The Super Origin of Super Lawyers
In 1990, Bill White was in his first year running Minnesota Law & Politics, a monthly magazine known for its offbeat covers, irreverent tone, and cheeky slogan (“Only Our Name Is Boring”), when he held a meeting with a local freelance writer.
Steve Kaplan was there to pitch a profile on perennial presidential candidate Harold Stassen. The two immediately bonded, and Kaplan soon joined the magazine as editor-in-chief.
Gravity and Levity: Super Lawyers Begins in a Dynamic Pairing of Opposites
It was a dynamic pairing of opposites. Both men grew up on Russell Avenue in Minneapolis, and in retail clothing environments — Hubert White menswear and Kaplan Brothers workwear, respectively. But politically, White tilted right, and Kaplan leaned left.
White, who practiced law before becoming a publisher, was the charismatic face of the publication: Tall and amiable, with wavy brown hair. Kaplan, short and blunt, was renowned for reading eight newspapers a day, giving local freelancers their first bylines, and having zero sense of traffic direction.
Yet the two men always agreed on what would make a great magazine. “Our goal was a combination of gravity and levity,” White says.
“We knew you could have a smart magazine for a smart audience that also didn’t take itself too seriously,” adds Kaplan. “We never had to discuss the mission of the magazine. It was always just obvious to us.”
An early cover sent up the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue with a male lawyer posing provocatively in a swimming pool in a three-piece suit. Another cover satirized the slow pace of law-firm diversity with five confused-looking white men under the headline “Celebrating Diversity.”
Out of that madcap environment, Super Lawyers was born.
Creating a Best-of Guide for Lawyers
In 1991, ruminating on all the city-magazine guides for “best restaurants” and “best doctors,” White thought, “Why couldn’t we do one for lawyers?” That first list appeared in the magazine’s August edition. Since the concept of “supermodels” was breaking at the time, White, with a wink, called his list “Super Lawyers.”
It became their best-selling issue-in terms of ad revenue, that year and every year. “If we were in retail, August was our holiday season,” says White. “It paid for the rest.”
Super Lawyers Begins To Grow Nationally
In 1996, Vance Opperman, a Twin Cities publisher who owned MSP Communications, bought Minnesota Law & Politics (L&P) and expanded it into Washington state.
One day, looking across the floor at MSP Communications, White had a brainstorm. What if L&P gave the Super Lawyers list to sister publications Mpls.St.Paul and Twin Cities Business to run in their magazines, and they split the sales? It worked. Better than he could have imagined.
Texas Monthly saw the list in Mpls.St.Paul and wondered if Super Lawyers could do the same in Texas. It was decided to not only develop a list for Texas Monthly but also run it in a standalone magazine, along with articles featuring top listees.
“We wanted to give validation to our expansion into the market and not just deliver a list,” says Kaplan. “We wanted to publish a magazine that told good stories, and which would be welcome on lawyers’ desks year after year.”
Expectations were modest, but the response was overwhelming. City magazines around the country, including in Ohio, Indiana, Georgia, and Southern California, suddenly wanted to partner up. In February 2010, Thomson Reuters acquired Super Lawyers, starting a new chapter in its history.
Developing and Patenting the Super Lawyers Selection Process
Throughout its expansion, Super Lawyers leadership continued to refine the selection process. Twelve indicators of professional achievement and peer recognition are used to evaluate selectees, including scholarly writings, leadership positions, and community engagement. The selection process is so sophisticated, Super Lawyers successfully patented it in 2013.
Super Lawyers, which Internet Brands acquired from Thomson Reuters in December 2024, employs more than 80 people across its research, production, data, editorial, online, marketing, and advertising departments.
The research team handles more than a quarter million nominations and more than 85,000 blue-ribbon panel evaluations annually. The list appears in 60 magazines across the country, with a total readership of more than 17 million.
For those who remember the early days, it’s all a bit surreal. “When we first started expanding, I had the entire schedule on the front and back of one sheet of paper,” recalls Cindy Larson, a former publisher of Super Lawyers. “Sometimes I sit back and wonder, ‘Did this really happen?’”