Michael B. Roche is pleased to announce that nearly 60 percent of SRZ attorneys eligible for an AV rating—the highest peer review rating Martindale-Hubbell assigns—have earned this distinction. "Extraordinary skill and high ethical standards are important requisites for achieving AV status," explains Roche, a status Martindale defines as legal ability ranging from "very high to preeminent."

A venerable company relying on more than a century of experience, Martindale-Hubbell manages North America's largest database for locating lawyers and law firms in the United States and Canada. Its services are essential to law firms making referrals or seeking council in other jurisdictions and to prospective clients researching on their own behalf. Martindale's database is available through a variety of venues, including Lexis-Nexis, the Martindale-Hubbell Law Directory and its corresponding website. "An AV® Peer Review Rating is a significant accomplishment," explains the site, "a sign that a lawyer is ranked at the highest level of professional excellence."

Rick Michaels, president of SRZ, explains: "Martindale's standards are exceedingly high, but the most impressive aspect of its rating process is that competitors practicing in a particular bar rate their own peers."

All peer opinions are subject to scrutiny by Martindale's professional staff. Personal interviews and peer conferences comprise one aspect in the examination process, where reviewers seek "positive indicators" of exemplary ethics, verifiable experience and professional growth. Consensus is another component of selection, and perhaps the most critical. Important to note is that attorneys are neither required or expected to apply for a Martindale rating, but those who do have elected to rely on an established and credible means of communicating their legal stature to peers and potential clients.

Included in SRZ's exceptional percentage of AV-rated attorneys are:

Walter L. Adams
David I. Addis
Alison Barkley
Harry C. Benford III
Michael F. Braun
L. Andrew Brehm
Charles H. Cole
Edward J. Copeland
Thomas G. Draths
Douglas A. Hanson
Ernest W. Irons
Daniel V. Kinsella
James L. Komie
Michael D. Lee
Robert A. Michalak
John J. Pembroke
Steven P. Pherson
Elisha M. Prero
Michael B. Roche
Joseph J. Stevens
Richard J. Walsh

Visit SRZ on Martindale's website at Martindale-Hubbell/SRZ Practice and Industry Groups.

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