12AM / Evidence library
Explore the research, redacted Diagnostic samples, and measurement approach behind the work. Each example keeps its context and limits.
The work your firm wants
Shape the questions around the practices, clients, and markets you want to grow.
Agree on responsibilities across your firm, 12AM, and your existing providers.
Read visibility alongside inquiry quality and signed matters, wherever tracking and intake data allow.
02 / The 12AM Signal Map
An explanation of the work beneath the answerYour website is one source. Profiles, reviews, legal directories, and independent coverage add context. We examine how that record represents your firm.
“Who handles
complex estate
planning in Dallas?”
Service pages, attorney bios, and client questions establish the record your firm publishes.
These six source families contain the 16 signals 12AM reviews in the Diagnostic. This is an illustrative pathway — not an engine trace, ranking formula, or live audit.
What 12AM actually scores
16 signals · proprietary weighting model12AM reviews sixteen signals across three evidence layers: what you publish, the profiles you control, and what independent sources say about you. We publish what we evaluate; the weighting model and scoring logic remain proprietary to 12AM.
Bigger does not automatically mean more visible to AI. Large firms often have more evidence because scale creates more reviews, mentions and coverage. But evidence can be built deliberately.
Signal-density bands in the Diagnostic are descriptive observations, not proven thresholds. Scoring weights are 12AM's stated method.
The four levels of AI visibility
Known vs. chosenThe important line is between a buyer who already knows your name and an AI system that surfaces you without being asked.
Ask by name and AI cannot reliably identify who you are.
Fails the machine gateAsk by name and AI answers — but it does not volunteer your firm.
Passes the branded testAI brings your firm up when the buyer never mentioned your name.
Appears unpromptedAI actively puts your firm forward as a firm to consider.
Leads the answer12AM AI Visibility Dashboard
Powered by Cognizo technology · Directed by 12AM methodologyUse the 12AM AI Visibility Dashboard to track where your firm appears, which competitors get named, and which sources AI cites. Choose a DIY subscription for your own team, or work with 12AM on strategy and execution.
Technology is white-labeled for 12AM clients. Strategy, interpretation, legal-market prioritization, and implementation remain 12AM’s work.
Two ways to use it
Your team monitors the questions, competitors and sources. 12AM configures the dashboard and supports your access. You decide what to change.
View DIY plans on CounselIndex Signal and Signal Pro dashboard subscriptions.Start with the free scan. If the findings warrant it, move into a Diagnostic and a scoped plan for 12AM strategy and execution.
Start with the free scan Scope follows the evidence.CounselIndex.ai
Law-firm AI visibility, measured in publicCounselIndex tracks how U.S. law firms appear in AI answers across markets and practice areas. It gives 12AM a public observation layer for what “visible,” “named,” and “recommended” actually look like in the legal category.
Index size updated September 2026. The 2.1% rate comes from the prior snapshot; it is not a verified rate for the expanded index.
A directory record does not establish whether AI names or recommends a firm. That requires observing the answers.
A firm can be searchable by name and still never be surfaced when the buyer asks who to hire.
The gap often follows geography, evidence, and local authority — not just practice-area relevance.
How firms start with 12AM
Scan → Diagnose → BuildYour branded vs. non-branded visibility and an initial look at competitors. Share your firm details, then book a 30-minute review of the findings.
Get My Free Scan ↗Why you are there, which of the sixteen signals are weak, and what to fix first. About two weeks. One practice area, one market. Scope and pricing are confirmed before the engagement begins.
See the Diagnostic ↓NOVA Foundation, NOVA Signal, or NOVA Authority. We recommend the level against your Diagnostic roadmap. Signal and Authority include a one-hour Brand Review after enrollment.
Compare the three packages ↗01 / Original research
ChatGPT · July 27–30, 2026We recorded which firms ChatGPT named across U.S. legal markets. In the paired family-law test, a change in wording often changed the shortlist.
Read the published research72 of 231 family-law markets shared no firms across two same-day prompt phrasings. 748 runs recorded; 744 usable. One engine, four days. These observations do not establish future results or behavior on other engines.
