Methodology · version 1.0
Listing Rank: how results are ordered.
Every listing is given 100 points at most from facts its record stores with a source. The order you see is those points, high to low, with sponsors first and labeled. A firm’s name plays no part.
Why not alphabetical.
Until this version, firms with the same placement were listed A to Z. That rewarded a name that starts with “A” and told you nothing. Now the order reads what each firm has actually published: ratings as Google and Avvo show them, a price with its scope, an online first step, a photo, a license confirmed on the licensing authority’s own lookup, whether the firm meets remotely, how deeply the listing has been reviewed and how recently. Each fact links to the page it came from.
The eight factors.
Each factor is read into a share of its maximum (from none to all of it); the maxima are in the next section. The rows below are the full rubric.
- Reviews around the webGoogle and Avvo ratings, with their review counts, as each provider shows them.
- Start onlineHow much of the first step you can complete online before talking to anyone.
- Published priceWhether the firm publishes what an estate plan costs, and what that price covers.
- PhotoAn approved photo of the attorney, the team or the office, from the firm's own site.
- License checkedAn attorney license confirmed on the licensing authority's own lookup.
- Remote meetingsWhether the firm says it meets clients by video or phone.
- Reviewed in detailWhether the listing was read page by page, or only screened automatically.
- Recently checkedHow recently the record was checked against its sources.
Reviews around the web
Google fills 60 % of the factor and Avvo 40 %. A Google average counts only with the review count behind it, so a high average on a handful of reviews reads as a rating, not as a strong one. A rating older than 365 days still shows, with its date, but stops counting until it is re-read.
| Google (of 5, with count) | Share |
|---|---|
| 4.5 or higher on 25 or more Google reviews | 100 % |
| 4.0 or higher on 10 or more Google reviews | 67 % |
| 3.5 or higher on 5 or more Google reviews | 33 % |
| A Google rating with at least one review | 17 % |
| Avvo (of 10) | Share |
|---|---|
| Avvo 9.0 or higher | 100 % |
| Avvo 7.5 or higher | 60 % |
| An Avvo rating | 30 % |
Start online
| An online intake the firm acts on (on its own site or through EstatePlan.now) | 100 % |
| An online questionnaire the firm follows up | 70 % |
| Online scheduling, or intake forms to download | 40 % |
| A contact form | 15 % |
| No first step found on the firm's site | 0 % |
Published price
| A full package price with what it covers | 100 % |
| A starting price or range with its scope | 67 % |
| A consultation fee only | 25 % |
| No estate-planning price published | 0 % |
Photo
| A photo of the named attorney | 100 % |
| A team photo | 60 % |
| A photo of the office | 40 % |
| No approved photo | 0 % |
License, remote meetings, depth of review, freshness
A license confirmed on the authority’s own lookup fills the license factor; partly confirmed fills half; not yet checked or not confirmed fills none. A firm that says it meets clients by video or phone fills the remote factor. Depth of review: read page by page by a reviewer 100 %; structured website audit 50 %; automated homepage check only 0 %. Freshness is full within 180 days of the last check, none past 360, and in between it falls in a straight line.
The points.
Firms you can begin with today come first: an online first step, a published price and a checked license outweigh reviews, and every fact is read from the firm's own site. The maxima add to 100. A change to them, to a rubric row or to the factors is a new version of this page.
| Factor | Points | What it reads |
|---|---|---|
| Reviews around the web | 25 | Google and Avvo ratings, with their review counts, as each provider shows them. |
| Start online | 20 | How much of the first step you can complete online before talking to anyone. |
| Published price | 15 | Whether the firm publishes what an estate plan costs, and what that price covers. |
| Photo | 10 | An approved photo of the attorney, the team or the office, from the firm's own site. |
| License checked | 10 | An attorney license confirmed on the licensing authority's own lookup. |
| Remote meetings | 5 | Whether the firm says it meets clients by video or phone. |
| Reviewed in detail | 10 | Whether the listing was read page by page, or only screened automatically. |
| Recently checked | 5 | How recently the record was checked against its sources. |
| Total | 100 |
Ties and sponsors.
Two firms with the same points are ordered by a fixed code computed from each listing’s web address, so the order is the same on every visit and never favours a name. On a place page, firms are ordered by distance first; the rank orders firms at the same distance. Sponsored placements come first, labeled, only in searches for places the sponsor serves; the rank has no way to read whether a firm is sponsored, and a test in the repository proves that switching sponsorship on or off changes no points.
What stays outside.
- The Experience ScoreA separate, optional sort with its own methodology. Ratings are never averaged into it.
- Legal qualityCompetence, ethics, outcomes and fit are for you and the firm to establish. Nothing here rates them.
- Our own opinionNo editor moves a firm up or down. A rating is copied from the provider’s page with its scale, count and date; a missing rating means none was recorded, not that the firm has none.
Something wrong or out of date? Every firm page has a report link, and you can write to info@estateplan.now.