HOW WE WORK

A record, not a ranking

Three public states

Checked means the vendor page was live, a pricing path was confirmed, and a confidentiality statement was located and quoted. Review pending means the product was located but no qualifying confidentiality statement was found in the checked source. Retired requires dated evidence of discontinuation, absorption, or redirect.

Evidence before inference

Every evidence field carries an observation date and source. We do not score tools, publish user reviews, or turn silence into a promise. No-training is shown only when a vendor says it in writing.

Firm-size bands

Firm-size filters record vendor language, not a CounselAtlas recommendation. We map an explicit solo-practitioner statement to Solo, small-firm language to 2-5, and mid-sized-firm language to 6-20. When the checked vendor source does not state a firm size, the record says Not stated and is omitted from firm-size-filtered results.

The sponsorship firewall

Paid placements must be labeled Sponsored and use sponsored link attributes. Sponsorship cannot alter a status, confidentiality fact, or order checked tools ahead of other checked results.

Refresh cadence

Site and pricing paths are reviewed weekly, confidentiality and training statements monthly, and integrations and practice-area coverage quarterly. Records older than 90 days should be treated as awaiting re-check.