Norris McLaughlin, P.A. Recognized as Tier 1 Law Firm in U.S. News & World Report Rankings
Posted on November 2nd, 2010
November 2, 2010
Bridgewater, NJ (November 2, 2010) – The Bridgewater-based law firm Norris McLaughlin, P.A. is pleased to announce that it has been selected as a Tier 1 law firm as part of the 2010 Best Law Firms rankings by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers. A snapshot of the rankings is featured in the October 2010 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
U.S. News Media Group, the nation’s leading source of rankings and service journalism, and Best Lawyers, the leading survey of lawyers worldwide, expanded the U.S. News signature series of rankings to include rankings of law firms. This year’s report marked the inaugural publication of this highly-anticipated annual analysis and included 81 practice areas in 171 metropolitan areas and seven states. Norris McLaughlin, P.A. earned Tier 1 status in New Jersey in seven practice areas. The firm’s full listing of Tier 1 rankings are, as follows:
Tier 1
- Alternative Dispute Resolution
- Banking and Finance Law
- Bankruptcy and Creditor Debtor Rights / Insolvency and Reorganization Law
- Energy Law
- Environmental Law
- Mergers & Acquisitions Law
- Natural Resources Law
Several other Norris McLaughlin, P.A. practice areas were named in the rankings, as well, including:
Tier 2
- Corporate Law
- Family Law
- Family Law Mediation
- General Commercial Litigation
- Health Care Law
- Immigration Law
Tier 3
The methodology for the U.S. News – Best Lawyers “Best Law Firms” involved surveying thousands of law firm clients; leading lawyers and law firm managers; partners and associates; and marketing officers and recruiting officers. Each were asked what factors they considered vital for clients hiring law firms, for lawyers choosing a firm to refer a legal matter to, and for lawyers seeking employment.
Based on that feedback, six key survey instruments were created: a client survey, a lawyer survey, marketing and recruiting surveys, and associate surveys. The level of response from this vast group exceeded most optimistic expectations. Client and lawyer surveys collected mostly reputational data. Clients voted on expertise, responsiveness, understanding of a business and its needs, cost-effectiveness, civility, and whether they would refer another client to a firm. Lawyers voted on expertise, responsiveness, integrity, cost-effectiveness, and whether they would refer a matter to a firm and whether they consider a firm a worthy competitor. Marketing officer and recruiting officer surveys provided demographic, including diversity, data.
In addition to information from these surveys, the rankings incorporate the millions of evaluations of individual leading lawyers collected by Best Lawyers in its most recent annual survey. In all cases, lawyer votes were weighted according to the voter’s Best Lawyers record; client votes were weighted according to the client’s standing; and outlying votes were disregarded. All of the quantitative and qualitative data were combined into an overall U.S. News – Best Lawyers overall score for each firm. Firms with the highest overall scores were included on metropolitan and national lists. Because firms were often separated by small or insignificant differences in overall score, they have been tiered rather than ranked sequentially. In general, the first tier includes those firms that scored within a certain percentage of the highest-scoring firms.
The inaugural rankings by U.S. News Media Group and Best Lawyers showcase evaluated well over 10,000 different law firms – from the largest firms in the country to hundreds of one- and two-person firms. For this reason, the report provides a comprehensive and unprecedented view of the U.S. legal profession in terms of the range of qualitative and quantitative data. A full listing is posted online at www.usnews.com/bestlawfirms.
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