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Frequently Asked
Questions
What is Knights of the Bar? -
Knights of the Bar is an exclusive membership of elite attorneys
selected for their outstanding levels of leadership, excellence
and achievement in the practice of law.
How is Knights of the
Bar different from other Honorary Attorney Societies?
Most honorary lawyer societies recognize achievement in one
particular area of law such as trial practice, estate planning,
family law etc. Knights recognizes attorneys in all areas
of practice. Also, most honorary legal societies focus on
technical ability and achievement and do not emphasize bar
leadership. Knights of the Bar assesses excellence and
achievement in each practice area, but also places emphasis on
leadership in the profession as a key criterion for selection.
What are the Benefits of Joining Knights of the Bar? -
Attorneys who are invited to join Knights of the Bar are among
the best lawyers in the profession. Members are entitled
to indicate their selection to Knights of the Bar in web profiles and other
promotional materials, so clients and other lawyers know they
have earned a place among the legal elite. Knights of the
Bar also maintains an online registry of members and advertises
online with Google and Yahoo to continually bring traffic of
almost 5,000 potential clients per month to the site.
How are Knights selected?
- Attorneys can join the membership only by invitation
upon submission of an application or
through recommendation after a careful review of their career accomplishments.
They must meet clearly defined, objective
criteria to be invited
to the membership.
Is Knights of the Bar Selection Based upon Peer Review by
other Attorneys? - Knights of the Bar does not conduct its
own peer review survey. However, Knights of the Bar
requires as a threshold for consideration that attorneys be
rated AV® by Martindale Hubbell®, the
highest peer review rating by one of the world's most respected
attorney listing publications.
Shouldn't Peer Review
be Enough? - Peer review is a method of
identifying outstanding attorneys. Attorneys are familiar
with the skills and abilities of their peers, and have good
insight into which are the best lawyers. However, peer
review is a subjective analysis that can sometimes be affected
by popularity, the notoriety of one big verdict, or association with a prominent firm.
Knights of the Bar starts with those best regarded by their
peers and qualifies them further based upon their level of
leadership in the profession, their achievements in the
practice, and their ability to bring business into the firm.
The result is a much more exclusive group of only the very best
attorneys in the profession.
Do Lawyers have to Qualify
Every Year? Unlike most peer review honors that send
out ballots each year to see who is most in favor, Knights of
the Bar rewards superlative accomplishment and leadership over
an entire career. All Knights are Life Members,
having earned that distinction through consistent outstanding
performance and through dedication to leadership in the
profession over a span of many years.
Why is Leadership
Important? - Knights of the Bar examines
leadership in three areas: Bar Leadership, Publications and
Lectures. There is a very high correlation between these
leadership activities and prominence in the profession.
Attorneys who show the initiative to lead their profession in
these ways invariably also lead in legal ability and
effectiveness. Being elected to bar leadership is usually
an endorsement by its members of the attorney's effectiveness in the
organization. It can be looked upon as
another kind of peer review. Attorneys who are frequently
asked to lecture and publish generally have special knowledge
that other attorneys want to obtain. This is a strong
indication of technical expertise in the practice of law.
In a larger sense, this dedication to the profession indicates a
strong commitment to the practice of law, which is usually
associated with a high level of excellence by the practitioner.
Why are Originations
Important? - Knights of the Bar requires that certain
fee origination thresholds be met to be considered for
membership. While this may seem to be an unusual criterion
to the general public, most attorneys are acutely aware why this
is important. Fee originations are highly correlated with
an attorney's reputation in the marketplace and his or her
ability to consistently deliver high quality legal work.
Law is a service business that is greatly dependent on referrals
from other professionals and former clients to build a practice.
Over many years, a large and successful practice is invariably
built on a foundation of outstanding legal work. The
greater the confidence clients and other professionals have in
an attorney, the greater the number of significant matters he or
she will be referred. If a lawyer is originating $1
Million in fees per year, it is because he or she is attracting
complex matters, prominent clients, matters of great
consequence, or all of the above. This kind of
responsibility is only entrusted to the most elite attorneys in
the profession, who have built reputations for extraordinary
expertise in the most complicated and important issues in their
area of law.
Yes, but what about
TV advertisers? - While it is true that lawyers that use
mass market advertising to bring in clients often can have very
high originations, they are seldom rated highly by their peers,
nor are they active in leading the profession. Most of
these lawyers refer the important or complex cases to other, more prominent
attorneys, and do not qualify for Knights of the Bar under the
other criteria.
Where
does Knights of the Bar find its Attorneys? - We are
constantly reviewing the backgrounds of top attorneys based upon
public records available through various publications, and by
using biographical information supplied on law firm web sites.
If an attorney's listed accomplishments are obviously within our
selection criteria, he or she will be sent a spontaneous
invitation to join. Knights of the Bar also receives
recommendations from other lawyers and
applications from lawyers
themselves who submit their biographies for consideration. These
backgrounds are carefully reviewed and if they fall within our
guidelines, they are sent an invitation.
I don't see my practice focus listed. Can categories be
added? - Yes. If an attorney is added to the membership
who has a special area of practice that is not listed and would
like to have the category listed, it can be added.
How
is position determined in the Online Registry - Position
on any given listing page is based on merit then seniority.
Diplomats will be listed first, Fellows second and Associates
third. Within a given category, members are listed based
upon seniority, with the members who listed earlier given
priority. Members that opt out of the online registry will
lose position if they decide to return and will move to the
bottom of their group.
In how
many practice categories can I be listed? - Fellows and
Associates can be listed in up to three categories,
Diplomats can be listed in up to five categories.
Submit Your Comments
And Questions
Please submit
your questions and comments in the boxes below. If you
would like a response, please be sure to include your email
address.
Knights of the Bar
does not offer legal advice and does not offer advice on the
selection of attorneys or matters involving attorney conduct.
Please do not submit emails with legal questions
or inquiries regarding attorney referrals or conduct. If
you have a legal question, you should interview and
retain an attorney in your state. If you have an
inquiry about attorney conduct, please contact your
state bar association.
Click here for a list of state bar
associations.
If you cannot find
the type of attorney you need on this site,
please do not write asking for
additional attorneys.
Other sites you can
try that can help you find attorneys are:
Findlaw
Lawyers.com
Thank you for
visiting Knights of the Bar.
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