According to a poll conducted by the Thomson Reuters U.S. Consumer Legal Needs Survey, almost a third of respondents who needed legal services turned to lawyer directories, and 24% began conducting online research for law firms within a day.
In this high-speed era of smartphones and internet users, that shouldn’t come as a surprise. And luckily for your law firm, attracting new clients by establishing a strong online presence is very achievable thanks to legal directories. By getting listed, you can leverage these powerful digital marketing tools to work in your favor.
Let’s take a closer look at what lawyer directories can offer you and the best legal directories to get listed in.
Get new clients and drive referrals with marketing tools and advice for legal professionals.
Benefits of Listing Your Law Firm in Lawyer Directories
Establishing an online presence is critical to building a successful business in the twenty-first century. Legal directories offer your law firm a way to connect with not only clients but also other law firms.
Lawyer directories — also known as legal directories — are databases of attorneys that enable clients and law firms to search for lawyers by location, practice area, or firm. Today, digital versions of these directories also let attorneys and law firms like yours improve your Google ranking and market your services in new ways.
Some directories require you to pay to be listed, while others offer free listings you can claim. Some law directories also cater to specific types of law practices, such as personal injury or bankruptcy, while others cover the entire legal industry.
By maintaining your listings in the best law firm directories, your firm will be able to:
- Build trust with your clients: Being listed in certain lawyer directories raises your credibility with potential clients. For instance, some directories require their lawyers to have verdicts over a certain amount, spotlighting your credentials. You may also be able to display your ranking with a prestigious legal directory with a digital badge on your website, improving your reputation.
- Establish your expertise: Many legal directories allow law firms and attorneys to publish legal articles on their website. As many people visit these websites for free legal resources, publishing articles is a great way to establish your expertise and market your services.
- Help clients find you: Legal directories inevitably show up on the first search engine results page (SERP) of a potential client, making it more likely that they’ll find your law firm if you’re listed. If you make sure to be listed in multiple top directories, your chances of being found and chosen by clients increases.
- Enable other law firms to find you: Potential clients aren’t the only people who search legal directories. Law firms that need to refer cases to other law firms also use lawyer directories to find reputable lawyers like you. By marketing yourself in this way, you can gain more business from your fellow legal teams.
- Make your business website easier to find: Most lawyer directories include links to a law firm’s website called a backlink. If you can get backlinks to your site from multiple credible legal directories, your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) rises, which makes your business website easier to find in a potential client’s online search.
Best Legal Directories for Your Law Firm
So, what is the best lawyer directory that can help promote your law firm? While there are hundreds of directories out there, each attracting a different type of legal clientele, here are 20 legal directories that can help market your law firm or practice (in no particular order).
1. Avvo
Over 8 million people visit Avvo monthly, and its lawyer directory creates 650,000 contacts between potential clients and attorneys per month. Clients can rate and review lawyers listed on Avvo. Attorneys can also offer endorsements for lawyers and Avvo rates its attorneys based on information provided by the state bar association, legal community, and lawyers who claim their Avvo profiles.
2. FindLaw
FindLaw gives legal consumers a resource for finding lawyers and getting more information about a legal topic. The site offers informative articles on how to hire an attorney and understand different state laws.
3. Lawyer.com
Attorneys have the option of purchasing a premium membership on Lawyer.com that places their profiles above general profiles and increases their visibility on the directory. Lawyers can also advertise on Lawyer.com and be promoted as a sponsored lawyer or law firm.
4. Super Lawyers
This legal directory lets consumers look for lawyers and law firms by geographic area as well as by practice area. Super Lawyers also offers a resource where top attorneys can answer legal questions from potential clients. Only the top five percent of each state’s attorneys are selected, so being listed can grant your law firm additional prestige.
5. Justia
Justia offers a free profile listing in its legal directory for licensed attorneys to claim and fill out. Claiming your Justia profile also lists you on the Legal Information Institute (LII) directory. Justia’s website indicates they receive over a million visits per month from people seeking the legal resources offered. You can also purchase a premium membership for greater visibility.
6. The U.S. News Lawyer Directory
This lawyer directory provides a platform for potential clients looking for legal representation. Regular profiles on this directory do not include scores, ratings, or rankings, but attorneys who purchase an expanded profile can showcase their awards, credentials, and rankings.
7. NOLO
This legal directory offers 30,000 local attorneys in its network. Visitors — who also come for NOLO’s DIY legal products and free library of extensive legal articles — can offer information about their legal cases. NOLO will then find and list qualified attorneys for the case, enabling potential clients to hire a lawyer or firm. Law firms can purchase different types of subscriptions to get their business promoted on NOLO.
