ONLINE ATTORNEY LISTING UPDATING INSTRUCTIONS
Copyright © A.M. Best Company, Inc. All rights reserved. A.M. Best Worldwide Headquarters, Ambest Road, Oldwick, New Jersey, 08858, USA
www.ambest.com/directories ˜ Email: [email protected]
Attorney User Guide
Table of Contents
GETTING STARTED ................................................................................................................................ 1 LOGGING IN ............................................................................................................................................... 1 LISTINGS HOME PAGE ............................................................................................................................... 2
THE COMPANY TAB ............................................................................................................................... 3 Adding Firm Profiles, Year Established, Links to Articles & High Profile Cases............................... 4 Loading your Firm Logo ...................................................................................................................... 5
THE LISTINGS TAB ................................................................................................................................. 6 ADDING "REFER TO" LISTINGS ................................................................................................................. 7 ADDING LISTINGS UNDER ADDITIONAL SECTIONS ................................................................................... 8
Listing Format Options ........................................................................................................................ 8 UPDATE YOUR FIRM’S PRACTICE AREAS .................................................................................................. 9
Adding Practice Types ....................................................................................................................... 10 CUSTOM CLIENTS & CUSTOM PERSONNEL ............................................................................................. 10
THE BRANCHES TAB............................................................................................................................ 11 EDITING OR CREATING BRANCH LISTINGS ............................................................................................. 11
Copying Company Detail from the Home Office .............................................................................. 12
THE CLIENTS TAB ................................................................................................................................ 13 Adding Clients ................................................................................................................................... 13 Searching for a Client......................................................................................................................... 14 Submitting Client Contact Information.............................................................................................. 15 Changing Existing Client Names ....................................................................................................... 16
THE PERSONNEL TAB ......................................................................................................................... 17 PERSONNEL - MAIN DETAILS .................................................................................................................. 18 PERSONNEL - EDUCATION ....................................................................................................................... 19
Degree, Year of Graduation, Honors, Removing a College............................................................... 20 PERSONNEL - ADMITTANCE INFORMATION............................................................................................. 20 PERSONNEL - BIO DETAILS...................................................................................................................... 21
Bar Association Memberships ....................................................................................................... 21 Other Memberships........................................................................................................................ 21 Practice Areas ................................................................................................................................ 21
Languages, Legal Authorships, Military Info .................................................................................... 22 Honors, Reported Cases, Miscellaneous Info .................................................................................... 22 Certifications, Fraternities, Law Review............................................................................................ 23 Clerkships, Personnel Pictures ........................................................................................................... 23 Loading a Profile Picture.................................................................................................................... 24
FINISHING YOUR PERSONNEL CHANGES ................................................................................................. 25
SAVING AND SUBMITTING YOUR CHANGES............................................................................... 26 Review your Listing, Get a Cost Estimate ......................................................................................... 27 Completing the Submission Form...................................................................................................... 28
CONTACT US .......................................................................................................................................... 29
(as of 4/30/2010)
Attorney User Guide
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GETTING STARTED Thank you for using A.M. Best’s online Directories updating tool. This system is provided for the convenience of our listees who prefer to make their own listing updates online. With this tool, you can make changes whenever you want, as often as you want. Changes made online will be reflected in your web listing within 24 hours of acceptance by A.M. Best. Note: It is NOT a requirement that you use this online option to update your listings. We are more than happy to make changes for you. Listees are always welcome to mail, fax or email their changes to us. Please see our contact information at the end of this document for direct contacts for your listing.
LOGGING IN
Enter your Firm ID & Password. You can find this information on the cover letter included in your renewal package or contact the Directories group at [email protected] to have your login information sent to you. Or call us at 908-439-2200 ext. 5673.
Once you have logged in, you will be taken to your listings home page.
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LISTINGS HOME PAGE
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Preview your listings before you begin
1 Attorney Home and Branch Office listings reflect what will appear in print.
2 Web listings reflect how your listings will appear online.
3 Review the locations of your Refer To listings
Click on Edit Listing Data to begin the updating process.
