Why Does the New York Law Journal Overlook Solos as Rising Stars?

According to the New York State Bar Association, the number of lawyers in solo or small firm practice in New York has doubled since 1997.  As of 2006, the vast majority of attorneys practicing law in New York State — 83.5 percent — were solo practitioners, according to the Commission to Examine Solo and Small Firm Practice, and likely, that number may be even higher. By contrast, fewer than two percent of attorneys work in “large firms” – which the report defined as having ten or more attorneys.

Of course, you’d never guess that based on the New York Law Journal’s  Rising Star Program, introduced in 2013, which recognizes lawyers ages 40 and under who have “who have established a record of accomplishments and demonstrated that they are top contributors to the practice of law and their communities.” A quick review of the 40-50 Rising Stars chosen from hundreds of applications for 2013,2014, 2015 and 2016, shows that the vast majority – at least 75 percent — hail from AmLaw 200 firms, with the remainder split between government, non-profits, academia and occasional in-house lawyer.  And while admittedly, there’s a smattering of lawyers from boutique firms with between 6 and 8 attorneys, I could not find a single solo or lawyer from a two or three person shop on the list.

What’s the reason for this vast omission? On Twitter, one lawyer questioned the selection process – which is open to all , suggesting that large law firms have departments of attorneys and marketing staff who can nominate attorneys as Rising Stars, while solos and smalls lack this option.  But @NYLawJournal disagreed with this theory, noting that it receives dozens of nominations from solos and small firms each year and that in fact, solo lawyers can even nominate themselves (which isn’t entirely clear from the nomination form.

Of course, the fact that “dozens of solo and small firm lawyers” are nominated as Rising Stars but never selected for the honor doesn’t help – because that would mean that out of the 87 percent of New York lawyers who are solos, not a single one under 40 merits recognition as a Rising Star.

If the  New York Law Journal  wants to focus on accomplishments of two percent of New York attorneys while ignoring the good work of solos and smalls, that’s its prerogative. But at least, the NYLJ should be transparent in its selection process. For example, how many applications for Rising Stars were completed by big firm marketing personnel and how many were submitted by solo and small firm lawyers?  And why aren’t any solo or small firm lawyers among the panel of the competition’s”esteemed judges.“?

At the end of the day, the Rising Stars award – just like a Martingale Hubbell AV rating or an Avvo Ranking  isn’t worth much more than the paper on which its printed. Today, anyone can buy recognition or make up an award so they’re largely meaningless anyway. That said, if solos and smalls can’t have inclusion, a little transparency would be nice.

Since its inception, MyShingle has endeavored to ferret out insidious discrimination  against solo and small firm lawyers by ethics regulators, courts and the legal profession at large. We can’t do it alone though – so if you have examples of practices that discriminate against solos and smalls that you’ve learned about in the media or experienced personally, email us at info@myshingle.com .