Ranking Methodology
The ranking order for the Top 10 Wrongful death lawyers is derived using an algorithm based on the following criteria:
- Wrongful-death case results in the last 5 years: count of verdicts and settlements, plus the single largest public result (USD) and the median of the top 10 public results (USD) when available.
- Trial activity: number of wrongful-death jury trials taken to verdict in the last 5 years, and win rate at verdict (wins / total verdicts).
- Experience depth: years licensed for the lead trial lawyer, and number of wrongful-death matters served as lead counsel (filed cases, not consultations) in the last 10 years.
- Fee and cost terms: contingency percentage range (pre-suit, post-suit, post-appeal), whether case costs are advanced, and whether the client owes costs if there is no recovery (yes/no).
- Response speed: median time to first attorney contact after an inbound request (minutes/hours), and median time from signed retainer to filing suit when filing is appropriate (days).
- Client outcomes on timing: median time from intake to first settlement offer (days) and median time from filing to resolution (days), reported separately for settled vs tried cases.
- Client satisfaction and volume: average rating across Google/Avvo (0.0-5.0) and number of reviews, plus complaint count and public discipline count in the last 10 years from state bar records.
- Resources applied to the case: average attorney hours billed to wrongful-death matters (hours per case), number of in-house investigators or paralegals assigned per case, and documented use of retained experts (average experts per case, by category such as accident reconstruction, medical, economics).
Best Wrongful Death Lawyers ranks firms using a weighted score built from measurable case outcomes and client-service indicators, including total wrongful death dollars recovered in the last 5 years, the single largest reported recovery, and trial performance (wrongful death jury verdicts in the last 5 years and win rate, tracked separately from settlements). The scoring also factors case load per attorney (open wrongful death and related catastrophic injury matters per lead lawyer), fee and cost transparency (contingency percentages, whether costs are advanced, and whether costs are repaid from gross vs net), and time-to-resolution medians for matters closed in the last 3 years (months from intake to settlement and from filing to trial/settlement). Risk markers are counted, not hand-waved: state bar discipline in the last 10 years and BBB complaint volume and resolution rate in the last 3 years. Independent peer credentials are tallied using criteria-based sources such as AV Preeminent, Super Lawyers selections in the last 5 years, and civil trial board certification where available. Market research adds real-world responsiveness data from secret shopping (callback time in business hours, percent of calls answered live, after-hours availability with a documented response target), plus interviews and client surveys to confirm how the firm actually operates day to day. Every listing is reviewed by an editor for documentation and consistency, and additional proprietary factors are applied to reduce gaming and account for practice-area fit and reporting gaps.
Rankings can help compare options, but they are not a guarantee of price, performance, uptime, service quality, or fit for a specific use case, and a #1 pick can still be a poor match depending on budget, location, contract terms, or required features. Readers should do their own due diligence by checking current pricing and fees, reading recent user reviews, verifying licensing or certifications where relevant, and confirming key terms like refunds, cancellation windows, and support response times before buying.
