Law firms
We asked four AI assistants which lawyer to hire.
They almost never agreed.
Ten questions a client would actually ask before hiring a lawyer, put to four AI assistants — and a record of every firm they named and every source they cited.
Original research · 10 questions × 4 assistants ·
Every assistant got the identical question, with no follow-up and no personalisation. We recorded the businesses each one named and the websites each one cited as its sources.
The result is stark enough to be worth stating plainly: there is no single “AI answer” for your category. Two assistants asked the same question agree on roughly 7% of their sources. Four assistants produce four largely separate shortlists, drawn from four largely separate sets of evidence.
For anyone marketing a business, that breaks a comfortable assumption. “Are we visible in AI search?” isn't one question — it's four, and the answers are close to independent. Ranking well in Perplexity tells you almost nothing about whether ChatGPT has ever heard of you.
First, the obvious objection
Language models are not deterministic. If you ask one the same question twice you can get two different answers — so before claiming the assistants disagree with each other, we had to rule out that they simply disagree with themselves.
We re-ran 10 of the questions 3 times on every assistant and compared the sources cited, measuring two things:
Same assistant, different runs
51%How much an assistant agrees with itself when asked again
Different assistants, same run
7%How much two assistants agree with each other
An assistant is 7.5× more consistent with itself than with its rivals. Run-to-run randomness is real, but it is nowhere near large enough to explain the gap between engines. The divergence is a property of the assistants, not an artefact of sampling.
The re-runs surfaced a second finding worth sitting with: stability varies enormously by assistant. Ask Perplexity the same question twice and about 72% of its sources repeat. Ask ChatGPT and only 32% do — most of what it cites the second time is different from the first.
Which means a single check of “what does AI say about us?” is a snapshot, not a measurement — especially on ChatGPT.
The sources AI leaned on most
Across all 10 questions. Bars marked directoryare aggregators and review sites rather than businesses' own websites.
chambers.com10lawzana.com9legal500.com8bestlawyers.com6clutch.co5lawrato.com5en.wikipedia.org4indialawoffices.com4bestlawfirms.com4Roughly 22% of citations went to aggregators rather than to the businesses being recommended — though that figure depends on where you draw the line between a directory and a publisher, so treat it as a shape rather than a precise number. The pattern underneath it is the durable part: when an assistant needs evidence about who is good, it reaches for a page that lists many businesses, not for any one business's own website.
Question by question
Colour marks which assistant said what. A row with one dot is a source only one assistant ever saw.
Question 1 · Delhi
Best corporate law firm in Delhi for startups?
ChatGPT
- Bracket Legal
Sequitur Advocates & Legal Consultants
Remind Legal LLP
Corpus Juris Legal
- Edwin Corporate Law Firm
- +4 more
9 sources cited
Claude
PSA Legal Counsellors
- Maheshwari & Co.
Lawmatrix LLP
- Trilegal
- Luthra and Luthra Law Offices
- +4 more
7 sources cited
Gemini
Ahlawat & Associates
Alaya Legal
Startup Solicitors LLP
KNK Legal
- +7 more
14 sources cited
Perplexity
- SNR & Co.
Legal Crusader
5 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
ahlawatassociates.com | 2/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
lawmatrix.in | 2/4 | |
pajasaapartments.com | 2/4 | |
psalegal.com | 2/4 | |
acalaw.in | 1/4 | |
aggarwalassociates.com | 1/4 | |
alayalegal.com | 1/4 |
- 30 sites cited
- 30 businesses named
- 10% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 2 · Mumbai
Top immigration lawyers in Mumbai?
ChatGPT
Legaleye Associates
- Nishith Desai Associates
- Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas
- Davies & Associates, LLC
LawCrust Legal Consulting Services
- +7 more
5 sources cited
Claude
- Davies & Associates
- Gehis Immigration and International Legal Services
8 sources cited
Gemini
India Law Offices LLP
- Davies & Associates
- Vipul Joshi & Associates Immigration Lawyers
LawQuest
- Pinnacle Legal LLP Immigration and Tax Advocates and Solicitors
- +1 more
7 sources cited
Perplexity
- Davies & Associates LLC
Right To Law
- +3 more
13 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
eb5visaindia.com | 3/4 | |
lawzana.comdirectory | 3/4 | |
legaleyeassociates.com | 3/4 | |
indialawoffices.com | 2/4 | |
joshivipul.com | 2/4 | |
lawrato.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
usimmigrationadvisor.com | 2/4 | |
bestcriminallawyerinmumbai.com | 1/4 |
- 23 sites cited
- 26 businesses named
- 13% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 3 · New York
Best personal injury law firm in New York City?
ChatGPT
- Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore
- Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C.
- The Law Offices of Eric Richman
- Raphaelson & Levine
- The Perecman Firm
- +7 more
8 sources cited
Claude
Gair Gair Conason
- Rosenbaum & Rosenbaum, P.C.
- Edelman & Edelman, P.C.
