“Super Lawyers”

The title of “Super Lawyer” is an elusive distinction that illustrates supremacy in an individual attorney’s craft. In 2015, 14 of the lawyers at the law firm of Schwebel, Goetz & Sieben have been named a Minnesota Super Lawyer®, an honor awarded to the top five percent of attorneys state wide.

How Minnesota Super Lawyers® Are Selected

Each year, there are four stages involved in the selection of Minnesota Super Lawyers®:  General Survey, Screening Process, Blue Ribbon Panel Review, and Final Selection Process.

General Survey – Minnesota Super Lawyers® Selection

• 16,000 ballots are distributed to attorneys across Minnesota in January.
• Minnesota lawyers vote for the best Minnesota attorneys they have “seen in action.”
• Ballots are authenticated and only counted if proper verification by the voting attorney is provided.
• Nominated Minnesota lawyers are scored on the number and type of votes received.  Votes received from outside law firms are scored significantly higher than votes received from within the nominated attorneys’ law firms.
• Any “back-scratch” votes eliminate a lawyer from the list.  Back-scratch voting occurs when lawyers agree to vote for each other.

Screening Process – Minnesota Super Lawyers® Selection

Minnesota lawyers have their credentials reviewed by research staff.  They are then scored based on defined evaluation criteria.

Minnesota lawyers are also reviewed to make sure they:

• are properly licensed in Minnesota
• are in good standing with the Bar
• have no history of disciplinary action

Blue Ribbon Panel Review – Minnesota Super Lawyers® Selection

• Nominated lawyers are divided into 60 different practice areas.
• A Blue Ribbon Panel is assembled for each of the 60 practice areas. The panel consists of the top point-getters from the General Survey and from the Screening Process.
• The panel reviews the list of nominated Minnesota lawyers in their areas of practice.
• The panel assigns a positive or negative point total for each nominated lawyer.

Final Selection – Minnesota Super Lawyers® Selection

• A final score for each nominated lawyer is derived by adding all scores from the first 3 stages.
• Nominated Minnesota lawyers are divided according to the size of their law firm—small, medium and large.
• Lawyers with the top points by firm size are then designated Minnesota Super Lawyers® for the year in focus.
• Those chosen as Minnesota Super Lawyers® consist of the top 5% of the attorneys in Minnesota.