Important Note: You may save your changes at any time during the update process. However, saving changes does not mean they will be published. If you only “Save” your changes, they remain suspended as a pending status. You must Submit your data to A.M. Best when you are ready to have your changes published. (See Data Submission - Page 26). You also do not have to finish all your changes in one session. At any point you may click on in the upper right hand corner to return to the above Home Page and preview your changes or get an estimate. Simply click on Edit Listing Data again to return to your changes.
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THE COMPANY TAB
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Under the Company Tab, you may:
1 Update your Company Name.
2 Update your Main Address (physical address). We must have a physical address for our records. If you do not wish your physical address to be published, let us know and we can disable the main address so that it will not appear in print or online.
3 Update your Mailing Address.
4 Update your Contact Information. It is not necessary to complete all fields. Only enter contact information that you want published.
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ADDING FIRM PROFILES, YEAR ESTABLISHED, LINKS TO ARTICLES & HIGH PROFILE CASES
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1 Enter a Firm Profile. The first 300 characters are included in your base cost.
2 Profiles A, B & C are only for use if your firm has listings in multiple sections such as General Defense, Subrogation, or Regulatory & Compliance. Do not use these fields without contacting A.M. Best first.
3 Enter the Year Established for your firm. (Numeric characters only)
4 Include a Web-Only Firm Profile. Available with a regular firm profile, a web-only firm profile gives you the opportunity to describe your firm's practice in greater detail at no additional cost.
5 Enter Links To Articles, Blogs, or Newsletters at no additional cost. This information will only appear in your web listing.
6 List your High Profile Cases at no additional cost. High profile case will only appear in your web listing.
7 Add your firm Logo or a specific ARTICLE that you would like to feature. Logos should be in jpeg, gif or bmp formats and should not exceed 85 x 240 pixels. Articles should be in PDF format. There is no additional charge to add a logo or an article. Logos and articles will only appear in your web listing.
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LOADING YOUR FIRM LOGO
Click on the Add button at the bottom of the company tab.
When the Select Media window appears, click Add again.
Select Browse and locate your logo. The file should be no larger than 85 x 240 pixels. It is not necessary to complete any other information on this screen. Once you have loaded your image, click Save.
A small version of your logo will now appear at the bottom of the company screen.
Save your changes.
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THE LISTINGS TAB
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Go to the listings tab if you want to:
1 Edit your firm's Practice Areas or listing locations.
2 Remove "Refer To" listings.
3 Add "Refer To" listings and listings under additional sections such as Subrogation, Regulatory & Compliance, or Investigation & Adjustment.
To delete an existing "Refer To" listing, click on [remove] - its status will change to deleted. If you change your mind, you can always [restore] the “Refer To.”
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ADDING "REFER TO" LISTINGS
To create a new "Refer To" listing ,click on [Add New Listing].
Select Attorney Refer-to Listing as your listing type. Choose your publication section. (General Defense, Subrogation, etc.). Select the location for your "Refer To" listing. You may enter mileage, but A.M. Best reserves the right to revise this based on standard on-line
mileage services. Save your changes.
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ADDING LISTINGS UNDER ADDITIONAL SECTIONS To add listings under additional sections, the procedure is similar to adding "Refer To" listings.
Click on [Add New Listing]. Select Attorney Home office listing (or branch if you are adding additional listings for a branch
location). Select your new Publication Section: Subrogation, Regulatory & Compliance or Investigation &
Adjustment. Select a publication location.
Note: You will also be given additional Listing Format Options for your new section listing. (These options will influence the cost of your listing in the additional category.)
LISTING FORMAT OPTIONS
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1 You may choose to reference your other branch locations with full addresses or by city and state only.
2 You may choose to include your firm profile in this new listing.
3 You may choose to include client names.
4 Or you may choose to include personnel with or without full biographical information.
5 The auto reference applies only to branch listings. You may chose to omit the automatically generated reference: "See listing under…for additional information."
IMPORTANT NOTE: All firms are required to list at least one attorney under their primary home office listing (usually General Defense) with minimal biographical information. Therefore, we ask that you do not change the personnel option when updating your primary/home office listing. If you wish to remove personnel, see instructions under the Personnel Tab.
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UPDATE YOUR FIRM’S PRACTICE AREAS
Click on Edit for your Home office listing.
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1 Click on Add Practice types to select from our standardized list.
2 Use the Practice Types (Non-Standard) area if you want to add practice areas that are not available on our pick list. Please separate all practice area with a semi-colon ( ; ).