03 / Visibility is not selection
Three different observations. We separate the question that already names your firm from the one a new client would ask.
“Tell me about
Smith & Jones.”
Smith & Jones is a law firm serving clients in Dallas.
The buyer supplied the name. This tests whether the engine can identify the firm.
“Which Dallas firms
handle estate planning?”
Several firms handle this work, including Smith & Jones.
The firm appears without the buyer naming it. A mention alone does not establish an endorsement.
“Who should I consider
for a complex estate?”
Consider Smith & Jones for its documented experience with complex estates.
The answer actively puts the firm forward. We record this separately from a mention.
Fictional firm and illustrative answers. These are definitions, not measured results or a claim about a real law firm.
04 / Go deeper after the free scan
The paid AI Visibility DiagnosticIf the free scan shows a meaningful gap, the paid Diagnostic establishes the full baseline: your firm, your market, the evidence behind the gap, and a plan for what to do next.
If the free scan shows a meaningful gap, we confirm scope, pricing, and any implementation credit before the Diagnostic begins.
Start With the Free ScanOne practice area. One market. About two weeks after access and intake. A written report and a strategist readout, yours to keep.
Questions about the engagement?
/ INTELLIGENCEActual report findingsThe recommendation gap
One firm. Fifty buying questions.
A measurable gap in who AI names.
See exactly where you’re missing.Then inspect the competitors and questions behind the gap.
Findings from the redacted sample. These counts can overlap; they are not separate shares of one total.
/ ACTIONActual report structureYour 90-day roadmap
Work sequenced by dependency.
Progress measured against the same baseline.
Technical access, identity and core pages.
Profiles, directories and submissions.
Pages and answers tied to the findings.
Video, newsletters and expert commentary.
Rerun the questions. Compare the evidence.
Delivery clockThe work we control.
Response clockWhen AI systems reflect it.
Summarized from the sample calendar. Client scope varies. AI response timing and outcomes are not guaranteed.
Visual summaries of actual redacted report pages. Open the originals to inspect the evidence. The proprietary weighting model stays inside the client Diagnostic.
Use the roadmap with your team, your current agency, or 12AM.
05 / What we change
Your positioning tells people what makes your firm different. Your public record needs to support it. We connect brand strategy with the work that makes those facts easier to find and verify.
Our work in Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) brings research, brand strategy, search, and digital systems into one plan.
Define whom you serve, why your approach matters, and what proves it. Align that story across your site, attorney bios, and public profiles.
Inspect crawl access, site structure, schema, and content coverage. Prioritize the defects that prevent useful information from being found or understood.
Identify relevant directory profiles, editorial opportunities, and third-party sources. Prepare accurate evidence and pursue inclusion where the firm qualifies.
Maintain accurate business information and a consistent review request process. Make practice areas, locations, and credentials clear.
Answer the questions clients actually ask. Build useful service pages, websites, applications, and conversion paths that support a decision to contact your firm.
Re-run the agreed prompt set. Track citations, mentions, and recommendations separately. Adjust the plan against observed results.
After the Diagnostic. After enrollment.
NOVA Signal and NOVA Authority include a one-hour Brand Review after enrollment. You share your priorities, experience, and perspective. After the session, our team develops your Brand Signal Playbook to guide positioning, messaging, voice, and content decisions.
See the playbook examplesYour Brand Signal Playbook. A shared reference for the people creating your pages, profiles, articles, and videos.
06 / Evidence before certainty
We name the instruments, preserve the prompt set, and document what each observation can support.
Inspect the published methodA visibility claim should lead back to a question and a recorded observation. Here is one buyer scenario from our redacted Diagnostic sample.
Redacted Diagnostic · The Gap“Twelve rental units through a patchwork of LLCs, and a new lawsuit exposed gaps”
Comparison figures as printed in the sample report
The report records a naming gap for this buyer scenario. The comparison does not establish an endorsement, explain the cause, or predict future answers.
This report extract summarizes findings. It does not include engine-level answer transcripts or citation URLs. Those details cannot be independently checked from this extract alone.
