Attorney listings
We build profiles from the Iowa Office of Professional Regulation (OPR) licensed roster, public court records, bar association directories, firm websites, and our own editorial review. We tidy up city, county, and phone fields so listings are easier to compare.
Practice areas may come from several of those sources (for example ISBA, Justia, or a firm website) and are shown separately from older directory text. When we can match an attorney in the Iowa licensing database, we check license status there. Statuses such as Pro Hac Vice, Inactive, or Suspended are explained in our profile & license glossary.
City and practice landing pages show trust counts (public-record-screened profiles, published case records, attributed reviews) and optional comparison tables. Those numbers describe coverage in that slice — not a quality score or curated “top lawyers” list. Sort order follows your chosen chip (rating, reviews, name, etc.); sponsored blocks are labeled separately and do not reorder organic results.
Reviews & ratings
Ratings and written reviews come from signed-in visitors and are reviewed before they appear publicly. A review may be marked verified when it is tied to a contact you submitted through our site — that badge means we confirmed the connection, not that anyone paid for placement.
We sometimes add reviews that already appear on public pages the attorney controls (for example a firm website, Google, or another review site), when those reviews are clearly listed on the page. If a site blocks our access, we note that in our records rather than treating it as “no reviews found.” See how to compare lawyer review sites for a consumer-oriented guide.
Ethics & court activity
Ethics summaries draw on public discipline records and other sourced information where available. Anything preliminary is labeled that way — we do not present it as a finding of misconduct. Case counts come from public court records we have linked (Iowa state courts and, for some attorneys, federal court records). Coverage may be incomplete.
We suppress matter that Iowa law treats as non-public (expunged, sealed, or juvenile records) and re-check publication status on a schedule. Outcome statistics and scores are the platform's evaluation, not a win-rate guarantee — see limitations below.
Scores, case outcomes & limitations
Composite scores and case-outcome summaries reflect our analysis of available public data, including sample size, case mix, and known exclusions. They are opinion and informational, not proof of attorney competence or a promise of future results. Plea bargains, appointed counsel, charge severity, and judge assignment all affect raw outcomes; we disclose methodology and link source records where possible.
Profile grades (A+ through F) translate the 0–100 comprehensive score into a plain-language letter using fixed cut points — not a percentile rank and not a lawyer referral. Paid subscription and advertising tiers do not change grades. Grades may be withheld when public data is insufficient, or capped when sourced ethics or discipline signals are present.
| Grade | Score range | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| A+ | 90 – 100 | Exceptional public record |
| A | 82 – 89.9 | Strong public record |
| B+ | 74 – 81.9 | Above average profile |
| B | 66 – 73.9 | Solid profile |
| C+ | 60 – 65.9 | Baseline+ |
| C | 55 – 59.9 | Baseline profile (typical sparse public data) |
| D+ | 50 – 54.9 | Below baseline |
| D | 45 – 49.9 | Review recommended |
| F | Below 45 | Serious concern |
The seven score components are reputation (25%), experience (15%), network (15%), transparency (15%), ethics (15%), accessibility (10%), and website presence (5%). Ethics caps may limit the displayed grade regardless of the numeric score — for example, sourced public discipline caps at D; suspended or revoked licenses may suppress the grade entirely.
RateIowaLawyers.com is not a consumer reporting agency. Do not use profiles for employment, housing, credit, or insurance eligibility decisions (FCRA).
AI legal guide
The legal guide searches trusted Iowa legal-aid and self-help resources, plus public attorney profile information, to answer common questions. It may suggest free or low-cost options when those fit your situation, and it may show attorneys you can contact on your own.
- Responses are informational, not legal advice.
- When we mention a program or resource, we link to the official source.
- We do not invent attorney fees; if pricing was not published, we say so.
- Your conversation is not sold as a lead bundle to multiple firms.
Matching & ranking
You can sort the directory by name, rating, or review count. The legal guide suggests attorneys based on practice area, location, and what appears on their public profile. Paid subscription tier is never used to rank attorneys. See the Referral & Ranking Policy.
Ballot (Your Ballot)
Judicial retention candidates come from the Iowa Secretary of State Judges Standing for Retention PDF. County expand for district judges uses Iowa Code 2003 §602.6109 / §602.6107 (kept in force by current §602.6107(3)). Record only — no endorsements, scores, or recommendations. County attorney races are provisional — not a complete 2026 general ballot. County offices file with county auditors (deadline 2026-08-26 5:00 PM America/Chicago). Primary-winner records already held stay held and unpublished until the post-deadline auditor sweep is reported complete. Official auditor / certified canvass only; we do not invent candidates or treat secondary aggregators as a source of truth.
See Your Ballot.
Fee transparency
Fee details (how the attorney charges, consultation fee, starting price, languages, and whether virtual consultations are offered) are entered by claimed attorneys or our staff. We show what was published — always confirm pricing directly with the attorney.
Website & profile discovery
When we look for firm websites, review profiles, or press mentions, we query configured web search providers in order (for example Brave Search, SerpAPI, or Google). Hits are validated before we attach a URL to a profile.
Source links on each profile
Every published attorney profile includes a Data sources & listing history section that shows where each piece of information came from — Iowa OPR roster pages, review pages, court docket links, ethics records, awards, and more. When a public link exists, we point back to the original source.
Corrections
Spotted a factual error? Email [email protected] with the profile URL and what should be corrected. Attorneys who have claimed their profile or verified their firm can also submit updates through the attorney portal.