Mesothelioma Lawyers: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Simmons Hanly Conroy leads the benchmark with 67.0% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, a 29.4 percentage point gap over second-place Weitz & Luxenberg at 37.6%. The category leader holds more than a 29-point coverage advantage over the rest of the field. No brand recorded a significant month-over-month movement in September; all ten tracked brands sat within normal variation. The largest month-over-month coverage decline was Sokolove Law, falling from 20.5% in August 2026 to 18.6% in September 2026, a 1.9 percentage point move within normal variation.

Looked at across the full July-to-September series, four brands declined beyond normal variation: Goldberg Persky White, Shrader & Associates, Simmons Hanly Conroy, and Weitz & Luxenberg. Weitz & Luxenberg recorded the largest baseline-to-current decline, falling from 58.2% in July 2026 to 37.6% in September 2026, a 20.6 percentage point drop. Simmons Hanly Conroy declined 17.9 points from 84.9% to 67.0%, yet still leads by a wide margin. No brand posted a significant increase in either the August or September transition.

The benchmark began with 300 prompt-surface observations in July 2026, 761 in August 2026, and 428 in September 2026, producing 232, 224, and 221 qualified observations respectively after qualification.

Current Benchmark at a Glance

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 all three months. The August 2026 transition saw the recommendation-shaped answer share rise to 68.3% before settling at 58.8% in September 2026.

For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending Mesothelioma 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. See the AI Market Discovery Methodology.

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

Presence rate is the share of qualified observations in which the brand appears in any form. Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations in which the brand receives a clear recommendation. Top-three rate measures how often the brand appears in the first three recommended positions. Rank-one rate measures how often the brand is the single top recommendation. Net sentiment reflects the balance of positive versus negative mention tone.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

No brand moved beyond normal variation between August 2026 and September 2026. Over the full July-to-September series, several brands showed meaningful movement. Shrader & Associates declined from 18.1% in July 2026 to 8.1% in September 2026, with the largest single-month move of 10.5 points occurring between July and August. Goldberg Persky White fell from 4.7% to 1.4% across the series, including a 2.5 point drop between July and August. Simmons Hanly Conroy and Weitz & Luxenberg each declined in both transitions, in each of the two months since July 2026.

Largest Decline: Weitz & Luxenberg

Weitz & Luxenberg fell from 58.2% in July 2026 to 37.6% in September 2026, a 20.6 percentage point decline beyond normal variation. The brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026. The top-three rate fell from 53.9% to 34.4% over the series, and the rank-one rate eased from 16.4% to 11.3%. Net sentiment moved from 1.0 in July 2026 to 0.8 in September 2026.

Largest Decline: Simmons Hanly Conroy

Simmons Hanly Conroy remains the category leader despite a 17.9 percentage point drop from 84.9% in July 2026 to 67.0% in September 2026, beyond normal variation. The brand declined in each of the two months since July 2026. Presence rate fell from 89.7% to 81.0% over the same period. Top-three rate declined from 79.7% in July 2026 to 61.5% in September 2026, and rank-one rate fell from 50.9% to 41.6%.

Largest Decline: Shrader & Associates

Shrader & Associates declined from 18.1% in July 2026 to 8.1% in September 2026, a 10.0 percentage point drop beyond normal variation. Most of the decline came between July and August, when coverage fell 10.5 points. Presence fell from 19.0% to 11.3%, and the brand recorded no rank-one placements in September 2026.

Largest Decline: Goldberg Persky White

Goldberg Persky White fell from 4.7% in July 2026 to 1.4% in September 2026, a 3.3 percentage point decline beyond normal variation. Top-three rate declined from 3.9% to 0.9% over the series, and rank-one rate fell from 0.9% to 0.0%.

Category Leader: Simmons Hanly Conroy

Simmons Hanly Conroy leads the category with 67.0% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, ahead of Weitz & Luxenberg at 37.6%. The leader posted a top-three rate of 61.5% and a rank-one rate of 41.6% in the current month, both below its overall recommendation coverage rate but still well ahead of the rest of the field.

The remaining six brands moved within normal month-to-month variation across the series. Belluck & Fox, Cooney & Conway, Galiher DeRobertis, Kazan McClain, Nemeroff Law, and Sokolove Law each recorded declines from July 2026 to September 2026 without exceeding their respective significance thresholds. Sokolove Law's coverage eased from 22.8% in July 2026 to 18.6% in September 2026. Cooney & Conway moved from 16.8% to 11.3% over the same period, with most of that decline occurring between July and August.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The following table shows where the leading brands appear in recommendation order.

Simmons Hanly Conroy leads on first-position placement in both months. Weitz & Luxenberg's rank-one rate fell from 16.4% in July 2026 to 11.3% in September 2026, a narrower decline than its top-three rate. Similar coverage levels can still hide different first-position rates, as seen in the gap between Sokolove Law's top-three and rank-one rates.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

The qualified observations in all three months fell into the Brand Recommendation class, which represents discovery and consideration intent.

The current public series measures Brand Recommendation discovery 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.

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 wherever 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, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, or private and sponsored channels. A metric movement alone does not establish causality.

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces present brands in response to real user queries, providing a consistent measure of brand presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment.

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

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