How is the Perth Legal Guide score calculated?

It's a composite of five weighted signals: sentiment (28%), rating (26%), volume (20%), recency (10%) and completeness (16%). Sentiment and rating are the two heaviest because they say the most about actual client experience.

Why does sentiment matter more than star rating?

Star ratings can look identical between two businesses while one has repeated complaints about the same issue. Sentiment analysis reads what recent reviews actually describe, which catches patterns a plain average hides.

What does a low-confidence label mean?

It means a business has too few recent reviews for the score to be statistically reliable. We label these clearly rather than presenting a thin data set as if it were solid.

How we score Perth lawyers: our methodology

Perth Legal Guide currently scores 163 lawyer businesses across Perth Metropolitan. Every score comes from the same rubric, applied the same way to every listing. This page explains what goes into that rubric, why we weight it the way we do, and where the limits of the method are.

The five signals, heaviest first

Each business gets a composite score out of 100, built from five measured signals. We list them here in order of weight because the order tells you what we think matters most when you're choosing someone to handle a legal matter.

Sentiment: 28%

This is a synthesis of what recent reviews actually say, the praise and the complaints, not just whether they're positive or negative. Sentiment carries the most weight in our rubric, and we want to be upfront about why. A star average can hide a lot. Two firms can sit at the same 4.3 stars while one has a spread of unrelated compliments and the other has a cluster of clients all describing the same problem, like poor communication during a conveyancing settlement or being handed off between staff on a family law matter. The stars alone won't show you that pattern. Reading what recent reviews actually describe is the only way we've found to catch it, so it gets the biggest share of the score.

Rating: 26%

The Google aggregate star rating is still one of the clearest, most comparable signals available, so it carries the second-heaviest weight. It's a blunt instrument on its own, which is exactly why sentiment sits above it rather than replacing it.

Volume: 20%

How many reviews a business has, log-scaled so that ten reviews doesn't get treated as equivalent to five hundred. Log-scaling means the jump from 5 to 50 reviews matters more to the score than the jump from 500 to 545. A lawyer with a handful of reviews might be excellent, but a bigger, consistent volume gives more confidence that a rating reflects a real pattern of client experience rather than a few outliers.

Recency: 10%

How recently clients have left reviews. A law firm that hasn't had a fresh review in three years tells you less about what working with them is like today than one with a steady stream of recent feedback. Staff, partners and service standards change.

Completeness: 16%

Whether a business lists a phone number, website, hours and address. This is a practical signal: a firm that's easy to reach and easy to verify is easier for you to actually engage, and gaps here often correlate with listings that aren't actively maintained.

Confidence and honest limits

A composite score is only as good as the data behind it. Businesses with few recent reviews produce a low-confidence score, and we label them as such rather than presenting a thin data set with false precision. We also don't republish review text wholesale. We synthesise themes from what's publicly written and link out to Google so you can read the original source yourself and form your own view.

Earned scores, disclosed exceptions

Scores come from this rubric and this data, full stop. They are never edited by hand. Where paid placement exists anywhere on Perth Legal Guide, it's always labelled as such and it never changes a score. If any list's picks or order have been editor-reviewed rather than purely rubric-generated, that's disclosed on the page itself, such as our best family law firms in Perth list.

Who's behind this

Perth Legal Guide is published by Scout Local Media, an independent Australian publisher that has built local directories since 2026 to help people find trustworthy businesses in Perth. Scout Local Media builds lawyer directories and local guides from published reviews and public business information, aiming for rankings that are earned rather than bought, while giving solid local firms real visibility online. Editorial oversight of these rankings sits with Mei Nair, Lead Editor. Data across the directory is refreshed monthly, and each listing carries a "last verified" stamp so you can see it's actively maintained rather than left to go stale.

You can read more about the publisher at scoutlocalmedia.com.au, reach the team at hello@scoutlocalmedia.com.au, or head back to the Perth Legal Guide home page to browse listings.

FAQ

How is the Perth Legal Guide score calculated?: It's a composite of five weighted signals: sentiment (28%), rating (26%), volume (20%), recency (10%) and completeness (16%). Sentiment and rating are the two heaviest because they say the most about actual client experience.
Why does sentiment matter more than star rating?: Star ratings can look identical between two businesses while one has repeated complaints about the same issue. Sentiment analysis reads what recent reviews actually describe, which catches patterns a plain average hides.
Can a lawyer pay to improve their score?: No. Scores are generated purely from the rubric and underlying data and are never edited by hand. Where paid placement exists on the site it is always labelled and has no effect on a business's score.
What does a low-confidence label mean?: It means a business has too few recent reviews for the score to be statistically reliable. We label these clearly rather than presenting a thin data set as if it were solid.