- Early, Lucarelli, Sweeney & Meisenkothen
Shim Law
- +3 more
8 sources cited
Gemini
Block O'Toole & Murphy LLP
- The Perecman Firm, P.L.L.C.
- Fellows Hymowitz Rice
- Porter Law Group
- +7 more
4 sources cited
Perplexity
- Kramer, Dillof, Livingston & Moore (KDL&M)
- Raphaelson & Levine
- Richard M. Kenny
- Eric Richman
- +1 more
6 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
bestlawfirms.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
expertise.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
gairgair.com | 2/4 | |
pilaw.com | 2/4 | |
raphaelsonlaw.com | 2/4 | |
rmkinjurylaw.com | 2/4 | |
attorneys.superlawyers.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
blockotoole.com | 1/4 |
- 20 sites cited
- 34 businesses named
- 30% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 4 · London
Recommend an intellectual property law firm in London.
ChatGPT
- Bristows LLP
- Allen & Overy
- Shearman & Sterling
- A&O Shearman
- CMS
- +7 more
5 sources cited
Claude
- Bird & Bird
- Bristows
- CMS
0 sources cited
Gemini
- Bird & Bird
4 sources cited
Perplexity
- Bird & Bird
- Bristows LLP
Potter Clarkson LLP
Waterfront Solicitors
- Mishcon de Reya
12 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
chambers.comdirectory | 3/4 | |
legal500.comdirectory | 3/4 | |
bestlawyers.comdirectory | 1/4 | |
blakemorgan.co.uk | 1/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 1/4 | |
en.wikipedia.orgdirectory | 1/4 | |
ipstars.com | 1/4 | |
lawyers.comdirectory | 1/4 |
- 17 sites cited
- 16 businesses named
- 41% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 5 · Dubai
Best employment lawyer in Dubai?
ChatGPT
- Al Tamimi & Company
- Clyde & Co LLP
- Baker McKenzie LLP
Dentons
- DLA Piper Middle East LLP
- +7 more
5 sources cited
Claude
Hadef & Partners
Davidson & Co
Professional Lawyer (Dr. Hassan Elhais)
Labour Law UAE
6 sources cited
Gemini
- Diana Hamade Attorneys at Law
Leaders Advocates
- Khairallah Advocates & Legal Consultants
- Al Tamimi & Company
- +7 more
8 sources cited
Perplexity
Habib Al Mulla
3 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
chambers.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
clutch.codirectory | 2/4 | |
davidsoncolaw.com | 2/4 | |
habibalmulla.com | 2/4 | |
alsuwaidi.ae | 1/4 | |
askthelaw.ae | 1/4 | |
bestinhood.com | 1/4 | |
bestlawyers.comdirectory | 1/4 |
- 18 sites cited
- 22 businesses named
- 28% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 6 · Bangalore
Top divorce / family law firm in Bangalore?
ChatGPT
Kapil Dixit & Co. Advocates
Sairam Law Associates
- Advocate K.H. Jagadish
- Poovayya & Co.
- King & Partridge
- +5 more
7 sources cited
Claude
Prime Legal
- Sridharan & Associates
Prashastha Legal
- Sonia and Partners
- Advocate Priya Narayan
- +2 more
7 sources cited
Gemini
B.N. Nagaraja & Associates
- Misha Thomas & Associates
- Sridharan & Associates
- Manchanda Law Juris
- +3 more
8 sources cited
Perplexity
- Kapil Dixit LLP
RS Legal
Divorce By Law
14 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
bnnagaraja.com | 3/4 | |
lawzana.comdirectory | 3/4 | |
topbestdivorcelawyers.comdirectory | 3/4 | |
advocatemisha.com | 2/4 | |
indialawoffices.com | 2/4 | |
lawrato.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
mlawjuris.com | 2/4 | |
prashasthalegal.com | 2/4 |
- 25 sites cited
- 25 businesses named
- 24% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 7 · Los Angeles
Best startup / venture lawyer in Los Angeles?
ChatGPT
Silicon Legal Strategy
Foundation Law Group LLP
Grayver Law Group
- VZN LLP
- Reitler Kailas & Rosenblatt LLP
- +3 more
8 sources cited
Claude
- Ani Petrosyan
- Catherine Larson
- David Nima Sharifi
- Springermeyer Law
- Afshin Hakim
7 sources cited
Gemini
- Cooley LLP
Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP
- Wilson Sonsini
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles, LLP
- Carbon Law Group APLC
- +7 more
11 sources cited
Perplexity
Nixon Peabody LLP
- L.A. Tech & Media Law Firm
Zecca Ross Law Firm
3 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
zeccarosslaw.com | 3/4 | |
bestlawyers.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
omnilawpc.com | 2/4 | |
projectionhub.com | 2/4 | |
structurelaw.com | 2/4 | |
stubbsalderton.com | 2/4 | |
techandmedialaw.com | 2/4 | |
upcounsel.com | 2/4 |
- 20 sites cited
- 23 businesses named
- 10% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 8 · Toronto
Recommend a real estate law firm in Toronto.
