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Verification Standards

Every firm on this site is listed because it appears in public records as a criminal defense practice — not because it paid to be here. A badge next to a firm’s name means we checked something specific. This page states exactly what we checked, how, and what we did not.

What each badge means

There are four states a listing can be in. The first has no badge at all.

Unclaimed

Built from public records, and nobody at the firm has confirmed it. Unclaimed listings show facts only — no contact details, no outbound links, no badge. We have verified that the firm exists; we have verified nothing about it beyond that.

Verified Profile

Someone at the firm completed the verification application and we confirmed three things: a person who works at the firm submitted it, the firm controls the domain on its listing, and a bar number for an attorney at the firm checks out against that state’s bar roster. Verified is complimentary and always will be. It says the firm is real, licensed, and primarily practicing criminal defense. It is not a quality judgment.

How that check actually runs. The firm confirms a one-time code sent either to its address on the state bar roster or to an address at its own registered domain. Domain control is proved by that same domain address, or by a DNS record or a file the firm places on its website. The bar number is then checked against the state roster. There is no national bar-roster interface — most states publish their roster only as a web page for humans — so where we cannot check a number automatically, a person checks it by hand before the badge appears. We do not verify identity by text message.

Trusted Defense Practice

A Verified firm that also clears a published review threshold: at least a 4.5 overall rating across at least 30 client reviews from its connected Google Business Profile. The threshold is a floor, not a ranking — clearing it does not put a firm above another Trusted firm.

Criminal Law Authority

One firm per county per practice area, and only one. An Authority firm passes bar-license verification and a practice-fit review, and speaks with us in a live interview before approval. The position is held, so a county × practice area either has an Authority firm or it is shown as open — we never present a paid placement as if it were earned by more than one firm.

Authority status is not permanent by default. It is reviewed on an ongoing basis against client reviews, bar standing, and case activity, and it can be withdrawn.

Verified Profile — USCriminalDefense.orgTrusted Defense Practice — USCriminalDefense.orgCriminal Law Authority — USCriminalDefense.org

How ratings are calculated

Client reviews are not written here and are not moderated by us. They come from a firm’s own connected Google Business Profile, and we show them as we receive them.

  • Overall rating is the simple, unweighted average of each connected office’s rating, rounded to the nearest tenth. A firm with four offices rated 5.0, 5.0, 5.0, and 4.9 shows 5.0. A busy office does not outweigh a quiet one.
  • Total reviews is the sum of the per-office review counts.
  • A firm with no connected profile shows no rating at all, rather than a zero or an estimate.

How listings are ordered

A county directory groups firms by designation first — Authority, then Trusted, then Verified, then everything else — because that grouping reflects what we have checked. Within the Trusted and Verified groups, firms are ordered by overall rating, then by number of reviews where ratings tie, then alphabetically. The final group is alphabetical only.

Ordering can be changed by the reader: the sort control offers highest rating, most reviews, and A–Z. Paying for an Authority position buys exclusivity in that county × practice area; it does not buy a better rating, and it does not change how reviews are counted or displayed.

What we do not check

Being listed here is not a recommendation, and no badge is a prediction about the outcome of a case.

  • We do not assess the quality of legal work, and we do not rank firms by results.
  • We do not verify individual case results a firm publishes about itself; those are the firm’s own statements, labeled as such.
  • We do not audit fees, and a badge says nothing about what a firm charges.
  • We do not screen client reviews for authenticity beyond taking them from the firm’s connected Google Business Profile.

Badge criteria and disputes

If a badge on this site looks wrong to you — a firm you believe should not hold it, a bar standing that has changed, an Authority position you think is misstated, or a listing that names your firm incorrectly — tell us through the corrections process. Include the listing and what specifically is wrong.

We re-check the underlying facts, not opinions about a firm. A verified badge is removed when the thing it stands for stops being true: a lapsed or suspended license, a firm that no longer primarily practices criminal defense, a domain that no longer belongs to the firm, or a review threshold the firm no longer clears. Confirmed changes are made on the page and recorded.

Firms: a listing is claimed through the verification application, never by asking us to change it for you.

Our sourcing and currency rules for statutory and court content are separate — see Editorial Standards.