Law firms
Is ChatGPT recommending your firm?
What AI engines cite when they recommend law firms, and a free check that shows whether they can read yours.
Where AI looks before it names a firm
When someone asks an AI engine for a lawyer, the engine assembles its answer from sources it trusts, and those sources are consistent enough to map. BrightLocal tracked 13,354 citations across lawyer-sector AI answers and published the domains behind them.
Two patterns stand out. Google's own business listings dominate: google.com appeared as a citation source more than five times as often as the next entry. And the legal directories that mattered in classic search also matter here, led by Justia and Avvo.
FindLaw's white paper looked inside millions of legal queries run through ChatGPT and grouped what the answers drew on into four buckets, each worth roughly a quarter of response content: Ratings (25.7%), Reviews (25.2%), Recognition (25.9%), and Roots (23.2%), meaning where you are from, where you studied, and where you practice. The same study named the four most-cited legal directories: Super Lawyers, Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, and FindLaw.
Sources: BrightLocal AI citation sources, lawyer sector and FindLaw white paper on AI visibility.
Google Business Profile
google.com
Yelp
yelp.com
Justia
justia.com
Avvo
avvo.com
Lawyers.com
lawyers.com (Martindale-Nolo)
FindLaw
findlaw.com
Share of citations BrightLocal observed in lawyer-sector AI answers, 13,354 citations total.
What the research shows
Independent studies put numbers on how legal surfaces in AI answers. Each figure below carries the sample it was measured on, because the sample defines how far the number travels.
78%
of legal queries triggered a Google AI Overview, the highest share of any industry measured in the study.
<25%
of the time ChatGPT's lawyer recommendations matched Google's page one. Perplexity and Claude matched 75%, Gemini 50%.
45%
of consumers report using AI tools for local business recommendations, up from 6% in earlier waves of the survey.
80%
of ChatGPT's answers to local questions included Yelp, across every local category BrightLocal tracked, law included.
Note on our own data: CiteGap's law-firm benchmark tables are not published yet. They will be built from real client runs as those accumulate, and labeled as ours when they exist. Every number on this page is third-party research, with the sample and link attached.
Six checks you can run today
No tools needed beyond the engines themselves. Write down what you see each time; the pattern across answers is the finding.
Open a fresh ChatGPT session and ask: "Who is a good [practice area] lawyer in [city]?" Note whether your firm is named, and which firms come up instead.
Ask the same question on Perplexity and Gemini. Engines lean on different sources, so one engine naming you is weak evidence either way.
Open your Avvo and Justia profiles. Check that practice-area categories, office locations, and reviews are present and consistent. They are the legal directories AI answers cite most after Google.
Search your firm name the way a client would, for example "[firm name] [city] reviews". If review text is thin or contradictory across Google, Yelp, and the directories, engines have little to quote.
Check whether third parties describe your specialties in plain words: bar association listings, legal directories, local press. AI answers are assembled from how others describe you, not from your tagline.
Look at the firms that do get named and list what they share: directory coverage, review depth, recognition lists. That list is your gap map.
From free check to written diagnosis
The free check runs against your homepage and reports seven technical aspects that decide whether AI engines can read your site at all. It is not law-specific, and it says so on the result.
The Written Diagnosis ($490) answers the industry question for your firm: 30 buyer-style questions across ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, run twice over two days, written up as a report of who gets named and cited in your practice area, where you stand, and what to fix first. The Fix Sprint ($1,250) executes that fix list for you. Monthly monitoring tracks how the answers shift as engines update.
Questions law firms ask
Do AI engines actually recommend specific law firms?
Legal is one of the most AI-triggered categories. In 5W PR's study of AI visibility for elite law firms, 78% of legal queries produced a Google AI Overview, the highest share of any industry measured. FindLaw's white paper analyzed millions of legal queries run through ChatGPT and mapped what the answers drew on.
Which sources do AI engines cite for lawyers?
In BrightLocal's lawyer-sector table (13,354 observed citations), Google Business Profile led with 42%, followed by Yelp at 7.9%, Justia at 3.2%, Avvo at 2.5%, Lawyers.com at 1.8%, and FindLaw at 0.9%. FindLaw's own white paper found four directory families most cited in ChatGPT legal answers: Super Lawyers, Avvo, Martindale-Hubbell, and FindLaw.
Why does ChatGPT name different firms than Google's first page?
Because the answers are assembled differently. Martindale-Avvo's expanded guide compared AI answers against Google results and found ChatGPT matched Google's page one less than 25% of the time. Perplexity and Claude matched 75%, Gemini 50%. Ranking on Google does not guarantee being named in an AI answer.
Is this data specific to my practice area and city?
No. The studies cited here cover the legal industry broadly or specific metros, and each is labeled with its sample. CiteGap's own law-firm benchmark tables are not published yet; they will be built from real client runs as those accumulate. The Written Diagnosis measures your firm's actual presence with buyer-style questions in your practice area.
What does the free check cover?
The free check examines seven technical aspects of your homepage instantly and shows the result of each. It is not law-specific: it tells you whether AI engines can read your site at all, which is a precondition for being cited. No signup required.
See whether the engines can read your firm
The free check runs instantly against your homepage. No signup, no cost.
Run the free check