The lawyer-rating service Super Lawyers today won a U.S. patent on its system for rating excellence within the legal profession. The patent, which is number 8,412,564, makes Super Lawyers the first lawyer-rating service to receive this unique distinction. Super Lawyers is owned by Thomson Reuters.

The abstract for the patent describes it as follows:

The present invention provides for a system and method of identifying excellence within a profession. In one embodiment, excellent performing candidates within a profession group are identified by creating a candidate pool from independent research and a peer nomination process. Identified candidates then obtain a score according to an independent research and objective evaluation process. Peer evaluators contribute to this score by evaluating top-scoring candidates, and a total score is compiled for each identified candidate. Candidates with scores in a top percentage of the candidates are then recognized as demonstrating excellent performance in the profession group.

The patent identifies the inventors of the system as Charles F. Thell, William C. White and Cindy Larson, all from the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area where Thomson West is headquartered. The assignee of the patent is Thomson Reuters.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.