May 2003

A jury of their peers selected the top 180 attorney in 20 specialties.

* * *

We asked each attorney this question: "Which Dallas lawyer, of those whose work you've witnessed firsthand, would rank among the current best? Your answers may include co-counsel, lawyers you have observed in court, opposing counsel, etc." With that question in mind, lawyers were asked to name three lawyers—one from inside and two from outside their law firms. Self-nominations were not counted, and attorneys had to nominate at least one lawyer from outside their firm for their same-firm vote to be valid.

That said, we took great pains to prevent any bias in favor of large firms and to prevent ballot-box stuffing. We hired a marketing research company to tally the votes. Same-firm votes were assigned less weight than outside-firm votes, so a large number of same-firm votes did not guarantee a best listing. Only ballots signed by the attorney with his or her State Bar number were counted. We also enlisted the help of a panel of well-respected attorneys to review the list. Final decisions regarding confusing ballots or close calls were deferred to our committee.