Do Avvo, Justia, Super Lawyers and FindLaw profiles affect AI answers, and how do I claim them?

I’m a marketer, not a lawyer, and nothing here is legal advice. A directory profile is advertising under most state bar rules, so the same rules that govern your website govern what you write there. The bar rules guide covers “specialist” and “expert” claims.

Do they affect what AI says?

In my AI answers field report, pooled across 9 businesses in different industries, not law firms specifically, directories, review sites and social profiles turned up in the answers for almost every business. The most-cited domains, across 8 businesses, were facebook.com, google.com, linkedin.com, reddit.com, bbb.org, yelp.com, youtube.com.

Legal directories don’t appear on that list. The report only charts domains cited for at least 5 businesses across different fields, so no field’s own directory can appear, and it publishes no rate for any field. I haven’t measured a lift from claiming Avvo or Justia. I’d claim them anyway, because a stale profile can feed a wrong fact.

What I can measure is the accuracy side. Between 15% and 35% of the answers that named a business got at least one fact wrong (per-business range across 5 businesses in different industries, not law firms specifically, in my field report). A directory profile you never claimed is a listing you don’t control.

Start with your state bar record

Several directories build profiles from bar records. The Cornell LII directory, run with Justia, says Justia’s directory “provides a free listing to every lawyer in the United States, using information compiled from bar-association directories and the like” (LII Lawyer Directory FAQ, checked October 27, 2026). Avvo says its profiles are created from public records, and asks you to enter your details “exactly as they appear on your state bar registration” (Avvo, checked October 27, 2026).

So update the bar record first: firm name, office address, phone, and the email you want public. In Washington, that’s the record behind the WSBA’s public lawyer directory. If a directory shows the wrong license status or admission date, the fix is usually at the bar, not the directory.

Avvo

• What it is: a profile for nearly every licensed attorney, built from public records whether you claim it or not.
• To claim: search for your name on Avvo’s claim page (checked October 27, 2026), then verify you’re the licensed attorney. Avvo says claiming is free.
• Then: fix the office address and phone, list the practice areas you take, add a photo and a short bio, and answer any reviews. Avvo shows a rating on profiles; read Avvo’s support pages (checked October 27, 2026) on how it’s calculated before you spend time chasing it.

Justia

• What it is: a free listing for every US lawyer from bar data, mirrored into the Cornell LII directory once claimed.
• To claim: from your profile page, or register at Justia’s lawyer account page (checked October 27, 2026), which says you can “claim and complete a professional attorney profile for free.”
• Then: complete the practice areas, office locations and bio. Justia sells paid upgrades; the free profile is enough to get your facts right.

FindLaw

• What it is: the FindLaw Lawyer Directory. FindLaw says most sole practitioners already have a profile (FindLaw help, checked October 27, 2026).
• To claim: register in FindLaw’s Profile Update tool and claim your profile. A firm can claim the organization profile and manage its attorneys’ profiles from there (FindLaw Profile Update FAQ, checked October 27, 2026).
• What’s free: with a basic listing you can update your name, address, phone, fax, email and practice area. Narrative text and other fields need a paid enhanced profile. FindLaw says most changes show immediately, and new profiles or firm changes can take up to two business days.

Super Lawyers

• What it is: a rating list, not a directory you join. Candidates come from peer nominations and the publisher’s own research, then go through scoring and peer review.
• You can’t claim your way on. Super Lawyers says “lawyers cannot nominate themselves” and quotes an opinion that it doesn’t “permit a lawyer to buy one’s way onto the list.” It says 5 percent of the lawyers in a state are selected, and 2.5 percent for Rising Stars (selection process, checked October 27, 2026).
• What you can do: if you’re selected, check that the profile’s firm, address and practice areas match your bar record. Bar rules on describing ratings apply.

Other legal directories also publish profiles you didn’t write. Search for your name on each one the answers cite for your practice area, and claim and correct them after the four above. Then the general listings that feed maps for every business: your Google Business Profile, Bing Places and Apple Business Connect.

Keep one version of every fact

Keep the same firm name, address, phone, practice areas and attorney list on your website, your bar record, your Google profile and every directory. The free What AI says about you template has a ledger with one row per fact and one column per source. Fill it in once and every disagreement shows up as a row to fix.

Then ask the assistants about your firm by name and see whether the answers changed. The guide to wrong firm details covers tracing a wrong fact back to its source.

When to bring me in

Bring me in when AI answers get your hours, address or services wrong, when they name competitors for the work you want, or when you’ve fixed your listings and want to know whether the answers changed.

I'm Conner Crowe, and I write every audit myself. Send your website and your market. There’s nothing to grant, and within 48 hours you'll have a written read on what each AI assistant says about you and where the wrong facts come from. No call needed, and nothing in your account or store changes.

Get a free AI answer snapshot →

Or run the check yourself with the free What AI says about you template.