For the third straight year, Erin Durant has been recognized by her peers for inclusion in the Best Lawyers in Canada publication. This year, Erin is recognized by fellow lawyers in a voting process in
the areas of Corporate and Commercial Litigation, Insurance Law and Professional Malpractice Law. While we are honoured to receive recognition, we have also spent some time thinking about the utility and ethics of the large number of legal awards and ranking services.
This year, you will not find Erin Durant or our firm with a profile on the Best Lawyers website. While it is free to be nominated and selected as a "Best Lawyer", there is a cost associated with being listed with a profile on the website and with being able to use "Best Lawyer" graphics. For example, the use of the "Best Lawyer" graphic costs $725. There are additional costs for firm/lawyer profiles on the website and for purchasing other commemorative items like office plaques. In the past, Durant Barristers has participated in purchasing some of these marketing additions. However, we have changed our practices and will no longer "pay to play".
In recent years there has been significant debate about the ethics of legal award publications and questions asked about whether they are of any value to the public. We are beginning to question their utility and value. While we all enjoy winning things, I think it is time to be honest with ourselves and recognize that many of these awards and rankings are not much more than glorified marketing opportunities.
Revised to add this note:
After posting this blog we came across this longer post by Aaron Baer about this same issue. We recommend reading Aaron’s blog to learn far more.
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