How we build and verify the directory
Where our data comes from, what a proven verdict is, how listings are ordered, and how we keep the directory accurate and independent.
Overview
ProvenVerdicts is an independent reference for personal injury attorneys and law firms in the United States, built around one idea: results should be proven, not claimed. The recovery numbers on law firm websites are self-reported, and almost no one outside the firm ever checks them. A proven verdict on this site is different: a verdict or settlement our editorial team has independently confirmed in news coverage, court records, or published decisions, then documented in an original write-up that explains the case, the outcome, and where the proof comes from.
Not every real result leaves a public trail. Many settlements and arbitration awards are finalized in private, so firms can also share the official paperwork behind a result and we verify it the same way. Either path leads to the same standard: if a number can’t be backed by a document or a public source, it doesn’t appear on the site.
Around that results layer we maintain the directory itself: accurate rosters, clear practice areas, and current office information for every listed firm. This page explains how listings get here, how results are verified, how we decide what order to show them in, and how anyone can flag something that’s wrong.
How we source listings
Profiles are created two ways: compiled by our editorial team from public records, and submitted directly by firms who claim their listing. In both cases the same baseline information is required before a profile publishes.
How results are verified
A firm or attorney only earns the Proven Verdicts badge when we have independently verified and published at least one of their verdicts or settlements. The badge is earned by results and is never sold. Every proven verdict goes through the same process:
Separately, baseline profile facts are confirmed before publication: attorneys are matched to their state bar records, and claimed profiles are confirmed via a work email or firm-domain verification before anyone can edit a listing.
What happened after the verdict
A headline number is not always what a family received. Verdicts get cut by statutory caps, reversed on appeal, or won against a defendant with nothing to pay with. Rather than quietly leave those cases out, every result on this site carries two labels, and you can filter the directory by either one.
What the courts held. A result is marked final when no appeal was taken or it was affirmed, reduced when a cap or an appellate ruling cut it, on appeal while that is still being decided, or reversed when it was overturned. Where a result was reduced, the amount we show and rank is the figure that survived, never the original headline, and the page shows both. Reversed results keep their page and their filter but never appear in a largest-verdicts list, because nothing stood.
Whether anyone paid. Separately, we mark a result as paid, as awarded but not collectable, or as an amount that is not public. Most settlements are confidential and most judgments never report whether they were satisfied, so the third label is the common one and it claims nothing.
These two are kept apart on purpose, because they answer different questions. A verdict can stand in full and still be worthless if the defendant is in prison with no insurance, and a verdict can be cut by ninety percent and still be paid within weeks. A judgment nobody collected is still what a jury awarded, so it keeps its place in the rankings and carries its label instead.
How listings are ordered
Within a city or practice area, organic ordering reflects how complete and relevant a profile is, not how much a firm pays. We weigh:
Editorial independence
Verification outcomes are editorial and are never for sale. A firm cannot pay to have an unverified result published as proven, to change a competitor’s listing, or to remove accurate information about itself. Payment can cover the processing of firm-submitted documentation, because the review is real work, but documents that don’t check out don’t get published, paid or not.
Paid plans add visibility and tools: a labeled featured slot, a direct link to the firm’s website, and result-submission review. The underlying facts on every profile are held to the same standard regardless of plan, and paid placement is always labeled.
Keeping data accurate
Directories go stale quickly, so accuracy is an ongoing process, not a one-time import:
Data sources
Our baseline credential data comes from publicly available records, including:
Report a correction
See something inaccurate? Anyone can flag it, attorneys, firms, or the public. We review every report and update or remove information that can’t be substantiated.