3 End of Listing Reference Notes should only be used for brief explanatory notes about the listing - ex. “See also…”; “All attorneys are members of…”; etc.
4 Company name override, Sort Name Override and Secondary Name Override are only to be used by firms with multiple listings in different sections. For example, if your firm goes by a different business name for its subrogation practice, a different name can be entered so that name will appear under the Subrogation Listing.
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ADDING PRACTICE TYPES
Click on Add Practice Types
To make multiple selections, hold the control key while you click on the practice areas. Click on OK. To change the order of your practice areas, click on one of the items in your list and hit the up or
down button until the practice area is where you want it.
CUSTOM CLIENTS & CUSTOM PERSONNEL
Custom Clients and Custom Personnel are also intended for firms with multiple listings in different sections. You can select a different set of clients and different personnel for your secondary listings.
Please contact A.M. Best if you wish to create custom listings for your Subrogation, Regulatory & Compliance or Investigation & Adjustment listings.
Once you have updated your firm’s practice areas, remember to save your changes.
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THE BRANCHES TAB
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1 To change the order in which your branches are listed, change the Sort number.
2 To make changes to an existing branch office, click on Edit.
3 To remove a branch office, check Remove.
4 To Add A New Branch Office click on [Add New Branch] and complete the appropriate address and contact fields. You may also add client information as well as personnel.
Note: Unfortunately, this system does not allow listees to add separate listing records for new branches. If you wish to have a separate listing for your new branch, please contact the Directories Group, or include a note to that effect when you submit your changes and we will be happy to do it for you!
EDITING OR CREATING BRANCH LISTINGS Branches may have full listings, clients and personnel.
The procedures for editing branches are the same as home offices. Access each tab under the branch office accordingly to make updates to this branch information.
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COPYING COMPANY DETAIL FROM THE HOME OFFICE
To make the updating process easier, we have added a copy feature to the branches tab.
If your new or existing branches are to include the same company detail information (Firm Profile, High Profile Cases, Links to Blogs, Logos, etc.) as the home office, click the [Copy Fields from Home Office].
A selection box will open. Check the fields you want to copy from the home.
Click the select button.
You may make changes to the branch listing details after copying from the home.
Save your changes and click on Finished with Branch to return to your home office when you are finished making changes to your new or existing branch office.
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THE CLIENTS TAB ADDING CLIENTS
To add a client to your listing, click on [Add New Client].
If you are working on branch listings and already made edits to your home office client list, you may click on [Copy existing Client from another Office] to avoid having to resubmit client information multiple times. Simply select the clients from the home office that you want to include under the branch and click select.
Important: Please click on Lookup Name first to locate your client. There is a good chance your new client is already in our database.
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SEARCHING FOR A CLIENT
When searching for a client, you only need to enter part of the client name. For instance, if you
search for Minnesota, you will get a list of every client in our database that has “Minnesota” in its name.
If you cannot find your client name in our database, enter it in the client name field.
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SUBMITTING CLIENT CONTACT INFORMATION
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1 Enter the client name or look up the name in our database.
2 Provide the first and last name of the contact person at the client company.
3 Enter the client's complete address, or..
4 Provide the client's fax or email address.
Important: You MUST provide a contact name, address and/or fax number for every client you are adding to your listing. New clients that are missing this information will not be accepted. This is part of A.M. Best’s verification process and what makes your firm a “Recommended” listee. We must be able to send a verification letter to your client. Contact information for clients is kept completely confidential.
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Once you have entered the address/fax number and contact person at the client company and have saved these client details, the new company will appear in your list of clients. Clients are automatically alphabetized under each heading.
You may change the client headings by using the drop-down list to the left. Please note the Edit option here exists only for the correction of client contact information and cannot be used to change client names.
CHANGING EXISTING CLIENT NAMES
Because we use a standardized client database, many law firms might be using the same client names as yours. Therefore, we cannot allow client names to be “changed.” If you need to “change” an existing client name, you must remove the old client and add the new name. You will be prompted to provide a contact name and address for this client. If you wish to avoid having to resubmit contact information, you will have to notify the Directories group or include a note with your submission stating that you wish to make a simple name change to an existing client. This option only applies if the client is essentially still the same company and has gone through a name change.
