Divorce Lawyers: AI Visibility Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Questions This Section Answers

• Which divorce lawyers led the AI recommendation benchmark in October 2026?
• How much did the gap between the leader and the runner-up widen?
• Which brands posted the largest coverage gains and declines?

Cordell & Cordell led the Divorce Lawyers benchmark in October 2026 with 50.0% valid recommendation coverage. Stange Law Firm ranked second at 33.1% in October 2026, leaving a 16.9-point gap to the leader.

Stange Law Firm posted the largest coverage increase across the series, rising to 33.1% in October 2026 from 12.3% in July 2026, a gain beyond normal month-to-month variation and its third consecutive monthly gain. Three brands posted significant coverage declines across the same period: Goldberg Jones fell to 6.7% in October 2026 from 14.5% in July 2026, McKinley Irvin declined to 7.3% in October 2026 from 15.6% in July 2026, and Wilkinson & Finkbeiner dropped to 1.7% in October 2026 from 7.3% in July 2026.

Cordell & Cordell recorded the largest single-month move in the series, rising to 50.0% in October 2026 from 30.3% in September 2026.

The benchmark began with 248 prompt-surface observations in October 2026, producing 178 qualified observations after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI/search surface families with at least one qualified observation. The six families tested are ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. In October 2026, all six families had qualified observations, up from four in July 2026. August 2026 recorded five families and September 2026 recorded six.

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

Research Scope and Qualification

Questions This Section Answers

• How many prompt-surface observations qualified for the public benchmark?
• What is the difference between the raw collection universe and the qualified observations?

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.

See the AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology for full details.

Current Brand Standings

Questions This Section Answers

• Which divorce lawyers had the highest presence rate and valid recommendation coverage?
• How do top-three and rank-one rates differ among the leading brands?

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the AI answer at all.
• Valid recommendation coverage: Share of qualified observations where the brand receives a clear, actionable recommendation.
• Top-three rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the top three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate: Share of qualified observations where the brand is the single top recommendation.
• Net sentiment: Balance of positive over negative mentions, from -1.0 to 1.0.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Questions This Section Answers

• Which divorce lawyer brands posted the largest coverage increases since the July 2026 baseline?
• Which brands posted the largest coverage declines, and did those moves exceed normal variation?

Largest Increase: Stange Law Firm

Stange Law Firm rose to 33.1% valid recommendation coverage in October 2026 from 12.3% in July 2026, a gain beyond normal month-to-month variation and its third consecutive monthly rise. Presence rate climbed to 36.5% in October 2026 from 19.0% in July 2026, top-three rate rose to 29.8% from 11.2%, and rank-one rate improved to 13.5% from 2.2%. Net sentiment moved to 0.9 from 0.7.

Largest Decline: McKinley Irvin

McKinley Irvin declined to 7.3% in October 2026 from 15.6% in July 2026, a move beyond normal variation. Presence rate fell to 7.9% in October 2026 from 16.8% in July 2026, and top-three rate dropped to 5.6% from 10.6%. Rank-one rate eased to 2.8% from 3.4%. The brand held net sentiment of 0.9, down from 1.0 at baseline.

Largest Decline: Goldberg Jones

Goldberg Jones declined to 6.7% in October 2026 from 14.5% in July 2026, a decline beyond normal variation. Presence rate fell to 6.7% in October 2026 from 15.6% in July 2026, and rank-one rate dropped to 0.0% from 3.4%. Top-three rate eased to 3.4% from 5.6%. The brand recovered modestly from September 2026, adding 2.6 points month over month, its second consecutive monthly gain.

Largest Decline: Wilkinson & Finkbeiner

Wilkinson & Finkbeiner declined to 1.7% in October 2026 from 7.3% in July 2026, a move beyond normal variation. Presence rate fell to 1.7% from 7.3% over the same period, and top-three rate dropped to 0.6% from 5.6%. Rank-one rate eased to 0.6% from 3.4%. Net sentiment held at 1.0 across both months. The brand has declined in each of the three months since July 2026.

Category Leader: Cordell & Cordell

Cordell & Cordell remained the category leader throughout the series. Its coverage rose to 50.0% in October 2026 from 41.9% in July 2026, a cumulative move within normal baseline-to-baseline variation. The brand posted the largest single-month gain in the series, rising 19.7 points from September 2026. Presence rate held roughly flat at 70.8% in October 2026 from 71.5% in July 2026, while top-three rate rose to 40.5% from 30.7% and rank-one rate improved to 19.1% from 13.4%.

Not a Trend: Boyd Law

Boyd Law slipped 0.6 points to 2.2% in October 2026 from 2.8% in July 2026, but has now recorded three consecutive monthly declines. The cumulative move remains within normal variation and is not yet a trend.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Questions This Section Answers

• Which brands were most likely to appear in the top three or at rank one in October 2026?
• How can two brands with similar coverage differ in recommendation placement?

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended when it does appear. Cordell & Cordell held the highest top-three and rank-one rates in October 2026, while Stange Law Firm combined rising coverage with strengthening placement.

Close coverage can still hide very different first-position rates. McKinley Irvin and Goldberg Jones held near-identical coverage in October 2026, yet McKinley Irvin reached the top three in 5.6% of observations versus 3.4% for Goldberg Jones, and Goldberg Jones reached rank one in 0.0% versus 2.8% for McKinley Irvin.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

Questions This Section Answers

• What buyer-intent classes appeared in the qualified observations?
• Which buyer-intent classes are not yet represented in the public series?

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

The current public series measures brand-recommendation discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing or multi-brand comparison classes.

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

Questions This Section Answers

• What information does each prompt-level observation retain?
• Does a brand's source presence prove it caused the AI recommendation?

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, not automatic proof that the source caused the recommendation.

Scope Boundaries

The public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private or sponsored channels. A metric movement alone does not establish causality.

Top 10 Cited Domains

Questions This Section Answers

• Which domains were cited most often in AI answers about divorce lawyers?
• How concentrated were citations among the top domains?
• Which tracked brands' own domains appeared in the top 10 cited sources?

Across all AI platform responses in October 2026, 2,831 citations were observed across 970 unique domains.

Citations are highly concentrated: the top domain alone accounts for more than a quarter of all citations, and the remaining top 10 domains together hold under 20%. Three tracked brands' own domains appear in the top 10: cordellcordell.com at rank 2, stangelawfirm.com at rank 4, and sterlinglawyers.com at rank 9. The mix otherwise leans toward legal directories such as justia.com and attorneys.superlawyers.com, individual law firm sites, and video content via youtube.com.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Visibility Market Discovery Index tracks how often and how prominently brands appear in AI-generated answers across major AI surfaces. It is a neutral, industry-level benchmark built from prompt-level observations.

Research links:

• AI Visibility Market Discovery Methodology
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Metric Definitions
• AI Visibility Market Discovery Research Standards
• Modeled AI Visibility Authority Value

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