Bankruptcy Lawyers: AI Market Discovery Index

Tracking how AI platforms recommend bankruptcy lawyers. This public AI Market Discovery Index is updated monthly since July 2026.

Mark Huntley, J.D.
By Mark Huntley, J.D.Growth Strategist & AI Discovery Analyst
5 minutes read

Benchmark Summary

Upsolve led the Bankruptcy Lawyers benchmark with a valid recommendation coverage of 52.0% in August 2026, down from 57.5% in July 2026. The next closest brand, John T. Orcutt, held valid recommendation coverage of 2.7% in August 2026, leaving a 49.3-point gap between the leader and the next brand.

The month was quiet overall, with no tracked brand moving beyond normal month-to-month variation. The largest coverage increase was Cibik Law, rising to 1.4% in August 2026 from 0.0% in July 2026. The largest coverage decline was Upsolve, falling to 52.0% in August 2026 from 57.5% in July 2026. While the overall coverage movement for the category leader was within normal variation, Upsolve's recommended top-three rate fell to 6.2% from 19.1%, and its rank-one rate fell to 6.2% from 17.7%.

The benchmark began with 301 prompt-surface observations in July 2026 and 385 in August 2026, producing 141 and 146 qualified observations respectively after qualification.

AI recommendation trend

valid recommendation coverage, Jul 2026 to Aug 2026

  • Upsolve-5.5%
    Jul 202657.5%
    Aug 202652.0%
  • John T. Orcutt-1.6%
    Jul 20264.3%
    Aug 20262.7%
  • Sasser Law Firm-1.6%
    Jul 20264.3%
    Aug 20262.7%
  • Allmand Law-0.7%
    Jul 20262.8%
    Aug 20262.1%
  • Cibik Law+1.4%
    Jul 20260.0%
    Aug 20261.4%
  • DebtStoppers-0.7%
    Jul 20260.7%
    Aug 20260.0%
  • Fears Nachawatino change
    Jul 20260.0%
    Aug 20260.0%
  • Heupel Lawno change
    Jul 20260.0%
    Aug 20260.0%
  • The Semrad Law Firm-0.7%
    Jul 20260.7%
    Aug 20260.0%
  • Tully Rinckeyno change
    Jul 20260.0%
    Aug 20260.0%

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Measure

July 2026

August 2026

Movement

Qualified benchmark observations

141

146

Up 5

Tracked brands

10

10

No change

Qualified surface breadth

6

6

No change

Recommendation-shaped answer share

24.8%

6.2%

Down 18.6 points

Valid recommendation shortlist share

20.6%

11.6%

Down 9.0 points

Leader by valid recommendation coverage

Upsolve

Upsolve

No change

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in both July 2026 and August 2026.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Bankruptcy Lawyers

Research Scope and Qualification

The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.

Research stage

July 2026

August 2026

What it represents

Source prompt-surface observations

301

385

Total prompts collected

Unique questions

252

322

Distinct questions asked

Brand / competitor mentions

301

385

Prompts mentioning a brand

Relevant observations

205

264

On-topic responses

Irrelevant observations

96

121

Off-topic responses

Qualified benchmark observations

141

146

Public denominator

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Methodology.

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Current Brand Standings

This table is the primary current-month benchmark view, sorted by valid recommendation coverage.

Brand

Presence rate

Valid recommendation coverage

Top-three rate

Rank-one rate

Net sentiment

Upsolve

89.7%

52.0%

6.2%

6.2%

0.8

John T. Orcutt

3.4%

2.7%

2.7%

0.0%

0.8

Sasser Law Firm

2.7%

2.7%

2.7%

2.7%

1.0

Allmand Law

2.7%

2.1%

2.1%

0.7%

0.8

Cibik Law

1.4%

1.4%

1.4%

0.0%

1.0

DebtStoppers

6.9%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0

Fears Nachawati

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0

Heupel Law

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0

The Semrad Law Firm

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0

Tully Rinckey

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0%

0.0

How to Read the Standings

  • Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand is mentioned at all.
  • Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand receives a valid recommendation.
  • Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a top-three recommendation.
  • Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand is the first-ranked recommendation.
  • Net sentiment is the balance of positive over negative mentions, from -1.0 to +1.0.

For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Brand

July 2026

August 2026

Movement since baseline

Allmand Law

2.8%

2.1%

Down 0.7 points

Cibik Law

0.0%

1.4%

Up 1.4 points

DebtStoppers

0.7%

0.0%

Down 0.7 points

Fears Nachawati

0.0%

0.0%

No change

Heupel Law

0.0%

0.0%

No change

John T. Orcutt

4.3%

2.7%

Down 1.6 points

Sasser Law Firm

4.3%

2.7%

Down 1.6 points

The Semrad Law Firm

0.7%

0.0%

Down 0.7 points

Tully Rinckey

0.0%

0.0%

No change

Upsolve

57.5%

52.0%

Down 5.5 points

All changes in this table fall within normal month-to-month variation. Available observations are small for most brands; for example, Cibik Law's gain reflects 2 valid recommendations out of 146 observations, while The Semrad Law Firm's decline reflects 1 observation in July 2026 and 0 in August 2026.

The month was quiet: no brand met the threshold for a significant riser or decliner on the primary metric. Upsolve's top-three and rank-one rates declined more sharply than its overall valid recommendation coverage.

Category Leader: Upsolve

Upsolve remained the category leader at 52.0% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, down from 57.5% in July 2026. The decline was within normal month-to-month variation. Presence held effectively steady at 89.7% in August 2026 versus 89.4% in July 2026. Placement metrics moved lower: the top-three rate fell to 6.2% from 19.1% and the rank-one rate fell to 6.2% from 17.7%.

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Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Among the leading brands, placement varied.

Brand

August 2026 top-three rate

August 2026 rank-one rate

July 2026 top-three rate

July 2026 rank-one rate

Upsolve

6.2%

6.2%

19.1%

17.7%

John T. Orcutt

2.7%

0.0%

4.3%

0.0%

Sasser Law Firm

2.7%

2.7%

2.8%

2.8%

Upsolve's rank-one rate matched its top-three rate in August 2026 at 6.2%, meaning every top-three placement for the brand was also a first-position placement. Sasser Law Firm also converted all of its top-three placements to first position in August 2026, while John T. Orcutt did not capture a single first-position placement in either month.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in both months fell into the Brand Recommendation class.

Buyer-intent class

July 2026

August 2026

Brand Recommendation

141

146

Pricing & Value

0

0

Multi-Brand Comparison

0

0

Total qualified observations

141

146

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery only and does not yet contain qualified observations in the Pricing & Value or Multi-Brand Comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.

Measurement

Qualified observations

Coverage leader

Leader coverage

Largest coverage movement

July 2026

141

Upsolve

57.5%

Baseline

August 2026

146

Upsolve

52.0%

Upsolve, Down 5.5 points

Evidence and Source Layer

The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and, where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

This public benchmark does not measure:

  • Market share or commercial performance
  • Attributable sales or client conversions
  • Every possible AI response, including private or personalized outputs
  • Organic-search rankings on traditional engines
  • Social media mention volume
  • Private or sponsored channels
  • Causality from a metric movement alone

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index is a neutral industry benchmark tracking how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated answers and recommendations across six canonical AI surface families. It is updated monthly as an evergreen report.

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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper.

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The paid deep-dive adds competitor threat profiles, the gap matrix, citation failure map, platform-by-platform recovery roadmap, and client-specific economic modeling.