Best Lawyers, the oldest lawyer ranking and peer review company, has named Kevin Vermeulen, a veteran legal advertising and marketing executive, as senior vice president of business development.

In addition, the company has named Josh Rupall, its director of sales for the past 12 years, as director of client success.

In this new role, the company said, Vermeulen will leverage his expertise in the legal market to grow partnerships with leading lawyers and law firms by unifying traditional marketing and publishing strategies with the digital services Best Lawyers already offers.

Vermeulen has worked in legal marketing and advertising for than 30 years, 22 of them in senior management roles devoted to helping lawyers, law firms and vendors grow their businesses.

Vermeulen joined Best Lawyers last August, when the company acquired the digital marketing agency Good2bSocial, which specializes in serving law firms, legal marketers, lawyers and legal-industry organizations, where he had been partner and chief operating officer. 

For 22 years, Vermeulen was with legal and business publishing company ALM Media, where he was most recently senior vice president, chief revenue officer and chief marketing officer.

(Vermeulen and I worked together at ALM.)

“This new position with Best Lawyers is an opportunity to advance our relationships with firms by expanding innovative and comprehensive marketing solutions we offer,” Vermeulen said. “I am thrilled to advance with Best Lawyers, a company that has the esteem and trust of the legal industry.”

Phillip Greer, CEO of Best Lawyers, said the appointment comes on the heels of a year of unparalleled growth for the company. “Best Lawyers is energized by what the future holds and how Kevin will contribute to our next phase.”

Founded in 1981 by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, Best Lawyers was one of the earliest companies to create peer-reviewed rankings of lawyers. In 2021, the private equity firm Abry Partners acquired Best Lawyers.

Photo of Bob Ambrogi Bob Ambrogi

Bob is a lawyer, veteran legal journalist, and award-winning blogger and podcaster. In 2011, he was named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, honoring “the law’s smartest, most courageous innovators, techies, visionaries and leaders.” Earlier in his career, he was editor-in-chief of several legal publications, including The National Law Journal, and editorial director of ALM’s Litigation Services Division.