The starting view of your visibility and competitors.
Agreed buying questions, frozen for comparable remeasurement.
Evidence gathered independently of the tracking-panel results.
The source pages surfaced on commercially relevant questions.
Identical questions, with mentions and recommendations recorded separately.
Underlying exports for backlinks, content gaps, and organic search.
Crawler access, page markup, profiles, and credential verification.
No guaranteed recommendations.
No score without its method.
No citation treated as proof of selection.
We guarantee the agreed work and measurement. AI systems and third parties control their own decisions.
Measured client result
NOVA Foundation + paid media · May 15–July 31, 2026One multi-location B2B services client traced $74,951 in revenue to its NOVA Foundation engagement. Paid media was measured separately at 5.4×. Combined return across the two channels was 8.4×.
Historical B2B services engagement. Revenue came from the client’s own booking records. Pricing and scope differ from current 12AM offers. One paid-media job materially affected the combined result. This is not a law-firm case study or a forecast.
07 / Enterprise experience. Applied to law firms.
Independent thinking since 201412AM was founded in April 2014. Search has changed, and our work has evolved with it. The disciplines remain: understand the business, examine the evidence, and execute.
Founder & Co-CEO
Electrical engineering at Texas A&M. Eighteen years in corporate telecom. Brings a systems perspective to search, measurement, and growth.
Prior experience: NokiaChief Talent & Strategy Officer
Brand and digital strategy experience spanning more than two decades. Teaches digital marketing at Southern Methodist University.
Prior client work: LEGO · McDonald’sCo-CEO
Three decades of entrepreneurial experience. Connects brand strategy, communications, and the practical decisions that sustain client relationships.
Prior client work: Midsouth Ford DealersThe companies listed reflect individual leadership experience, not 12AM Agency client engagements.
Read the leadership biosWe operate a public index documenting which law firms AI assistants name. Records carry the question, market, and date.
Built and operated by 12AM Agency. Our research asset, not independent third-party endorsement.
Explore the index08 / Strategy first. Scope second.
If you want us to run the plan, we recommend NOVA Foundation, Signal, or Authority against the work your firm needs.
Diagnostic pricing, scope, and any implementation credit are confirmed in writing before the engagement begins.
The Free Scan gives an initial view of your visibility and competitors, followed by a 30-minute review. The paid Diagnostic examines 16 signals and delivers a written report, a strategist readout, and a ranked 90-day roadmap. Inspect the redacted report sample.
One practice area in one market. Fifty buying questions across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Perplexity. Allow about two weeks from completed access and intake. We confirm scope and pricing in writing before starting.
No. We can coordinate with your existing providers. The Diagnostic identifies the work to prioritize; we agree on who handles each task. A website rebuild is a separate decision based on its condition and your goals.
Yes. We define priority practices and markets with you, then build the agreed question set around those needs. Additional practices and markets change the scope.
After you enroll in NOVA Signal or NOVA Authority, we spend one hour discussing ideal clients, desired matters, differentiators, evidence, and voice. Our team then develops your Brand Signal Playbook and identifies facts or claims that need your confirmation. The hour covers your interview. Strategy development follows the session. See the Brand Review agenda.
Yes. We review the material you can share and identify useful topics, examples, and explanations. We confirm accuracy, permission to reuse the material, and the formats covered by your scope.
We agree on a designated reviewer and approval process before publishing content we create in your firm’s name. Your team checks facts and professional claims. Independent publishers control their own editorial decisions.
A sequence of agreed work: establish priorities and access, prepare and approve content and technical changes, then review delivery and repeat visibility measurements. The schedule depends on scope and approvals. It is not a deadline for rankings, AI recommendations, or signed cases.
Visibility measures AI answers. Business reporting needs call tracking, analytics, and intake records. Where those records are available, we separate existing clients, new inquiries, qualified opportunities, and signed matters. Unattributed inquiries remain unattributed.
No. You keep the report and roadmap. Use your own team, your existing agency, or 12AM. If you want monitoring with your team handling implementation, explore the DIY dashboard through CounselIndex.
Start with the free scan.