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THE PERSONNEL TAB
1 To add new personnel, click on [Add New Personnel], or you can copy personnel from another office.
2 To list personnel in name-only, uncheck their Bio.
3 To change the order of your personnel, adjust their sort numbers.
4 To edit existing personnel, click on Edit next to the appropriate name, then make changes to the various personnel tabs described below.
5 To remove personnel, click the Remove box next to the person's name.
Note: All listings must contain at least one bio with minimal information including legal education as well as the year and state of bar admittance.
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PERSONNEL - MAIN DETAILS
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1 It is only necessary to complete the Name fields on this screen. Birth Year is optional, but usually included in Attorney biographical listings.
2 Do not use Title to indicate “Partner, Associate, etc.” Those are headings and should be selected when viewing the whole list of attorneys. The title field should only be used for individual personnel who have unique titles such as Department Chair, or Managing Partner.
3 It is not necessary to complete address information for individual personnel.
4 Only provide unique phone and email information if you want it to appear in the individual’s bio. It is not necessary to list the same phone numbers for all attorneys if it is a duplication of the firm’s office information..
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PERSONNEL - EDUCATION
To add education information, click on [Add Education].
Select an education type - Undergraduate or Graduate.
Click on Select College to search for a college name.
Just enter part of the name when searching for a college. For example, if you want to find The
University of North Carolina, just type “North Carolina” and our system will give you a list of every college that has North Carolina in the name. If you type too much of the name, and it doesn’t match our data, you will not get any results.
If you cannot find the college you are looking for, contact the Directories Group and we will add the college name to our database.
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DEGREE, YEAR OF GRADUATION, HONORS, REMOVING A COLLEGE
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1 It is only necessary to enter the year of graduation. Only use the beginning year if the college experience was for a limited time period - such as a year abroad.
2 To remove a college, check the “remove” box and save your change.
3 Select honors and the degree from our drop down list. Please note that the honors list shown here is for typical scholastic honors such as “high honors,” “cum laude.” There is another area for honors such as awards under the Bio Details tab - see below.
4 You must save your changes after every college that is added.
PERSONNEL - ADMITTANCE INFORMATION
To add a bar or court admittance, click on [Add Admittance]. Enter Bar and Court admittances in the same manner as education information - Select Bar or
Court for your Admittance Type.
Click on the Select button to search for a Bar or Court.
Only enter part of the organization name when searching. For example, just enter Texas if you want to see a list of all the courts that have “Texas” in the name. Click Select when you have located the correct organization.
If you cannot find the Bar or Court that you need, contact the Directories Group.
Enter the year of bar or court admittance.
Check the Remove box to delete any admittance information and save your changes.
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PERSONNEL - BIO DETAILS Go to your person’s Bio Details tab to enter:
Bar Association and other Memberships
Individual Practice areas
Languages
Photos
Any other important detail that your would like to include with your personnel’s biographical information.
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1 Bar Association Memberships - Enter Federal, State and City bar associations as well as any other memberships you cannot find on our “Other Memberships” pick list below.
2 Other Memberships - use this pick list to select organizations such as DRI, ATLA, etc. To select multiple memberships, hold the control key while clicking on your selections.
3 Practice Areas - Use this pick list to select individual attorney practice areas.
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LANGUAGES, LEGAL AUTHORSHIPS, MILITARY INFO
HONORS, REPORTED CASES, MISCELLANEOUS INFO
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1 Languages - Use this pick list to select languages spoken. If you cannot find the language you need - contact the Directories Group.
2 Resident Office Information - Use only if attorney is located in an office other than the one being updated.
3 Legal Authorships - Field can also be used for seminars and speaking engagements.
4 Military Information
5 Honors - Use this space to list any scholastic or legal honors.
6 Reported Cases
7 Miscellaneous Notes - Use this area to list any other significant information about your personnel.
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CERTIFICATIONS, FRATERNITIES, LAW REVIEW
CLERKSHIPS, PERSONNEL PICTURES
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1 Certification Information
2 Fraternity Information - Please limit to legal or honorary fraternities.
3 Law Review
4 Clerkship Information
5 Personnel Pictures
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LOADING A PROFILE PICTURE
Loading a picture is just like loading a logo. Pictures should be in jpeg, gif or bmp formats and should not exceed 85 x 240 pixels.
