Trust

How we verify attorneys

A Verified badge on a listing means we have confirmed the person managing it controls that firm's own profile. Here is exactly what that check does, and does not, involve.

Automatic verification

When someone claims a listing using an email address on that firm's own website domain (for example, [email protected] for a listing linked to smithlaw.com), we treat that as a strong ownership signal: controlling an inbox on the business's own domain is not something an outsider can fake. That claim is approved immediately and the listing is marked Verified, with no wait.

Personal email providers (Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, iCloud and similar) never qualify for automatic verification on their own, since millions of unrelated people share those domains.

Manual review

If a claim does not auto-match (a personal email address, no website on file, or a domain that does not match), it goes into a review queue instead of being rejected. A member of our team looks at the name, email and phone number submitted and approves claims that look like genuine ownership requests.

Being honest about the limits of manual review: this step confirms that a legitimate-looking ownership claim was submitted and approved by a person. It does not include an independent identity check, a bar-license lookup or a document upload, so a manually approved claim on its own does not currently earn the Verified badge. If you would like your listing marked Verified, claiming it with an email address on your firm's own domain is the fastest and most reliable way to get there.

What Verified does not mean today

We do not want the badge to imply more than it does. Right now, Verified means an email-domain ownership check passed. It is not confirmation of bar admission, good standing, insurance or any other credential. We are not aware of a legal directory that does this kind of credential verification at scale, and we would rather be upfront about that than overstate what a badge means.

Paid listings: Premium and Featured

Listing a firm on AttorneyInTown is free. Some firms pay for extra features, and we label them so you can tell.

Premium. A firm with a Premium badge pays a yearly fee for a fuller profile: a page with no other firms listed beside it, a brochure or booking button, and more profile tools. Premium firms are also listed a little higher than free firms in the directory list (where Premium firms come first until you choose another order), in the map list and in Ask-a-Lawyer matches. On city and practice-area pages, up to three Premium firms are also shown in a separate block at the top, labelled "Premium: paid listings"; the order of that block changes every day.

Featured. A firm shown as Featured has paid for a promoted spot in its city for a set number of days. A promoted firm is always labelled.

What payment does not do. Paying does not change a firm's reviews or ratings, and it does not change what Verified means. Premium and Featured are not an endorsement, a recommendation or a measure of a lawyer's skill or results. Please compare several firms, read their reviews and check a lawyer's licence with the relevant bar before you choose.

Showing the Premium badge on your own website

A Premium firm may show the AttorneyInTown Premium badge on its own website. The badge is served from this site and switches itself off when Premium ends, so a visitor never sees it for a listing that does not have Premium.

Premium firms receive the ready-made code in their Premium confirmation email. For a different size, or help adding it to your site, write to [email protected].

How to get verified

If you manage a listing on AttorneyInTown, claim it using an email address on your firm's own website domain. If you do not have one on file yet, or you run into any trouble, reach out to [email protected] and we will help you through manual review.

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