Personal Injury Lawyers: AI Market Discovery Index

Benchmark Summary

Morgan & Morgan remains the current coverage leader in September 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 32.5%, down from 50.3% in July 2026. The gap to the next brand narrowed to 8.8 percentage points, as Wilshire Law Firm reached 23.7% coverage in September 2026 from 17.6% in July 2026.

The largest coverage increase came from Zinda Law Group, which rose to 1.5% in September 2026 from 0.0% in July 2026, entering the benchmark after two months with no tracked presence. The largest coverage decline came from Morgan & Morgan, falling 17.8 percentage points from 50.3% in July 2026 to 32.5% in September 2026, a movement beyond normal month-to-month variation. Four brands showed significant declines over the three-month series: Dolman Law Group, Lerner & Rowe, Morgan & Morgan, and The Barnes Firm. Wilshire Law Firm, Sokolove Law, and Zinda Law Group moved up across the series but within normal variation for Wilshire and Sokolove.

Across the series, the benchmark began with 652 prompt-surface observations in September 2026 and produced 274 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: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were represented in each month of the series. August 2026, the intermediate month, saw recommendation-shaped answer share at 43.9% and valid recommendation shortlist share at 67.1%.

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

Current Brand Standings

How to Read the Standings

• Presence rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in the AI answer in any form, whether recommended, listed, or mentioned neutrally.
• Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears in a genuine recommendation context rather than a general mention.
• Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand appears among the first three recommended options.
• Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations where the brand is the first and primary recommendation.
• Net sentiment is the balance of positive versus negative brand mentions in AI answers.

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

Recommendation Coverage Movement

Largest Increase: Zinda Law Group

Zinda Law Group entered the recommendation landscape in September 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 1.5%, up from 0.0% in July 2026. This is the brand's first tracked presence across the three-month series. The brand appeared in 6 qualified observations with a presence rate of 2.2%. The move exceeded normal month-to-month variation.

Largest Decline: Morgan & Morgan

Morgan & Morgan declined in every measured dimension across the series. Valid recommendation coverage fell to 32.5% in September 2026 from 50.3% in July 2026, a drop of 17.8 percentage points beyond normal variation. Presence rate declined to 70.4% from 82.9%, and top-three rate fell to 21.5% from 44.6% over the same period. The brand declined in each of the three months in the series.

Category Leader: Morgan & Morgan

Despite the decline, Morgan & Morgan holds the top position with 32.5% valid recommendation coverage in September 2026, ahead of Wilshire Law Firm at 23.7% and Jacoby & Meyers at 17.5%.

Wilshire Law Firm's rise of 6.1 points to 23.7% and Jacoby & Meyers's small decline to 17.5% both remain within normal month-to-month variation. The Barnes Firm's decline to 9.8%, Dolman Law Group's decline to 3.3%, and Lerner & Rowe's decline to 4.4% each exceeded normal variation in the series.

Recommendation Placement Snapshot

Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. Placement within the recommendation list matters for visibility and choice.

Morgan & Morgan still leads on first-position placement in September 2026, but its rank-one rate fell to 13.5% from 36.3% in July 2026. Similar coverage levels can still hide very different first-position rates, as seen in the divergence between Wilshire Law Firm's strong top-three showing and its lower first-position rate relative to Morgan & Morgan.

Buyer-Intent Distribution

All qualified observations in the series fell into the brand recommendation class, reflecting discovery and consideration intent.

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

Historical Measurement Record

Evidence and Source Layer

This 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 actual client intake
• Attributable sales or conversions from AI recommendations
• Every possible AI response across all model versions and configurations
• Organic-search ranking performance
• Social media mention volume or sentiment
• Private or sponsored AI distribution channels
• Causality from a metric movement alone

About This Benchmark

The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI search and assistant surfaces recommend and mention brands across industries. It measures presence, recommendation coverage, placement, and sentiment to show how brands appear in AI-generated discovery paths.

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

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