8. US Legal
Established in 1997, US Legal has offered consumers, small businesses, and attorneys, legal forms, information, and services. This site attracts visitors by offering free access to legal information on topics ranging from adoption to environmental law. This thoroughness extends to their attorney directory, which includes lawyers from a wide variety of practice areas and locations.
9. Martindale
Martindale’s lawyer directory contains listings for over a million lawyers and law firms. Visitors can find your law firm by browsing areas of practice and geographic location. Location searches include options to find lawyers in the United States or Canada. Your listing can include peer and client reviews. Law firms also have the option of getting sponsored listings for more prominent placement.
10. HG.org Legal Resources
This lawyer directory enables visitors to find attorneys, lawyers, and law firms worldwide in places including North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Listings are sorted by name, location, and area of practice. You can register to list with a free basic listing or full premium listing. HG.org Legal Resources also lets you publish legal articles for free on their website.
11. Mediate.com
Mediate.com connects mediating lawyers and other professionals with people who need mediation services. Their Mediator Directory lets visitors search by geographic area, business name, or service type. Their website also offers many marketing opportunities including a Featured Mediator Program that displays your linked name for all visitors from your area code. They also offer a Statewide Banners promotion option, which allows you to place your business banner on every page of the website for all visitors from your state.
12. Best Lawyers
Best Lawyers recognizes law firms and attorneys in its directory on peer review. This website looks at leading lawyers in your geographic and legal practice area and captures their opinion of your firm’s abilities. This site also offers awards including “Lawyer of the Year,” “Law Firm of the Year,” and “Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch.”
13. Just Great Lawyers
This legal directory lets you browse attorneys by practice area, city, or state in the United States. Lawyers can join and get a listing for free but need to pay monthly subscriptions to get featured or premium listings. These paid listings let you offer more information about your practice including links to your website, contact information, photos, and reviews.
14. Enjuris
Enjuris is an online injury lawyer directory that currently has over 950,000 users on its website. Lawyers need to pay to have listing profiles and can choose from Basic, Member, Contributor, and Enjuris Partner levels. Each level gives you additional options to market your practice, including linking to an online bio, being featured on important pages, and contributing blog posts to Enjuris.
15. LawInfo
LawInfo offers a nationwide attorney directory as well as a legal resource library of articles, videos, and legal FAQs for people searching for legal advice. Potential clients can search for you by legal issue, location, or name. LawInfo also spotlights lawyers that offer high ethical and customer service standards with its Lead Counsel Verified symbol, making them stand out among the listings.
16. LAWGURU
LawGuru offers attorneys free listings in its legal directory. You can also earn revenue by answering paid legal questions. Its website indicates they have a network of over 10,000 lawyers specializing in all legal areas ready to answer legal questions. Visitors can find you by searching for your name, location, or area of law.
17. LawTally
LawTally allows you to add or claim an existing listing to their lawyer directory. Attorneys are invited to offer as much information as possible and include photos, videos, links, and social media accounts to their profiles. You must pay a monthly subscription fee for your profile, which ranges from Standard to Elite to Diamond Profiles.
18. National Academy of Personal Injury Attorneys (NAOPIA)
This legal directory specializes in spotlighting the top personal injury attorneys in the United States. Lawyers who make this list must be licensed, in private practice, and in good standing. You also need to have at least five years of experience in personal injury law, devote a significant portion of your practice to personal injury, and be nominated by a licensed practicing attorney or one of the website’s research staff members. Those who make their “Top Ten Attorney” list get to display the NAOPIA badge.
19. LegalMatch
This website states that over five million people and businesses have posted cases to be matched with licensed lawyers. Attorneys can sign up for a membership and list their area of specialization. From there, they can view cases sent by legal consumers and respond to potential clients that need lawyers in their practice areas.
20. Lawyer Legion
This website allows visitors to search for lawyers, certified specialists, and recognized leaders. Visitors can look for lawyers by geographic location or practice area and can also search for attorneys through National Board and State Board Certifications. Creating a profile is free and you can also check to see if you have an existing profile in their system to claim.
Using Lawyer Directories to Promote Your Firm
Getting listed in lawyer directories is an excellent way to promote your legal services and reach a greater number of potential clients. By signing up with top legal directories, creating an informative profile, and contributing legal articles, you can quickly establish your legal expertise and build a strong online presence.
However, this is only one strategy you can use to promote your law firm or practice through digital marketing. Creating a law firm email marketing campaign and leveraging your social media channels helps you further enhance your online presence, which only strengthens your directory listings. To get more familiar with these strategies, check out the free Professional Services Marketing Guide offered by Constant Contact and see how online marketing can empower your legal practice.
