The moments that trigger the question
Legal moments are sharp-edged: an accident that was not your fault, a DUI arrest at midnight, custody papers served, a severance agreement with a deadline, a startup's first contract dispute. Each practice area has its own moments and its own phrasing, and assistants answer each one separately, which is why a firm can own car accident answers and be invisible for medical malpractice in the same city.
The sources the answers lean on
For lawyer recommendations, assistants verify against bar records, the major legal directories, review platforms, court coverage and local press, and firm sites that genuinely explain what to do in the situation described. Named attorneys with verifiable credentials outweigh anonymous firm voice. In a category this regulated, contradictions, a practice area claimed on one directory and absent on another, cost mentions fast.
Why the same lawyers keep winning
The firms that keep getting named teach before they sell: their pages answer the exact question, what happens after a DUI arrest here, what a fair severance looks like, before introducing the firm. Combine that with clean directory data and current reviews and a three-lawyer shop outscores a billboard advertiser inside answers, because the assistant is scoring trustworthiness of information, not media budget.
Run the test yourself, and what lawyers can do about it
The test costs nothing: ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity the questions above, phrased the way a real person would say them, and write down who gets named and what sources appear. Run each question twice on different days, since answers vary and patterns matter more than single runs.
For firms, the work is one page per money moment in the client's words, directory reconciliation across bar, Avvo, Justia and Google profiles, and reviews with recency. For lawyers that want the systematic version, the free Aethon audit runs your real buyer questions across all four assistants with screenshots, and the legal playbook turns the gaps into a work plan.