ChatGPT
- Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP
- McCarthy Tétrault LLP
- Aird & Berlis LLP
- Torkin Manes LLP
- Loopstra Nixon LLP
- +7 more
7 sources cited
Claude
- named no one
0 sources cited
Gemini
- Beard Winter LLP
- Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP
- Aird & Berlis LLP
- Bennett Jones LLP
- Borden Ladner Gervais LLP
- +2 more
6 sources cited
Perplexity
- Mills & Mills LLP
- Chaitons LLP
- Stikeman Elliott LLP
- LD Law
- Avanessy Giordano LLP
9 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
bestlawfirms.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
chambers.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
clevercanadian.ca | 2/4 | |
thebesttoronto.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
thebossmagazine.com | 2/4 | |
bcgsearch.com | 1/4 | |
calbizjournal.com | 1/4 | |
harris-sheaffer.com | 1/4 |
- 17 sites cited
- 22 businesses named
- 18% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
Question 9 · Singapore
Best tax law firm in Singapore?
ChatGPT
- Allen & Gledhill LLP
- Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow
- Drew & Napier LLC
- Rajah & Tann Singapore LLP
- +4 more
7 sources cited
Claude
- Allen & Gledhill
- Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow
- Rajah & Tann Singapore
9 sources cited
Gemini
- Allen & Gledhill LLP
- Baker McKenzie Wong & Leow
- Drew & Napier LLC
- Withers KhattarWong LLP
Rajah & Tann Asia
- +3 more
5 sources cited
Perplexity
- WTS Taxise
- PwC Singapore Tax
3 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
legal500.comdirectory | 4/4 | |
chambers.comdirectory | 3/4 | |
bestlawyers.comdirectory | 2/4 | |
itrworldtax.com | 2/4 | |
allenandgledhill.com | 1/4 | |
bcgsearch.com | 1/4 | |
briefcaseindex.com | 1/4 | |
dentons.rodyk.com | 1/4 |
- 17 sites cited
- 16 businesses named
- 35% went to directories
- 1 cited by all four
Question 10 · Delhi
Top criminal defense attorney in Delhi?
ChatGPT
- Advocate Saurabh Singh
- Senior Advocate Rebecca Mammen John
- Advocate Mehmood Pracha
- Advocate Vrinda Grover
- Advocate Vikas Pahwa
- +2 more
3 sources cited
Claude
- K.T.S. Tulsi
- Mukul Rohatgi
- Sidharth Luthra
- Ashok K Singh
- Rohit Dandriyal
- +1 more
6 sources cited
Gemini
Ravi Drall Associates
- Thukral Law Associates
- Sidhant Dhingra & Associates
5 sources cited
Perplexity
Kapil Chandna
- Mohit Singh
- Rebecca John
- Vikram Kumar
Tyagi Associates
- +3 more
13 sources cited
Who got cited — and by which assistant
patronslegal.com | 3/4 | |
aksinghandco.com | 2/4 | |
divorcelawyernewdelhi.com | 2/4 | |
jotwani.com | 2/4 | |
adlegal.in | 1/4 | |
advocatesidhantdhingra.com | 1/4 | |
amalegalsolutions.com | 1/4 | |
bandanasharma.in | 1/4 |
- 22 sites cited
- 24 businesses named
- 9% went to directories
- 0 cited by all four
What we'd take from this
Treat each assistant as its own channel. At 7% overlap, they aren't four windows onto one ranking — they're four separate audiences with separate evidence. Being named by one is not a proxy for the others.
One check proves nothing, particularly on ChatGPT. Only 32% of ChatGPT's sources repeated when we asked again. A single screenshot of a good answer — or a bad one — is within normal variance. Anything you want to call a trend needs repeat measurement.
The pages that list you may matter as much as your own. Assistants reached for aggregators far more often than for the sites of the businesses they were recommending. Being absent from the sources an assistant trusts is a different, and often more fixable, problem than having a weak website.
None of this is a ranking.An assistant naming a business is evidence about the assistant's sources, not a judgement of quality. Plenty of excellent firms appear nowhere in this data — that absence is the finding, not a verdict on them.
Is your site one of the ones being cited?
Greater Than Services runs this same test on your website — across every assistant — and shows you exactly which questions you're invisible for, and what to fix.
Run a free AI visibility audit
Method.Each question was sent to GPT-4o with web search, Claude Haiku 4.5 with web search, Gemini 2.5 Flash with Google Search grounding, and Perplexity Sonar — one question per request, no follow-ups, no personalisation, no location or account signals beyond the wording of the question itself. Cited sources were taken from each API's own citation metadata; business names were extracted from the answer text. Every raw answer was retained. 10 questions were additionally re-run 3 times per assistant to measure run-to-run variance (reported above). Results are a snapshot of a system that changes continuously: re-running these questions today will not reproduce them exactly. Nothing here is a ranking, a recommendation, or an endorsement of any business named.