part as a result of the payment of a fee" among those that break the rule (Law Society of Ontario, checked 2026-10-12). For the wider picture, read attorney advertising rules.

Does a badge on the site bring cases?

On its own, a badge cannot be measured, because a visitor who reads it and calls looks the same in your reports as one who never saw it. What you can measure sits one step away from the badge.

A paid profile can link to a page on your site with a tracking tag (a UTM tag: a few words appended to the web address that tell your analytics where the visitor came from). It can carry its own phone number, if the publisher allows one. Your intake staff can also ask "How did you find us?" and write the answer into a field that offers the rating site as a choice.

For a before-and-after look, compare consultation requests per hundred site visitors for the weeks before and after you add a badge. That is only a hint, since seasons, ads and a new page can move the number as much as a badge can. Asking your own clients for reviews is a separate subject, covered in Google reviews for lawyers.

How do a year's purchases compare with signed cases?

Illustrative: picture a two-lawyer estate planning office that does not exist; I invented each cost and count below, and none was taken from a client.

Cost per signed case is the total divided by signed cases: $4,000 ÷ 2 = $2,000. Say the firm keeps $2,500 of fees on an average case after the cost of doing the work. Break-even is $4,000 ÷ $2,500 = 1.6, so two signed cases cover the year. One case would not.

The plaque and the license cannot be traced to a single call. If you separate them, only the $3,000 profile has a count to set against it: $3,000 ÷ 2 = $1,500 per signed case. Repeat it with your own prices and counts, and decide whether the plaque and license are a brand expense you accept without a count.

What should I ask before paying for anything after a rating?

• What exactly do I receive for the price, and for how many months?
• Is the price in the contract, and does it renew on its own?
• Which phone number and which web address will the profile show, and can I put a tracking tag on it?
• Does the badge or logo come with usage terms about colors, wording or the year?
• Can I see call or click reports from the profile, and do they list the source of each?
• Who in your own firm checks the display against your state rule before it goes live?

Avvo has its own rating, which the Avvo post covers.