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LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings Enhanced on New Version of martindale.com Web Site
Among enhancements: Peer Review Ratings are now more prominent on site; users can now search only for Peer Review Rated lawyers and compare lawyers based on ratings in Side By Side Comparison Tool
NEW PROVIDENCE, NJ, July 10, 2006 - LexisNexis, the leading provider of client development solutions for the legal profession, today announced the release of a new version of its martindale.com® Web site, which among other upgrades, includes a wide range of enhancements to the Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings.
Martindale-Hubbell Ratings were created in 1887 as an objective tool that would attest to a lawyer or law firm’s ability and professional ethics, based on the confidential opinions of other lawyers and judges who have worked with the lawyer being evaluated. The Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings have remained the most prestigious and widely respected lawyer rating system in the world.
"The new release of martindale.com makes it easier for in-house counsel and other buyers of legal services to identify Peer Review Rated lawyers, as well as to compare various law firms and lawyers by using Peer Review Ratings as one of their due diligence criteria," said Barry Solomon, Esq., vice president and general manager of Martindale-Hubbell. "Our goal with this new version of the site is to provide martindale.com users with fast access to objective information that will help them make informed decisions about the selection of outside counsel."
Through its Peer Review Lawyer Rating System Martindale-Hubbell facilitates the independent evaluation by peers of lawyers and law firms in the U.S. and Canada. To determine a rating, Martindale-Hubbell sends confidential questionnaires to other lawyers and judges within the same geographic location as the attorney or law firm under evaluation. Martindale-Hubbell staff also participates in the review process by conducting personal interviews with members of the bar who may be able to shed light on the credentials of a specific attorney or law firm. Information obtained during the interviews is then combined with the geographic surveys. Each year the company conducts over 105,000 reviews and contacts more than 400,000 lawyers and judges to provide their confidential opinions.
As part of the enhancements to martindale.com announced today, Martindale-Hubbell has introduced a new date-stamped Peer Review Ratings icon to accompany lawyer profiles, making it easier for users to identify Peer Review Rated lawyers. In addition, the company has created a series of new tools that are designed to assist buyers of legal services who are seeking to retain high-quality and ethical legal counsel:
• A new date-stamped and personalized Peer Review Rating icon is available for law firms to download and add to their Web sites and marketing materials, providing assurances to prospective clients that the rating for any given lawyer is valid and current;
• To provide users with a means for evaluating law firms based on Peer Review Ratings, a firm-wide total of rated lawyers now appears in martindale.com law firm profiles, and group totals of rated lawyers appear on industry profiles and areas of practice profiles;
• Because many buyers of legal services have indicated that they will only retain lawyers who are Peer Review Rated, a new search capability allows martindale.com users to search the Martindale-Hubbell database and restrict their search results only to lawyers who have a rating; and
• The popular martindale.com side-by-side comparison tool, which allows users to compare objective data from several lawyers or law firms at the same time, has been expanded to now allow buyers of legal services to compare law firms based on the number of Peer Review Rated lawyers employed at each firm.
"Buyers of legal services are seeking objective information to provide them with a solid foundation for evaluating outside law firms and ultimately making a sound and justifiable hiring decision," said Solomon. "As the legal industry’s most established and widely respected indicators of a lawyer or law firm’s ethics and professional ability, Martindale-Hubbell’s Peer Review Ratings on martindale.com deliver that objective data to users in a streamlined manner."
About LexisNexis
LexisNexis® (www.lexisnexis.com) is a leading provider of information and services solutions, including its flagship Web-based Lexis® and Nexis® research services, to a wide range of professionals in the legal, risk management, corporate, government, law enforcement, accounting and academic markets. A member of Reed Elsevier Group plc [NYSE: ENL; NYSE: RUK] (www.reedelsevier.com), the company does business in 100 countries with 13,000 employees worldwide.
LexisNexis® Martindale-Hubbell® (www.martindale.com) provides client development solutions for the legal profession, partnering with its law firm customers to meet their practice development goals. An integral part of Martindale-Hubbell’s service to the legal community is its Peer Review Rating system, which evaluates lawyers and law firms in the U.S. and Canada based on peer review. Peer Review Ratings attest to a lawyer’s legal ability and professional ethics, and reflect the confidential opinions of members of the Bar and Judiciary. The Martindale-Hubbell database of more than 1 million lawyers and law firms, accessible at www.martindale.com and www.lawyers.com, is the number-one lawyer directory on the Internet (as measured by Nielsen//NetRatings). The company provides lawyers, business executives and consumers with detailed information to help them identify, evaluate and select legal counsel.
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