Are AFL's selection protocols subjective?

Yes, to some extent. Identifying the best in any profession is a qualitative assessment based on objective criteria.  The national organizations that rate or evaluate lawyers limit themselves to individual lawyers who actively practice law on a fee basis. Ours is a much wider view. Our protocols and eligibility criteria are driven by local, long-standing recognition tools. Those tools include the reality that our members know, practice with, live with, hear about, notice, and interact with other bar members every day, and in much the same way. They practice before or belong to the same public and private audiences, and ascribe the same set of ethical and procedural rules. Collectively, we understand one another. While national organizations can honestly claim some aspects of “peer review,” our process is unhampered by protectionism. It is not restrained by the kind of exclusivity that seems to drive national rating agencies. In time, the best in Arizona will be identified by us and those who aspire to excellence will be nominated. Our biographical list will be trusted and respected because of the highly regarded and respected individuals who are already included. That fact transcends every argument about excellence, validation, or protectionism.