Claiming your law firm's listing

If your firm already appears in our law firms directory, you can claim that listing and take control of how your practice is represented. Claiming connects an existing public profile to an owner account, so the people who actually run the firm decide what the page says, who the attorneys are, and which practice areas it covers. This guide explains what an unclaimed listing is, who may claim it, how claiming works, how ownership is established, and what you can manage once the listing is yours.

What an unclaimed Basic listing is

Many profiles in this law firms directory start as unclaimed listings shown at the entry Basic level. A listing like this may already exist before anyone at the firm has signed up, because we build a directory of US law firms from public information. Nobody is paying for it yet, and no one at the firm controls it. A page for your practice can be live and indexed without you having created it. That is intentional. People searching for a firm like yours can find a starting point, and there is something ready for you to claim rather than build from scratch.

An unclaimed listing usually shows only the essentials we could confirm from public sources: firm name, location, and broad practice focus. Because no one has claimed it, the details have not been reviewed or corrected and the firm has not gone through verification, so there is no badge and no one managing the page. Claiming changes that by attaching the listing to an authorized account. Note that this is an independent directory, not a referral service, and nothing on it is legal advice. We do not sell leads or steer clients to firms.

Who is allowed to claim a law firms directory listing

Only the firm's authorized representative may claim a listing: a partner, owner, office administrator, or someone the firm has expressly empowered to manage its online presence. Claiming a listing asserts that you have the authority to manage that firm's profile in this law firms directory, so it should never be done by a competitor, a former employee, a marketing vendor acting without instruction, or anyone who cannot represent the practice.

We treat claiming seriously because the profile carries the firm's name and, eventually, its verification status. Claiming is not an instant transfer of trust. It connects the listing to an account, and the meaningful trust signals only appear later, after a human editor reviews real evidence (covered below). If you are not sure whether your firm is already listed, search for it first in the directory search. If you find it, you can begin the claim from the profile.

How claiming your listing works

Claiming runs through one flow, and it is built around a single idea: the payment is the claim. When you claim a listing you choose a plan and pay for it, and that payment is what connects the listing to you and gives you owner access. There is no separate step where an editor approves the claim itself. You do not need an account beforehand either. If you already have one the listing attaches to it, and if you do not, your owner account is created the moment your payment confirms.

1. Find your firm using directory search. Search by firm name and location so you land on the correct profile and do not create a duplicate.
2. Open the profile and choose Claim this listing. This option appears on profiles that are still unclaimed, and it takes you to the same plan selection you would see when submitting a new firm.
3. Choose your plan. Pick Basic, Pro, or Premium (the pricing is set out below). Basic is an annual subscription; Pro and Premium are one-time lifetime purchases.
4. Pay through Stripe Checkout. You are handed to Stripe's secure checkout to enter your card details. We do not see or store your full card number. Stripe processes the payment.
5. Get owner access. As soon as the payment confirms, the listing is yours. If you paid as a guest, your owner account is created and you receive your sign-in details by email. If you were already signed in, the listing attaches to your existing account. Either way you can now manage the profile.
6. Your edits are reviewed before they take effect. Changes to key details on the newly claimed listing are held for editorial review, and nothing publishes on payment alone; you can start uploading verification evidence for each check whenever you are ready.

Because payment is what claims the listing, there is no free-standing claim to abandon and no half-finished account left behind. If a payment is never completed, nothing is created, and the listing simply stays unclaimed for the next authorized representative to claim.

How ownership is established, and why it matters

Connecting a listing to your account is the administrative side of claiming. Establishing that your firm genuinely is what it says it is is a separate, evidence-based process that happens through verification.

State bar standing. The state bar standing check confirms that the firm's attorneys are licensed and in good standing with their bar. In a law firms directory this is foundational. It is the difference between an entity that merely calls itself a law firm and one whose lawyers are actually entitled to practice. Together with the business entity check, it anchors the listing to a real, licensed practice.

Verification is manual and evidence-based, and it stays completely separate from claiming even though claiming now happens by paying. Paying for a plan connects your owner account to the listing and gives you access, but it never passes a verification check on its own. Verification is earned by uploading proof that a human editor reviews and approves, check by check.

What you can manage once your listing is claimed

Once the listing is connected to your account, you become the person responsible for keeping it accurate. From your account workspace you can manage the parts of the profile that clients and search engines see:

• Profile details: the firm's name, contact information, location, description, and other core fields that describe the practice.
• Attorneys: the lawyers associated with the firm, so the people behind the practice are represented correctly.
• Practice areas: the areas of law the firm handles, which help the right clients find you in the directory.
• Verification evidence: proof you upload for each verification check so an editor can review and approve it.

Verification evidence is uploaded per check. The document checks are Business entity, State bar standing, and Professional liability insurance & disciplinary history, plus a Premium-only Docket-verified practice check. For each one you upload the relevant document, and a human editor reviews that piece of evidence and approves the check individually. The documents you upload stay private to admins. They are used to verify the check, not published on your page. You can read more about how each check works on the methodology page.

Verification and badges are earned, not bought

To state it plainly: verification and badges are earned through evidence, not purchased. Paying for a higher plan does not verify your firm, and verified status does not arrive because money changed hands. Verification status is independent of your paid tier. A firm earns each check by submitting evidence that a human editor approves, and until that happens no badge appears, whatever plan you are on. The separation is deliberate. If badges could be bought they would mean nothing. A badge in this law firms directory tells the people reading your profile that an independent editor looked at actual proof and approved it.

Correcting inaccurate information on an existing listing

If you find that an unclaimed listing contains out-of-date or inaccurate information, claiming it is the way to fix it. Once the listing is connected to your account, you edit the profile to bring it up to date.

Some edits are routine and apply quickly. Others touch fields we consider sensitive, details that affect trust and search results. Critical edits are held for editor review and applied on the next publish rather than going live the instant you save them. The live page keeps showing the last approved values until an editor reviews your change. This protects the integrity of the directory and prevents a claimed page from being altered into something misleading. It follows the same human-in-the-loop principle that governs verification.

Upgrading from Basic

When you claim a listing you pick a plan, so a claimed listing starts on whichever tier you paid for. If you chose Basic, you can move up whenever you want more from your presence in the directory. Our plans, in US dollars, are:

• Verified Basic: $99 per year (an annual subscription).
• Verified Pro: $199 one-time (a lifetime plan, which is suspendable).
• Verified Premium: $339 one-time (a lifetime plan, which is suspendable).

Upgrading is a separate decision from both claiming and verification. A paid plan does not verify your firm or grant badges, which are still earned through evidence reviewed by an editor. A higher tier adds capabilities. For example, the Premium-only Docket-verified practice check becomes available on the Premium plan. A brand-new claimant picks their tier during the claim flow above. If you already hold a claimed listing, you can upgrade from your account at any time by paying only the difference to the higher tier, and if you were on the recurring Basic plan that upgrade ends the annual renewal.

Getting started

To recap: confirm whether your firm is already listed using directory search. If it is, open its profile and use Claim this listing to choose a plan and pay, and that payment is what claims it. If your firm is not listed yet, begin at the submit page. Either way your owner account is created (or the listing attaches to the account you already have) the moment payment confirms, and you then correct any details and upload verification evidence for an editor to review. Claiming gets you in the door. Evidence-based verification is what earns the trust that makes a place in this law firms directory valuable. See how each check is assessed on the methodology page, or learn more about the directory.