Hands holding up trophy.

Just last year, we wrote a blog post on bogus lawyer vanity awards – you know, the meaningless awards which have prestigious-sounding names, such as “Top 10” or “Distinguished Lawyers”, but no actual criteria for selection other than a lawyer willing to pay hundreds of dollars to use their logo? In some cases, as discussed in the post, even dogs or other animals have received lawyer awards.

Though I doubt that federal regulators read our blog, they are not blind, and have no doubt seen the proliferation of meaningless awards which don’t mean anything, and merely serve to fool the public. The Federal Trade Commission has published a blog post, “Look beyond the award when you hire a lawyer“, warning the public about scam awards with “fancy-looking seals and badges on their websites claiming they’re among the best in their field.”

Of course, being the federal government, they can’t actually name names, but instead they provide some sensible suggestions for consumers to protect themselves from these bogus lawyer vanity awards, including:

Bogus Lawyer Vanity Awards
  • Digging into the award to find out how long it’s been around, and what the criteria are for selection (a real good starting point are the checklists in our blog post)
  • Searching for the name of the award, with the words “vanity”, “ego” or “scam” after it.
  • Asking for personal recommendations from people you know who have been through the legal process (even online reviews are suspect, as some firms (not ours!) fake them).
  • Look at the lawyer’s actual legal experience and accomplishments.

Legal blog Above the Law, which reported on the FTC warning, was curious why the feds suddenly decided now to warn the country of the scourge of lawyer vanity awards – perhaps an unusually large number of complaints? But they also recognize that warning the public about such scams is likely as far as the feds can go. (Note that this may not preclude state bars from treating scam lawyer vanity awards as ethical violations and taking action, but that too is unlikely).

Real, Not Bogus Lawyer Vanity Awards

Finally, at Graham.Law we are proud of our achievements, and yes, that includes actual awards – not bogus lawyer vanity awards, but real awards which are either peer-reviewed, or come from prestigious publications such as U.S. News & World Report – awards which don’t charge fees for the recipients, and won’t let anyone buy themselves onto the list. Our awards are not what makes us great – instead they merely recognize our accomplishments, which are truly the mark of a quality law firm.

Genuine Award-Winning Colorado Springs Family Law Firm

Lawyer vanity awards

U.S. News & World Report calls Graham.Law one of the Best Law Firms in America, and our managing partner is a Colorado Super Lawyer. Our family law attorneys have years of experience helping clients navigate the Colorado legal system. We know Colorado divorce & family law inside and out, from complex multi-million dollar property or child custody cases to basic child support modifications.

For more information about our top-rated El Paso County family law firm, contact us by filling out our contact form, calling us at (719) 630-1123 to set up a free consult, or click on:

Colorado Family Law. Period.