Click the Add button.
Select Add a second time
Click on Browse. Locate and Open the picture you want. Click Save. There is no need to complete any other information on this screen.
A small version of the picture will appear on the Bio Details Screen.
Make sure you save your changes.
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FINISHING YOUR PERSONNEL CHANGES
When you have finished adding or updating your biographical information, click on Finished with Person at the top of the screen and you will be taken back to your list of personnel.
Select the correct heading for your new or existing personnel.
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SAVING AND SUBMITTING YOUR CHANGES Throughout the updating process, we encourage you to save your changes often. HOWEVER, saving changes DOES NOT mean they are being submitted to A.M. Best and will be published. Saving only ensures that your changes will still be there if you quit the editing process before submitting them.
You must officially SUBMIT your changes to A.M. Best if you want your updates published.
When you are finished updating your Company, Listings, Branches, Clients and Personnel - Click on Finished with Home Office.
You will be returned to your home page.
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REVIEW YOUR LISTING, GET A COST ESTIMATE
1 From here you can preview your listings with all of your changes incorporated by clicking on one of the “Preview” options.
2 Or click on one of the “Changes” options to see a version of your listing with additions and deletions marked up.
3 You can also get a cost estimate.
4 Click on Data Submission to complete the update process.
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Completing the Submission Form
1 Enter any notes, instructions or questions that you have for A.M. Best.
2 Enter the name of the person who is responsible for updating and submitting these listing changes here.
3 Enter the submitter’s email address and/or phone number here. This information will be kept confidiential.
4 Check the A.M. Best’s terms and conditions box - this means you are agreeing to have your company’s information published per the terms of your listing contract.
5 Click the Submit button!
Once you have made your submission, you will not be able to make additional edits until A.M. Best has accepted your changes. You should receive an email indicating that A.M. Best has received your changes. All changes are subject to A.M. Best Review. Please wait one business day before making additional updates to your listing.
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CONTACT US A.M. Best Company
Ambest Road Oldwick, NJ 08858
908-439-2200 • Fax: 908-439-2688 [email protected]
For questions regarding your listing, please contact the editorial assistant responsible for your state. Call 908-439-2200.
Editorial Assistants
Sarah Mohr Ext. 5497 [email protected] Alabama Colorado Alaska Connecticut Arizona Delaware Arkansas District of Columbia California
Tammy Blevins Ext. 5543 [email protected] New Mexico Oklahoma New York Oregon North Carolina Pennsylvania North Dakota Rhode Island Ohio South Carolina
Jennifer Fink Ext. 5572 [email protected] Florida Indiana Georgia Iowa Hawaii Kansas Idaho Kentucky Illinois
Jackie Fucili Ext. 5076 [email protected] South Dakota West Virginia Tennessee Wisconsin Texas Wyoming Utah U.S. Possessions Vermont Canada Virginia International Washington
Mary Lutz Ext. 5751 [email protected] Louisiana Missouri Maine Montana Maryland Nebraska Massachusetts Nevada Michigan New Hampshire Minnesota New Jersey Mississippi
Business Development Associates - Sales Contacts
Bill Brimmer Ext. 5638 [email protected] California (Incl. company names A-L) Alabama Iowa Alaska Kansas Arizona Kentucky Arkansas Texa sColorado Utah Connecticut Vermont Delaware Virginia District of Columbia Washington Florida West Virginia Georgia Wisconsi nHawaii Wyoming Idaho Canada Illinois International Indiana (Countries J-Z)
Lori Sadukas Ext. 5078 [email protected]
California (Incl. company names M-Z) Louisiana New York Maine North Carolina Maryland North Dakota Massachusetts Ohio Michigan Oklahoma Minnesota Oregon Mississippi Pennsylvania Missouri Rhode Island Montana South Carolina Nebraska South Dakota Nevada Tennessee New Hampshire U.S. Possessions New Jersey International New Mexico (Countries A-I )
John Czuba, Editor Ext. 5673 [email protected] Laura Carlson, Assistant Editor Expert Service Providers Ext. 5698 [email protected] Karen Church Secretary Directories Division Ext. 5571 [email protected]
For questions concerning billing, contact our Accounting department at 908-439-2200 ext. 5837.
