Free case law plus a lawyer directory where attorneys pay for top placement, sitting alongside a separate peer-only rating Justia says it does not sell.
What it's really for A free legal-research portal; law firms pay for premium directory placement and marketing.
What our grade covers The grade on this page is about its lawyer directory and 1-10 peer ratings, not everything the site does.
High Scoring Confidence Checked against primary sources. We are confident in the facts and the grade here.
Law firms are the paying customers, and by Justia's own description paying does buy higher placement in the directory (Platinum is one exclusive slot per practice-area/metro shown above organic results), though the separate peer rating is not sold.
Source →- Operating since
- 2003 (23 years) · source
- What it costs you
- Free to read The reviews are free to read.
- How they make money
- Justia gives away legal information and earns money selling law firms marketing services: premium directory placements, websites, and PPC/SEO management.
- What they do
- It runs a free legal-research portal and a lawyer directory whose profiles carry a 1-10 attorney-to-attorney peer rating, while selling enhanced placement and marketing to law firms.
- What to watch for
- By Justia's own marketing, paid Premium, Gold, and Platinum placements appear above the organic directory listings, and the cost of those placements is quote-only rather than published.
- Composite score
- 2.30 / 5.00 → grade C
How the grade was reached
Does the site take money from the very entities it ranks? Pay-for-placement, vendor-funded data, and affiliate commissions all pull this down. The less the ranking can be bought, the higher the score.
What is the ranking actually built on? Hands-on testing scores highest, then verified first-hand reviews, then opinion or popularity surveys and self-reported figures, then pay-to-rank, which scores lowest.
Is the methodology published, specific, and reproducible? Can a reader see how a given rank was reached, or is it a black box?
Are commercial relationships, sponsorships, and affiliate arrangements disclosed clearly and near the rankings themselves, rather than buried?
How hard is it to game? Controls against fake reviews, solicited reviews, and vendor gaming raise this; an open box anyone can stuff lowers it.
Evidence
- Justia is an American website founded in 2003 by Tim Stanley (formerly of FindLaw), based in Mountain View, California; it offers free case law, codes, opinion summaries and basic legal texts, with paid services for its attorney directory and webhosting. Source: Wikipedia — Justia →
- A Justia Premium Placement is a paid, enhanced listing that gives attorneys greater visibility by featuring them above the organic results on listing pages; Platinum Placements are exclusive — only one per practice-area/metro combination — and pricing is quote-only (contact Justia). Basic profiles are free. Source: Lawyerist — Justia Review (cost, features, pros & cons) →
- The Justia Lawyer Rating (1-10) is based solely on attorney-to-attorney reviews; only attorneys with Justia profiles can review, the reviewing attorney must affirmatively state they are personally familiar with the lawyer's work, client reviews are excluded, and all reviews are public and non-anonymous with narrative explanations. Source: ABA Journal — Justia launches new peer-reviewed attorney ratings →