We analyzed 45 responses from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity. The firms appearing most often and the differences between platforms may surprise you.
Imagine two people in Denver searching for a personal injury lawyer.
One asks ChatGPT which firms it would recommend. The other asks Gemini the same question.
Both are looking for legal representation in the same city. Both are using AI to narrow their options.
But they may walk away with different lists of law firms.
For managing partners, that raises a question worth considering: When someone asks AI to recommend a lawyer in your market, does your firm appear, or does a competitor?
To explore that question, RankCraftr analyzed 45 responses from ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity across three days in October 2026.
We asked each platform the same five questions about Denver personal injury lawyers, covering general recommendations, reputation, client reviews, and serious truck accidents.
The results revealed substantial differences in which firms appeared most frequently.
Some firms were repeatedly recommended across platforms. Others appeared far more often on one platform than another.
And the type of question also influenced which firms were named.
Five Key Findings From 45 AI Responses
Our research identified several patterns:
- Zaner Law was the most frequently recommended firm overall, appearing in 21 of 45 responses (47%). Bachus & Schanker followed with 20 appearances (44%), and Denver Trial Lawyers appeared 19 times (42%).
- Each AI platform had a different leading firm. Frank Azar appeared most frequently in ChatGPT’s recommendations, Zaner Law led Perplexity, and Bachus & Schanker led Gemini.
- Visibility varied substantially between platforms. Frank Azar appeared in 10 of ChatGPT’s 15 responses but received no primary recommendations from Gemini in our sample.
- The question changed which firms appeared. General recommendations, reputation-based searches, and serious truck accident inquiries did not consistently produce the same lists.
- Strong visibility on one AI platform did not guarantee similar visibility on another. The competitive picture changed depending on where we asked.
These findings describe recommendation frequency within our sample. They do not measure legal quality, actual client inquiries, or signed cases.
Which Denver Personal Injury Law Firms Did AI Recommend Most Often?
Across all 45 responses, a relatively small group of firms appeared repeatedly.
Zaner Law led the study with 21 appearances, followed closely by Bachus & Schanker with 20 and Denver Trial Lawyers with 19.
Fuicelli & Lee appeared 16 times, followed by Ogborn Mihm with 14.
The overall results show which firms received the most recommendation exposure across the three platforms combined.
But the combined rankings tell only part of the story.
Consider two firms that appear equally frequently overall. One might receive recommendations from all three platforms relatively consistently. Another might receive most of its appearances from a single platform.
Their total visibility could look similar, while their exposure to people using different AI tools could be very different.
That’s why the platform-level results are particularly interesting.
It’s also important to distinguish recommendation frequency from actual market performance. Appearing in an AI response doesn’t mean someone contacted the firm, scheduled a consultation, or retained an attorney.
What it does show is which firms were presented as options when we asked AI platforms to recommend Denver personal injury lawyers.
The Biggest Finding: ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity Recommended Different Firms
If a Denver law firm evaluated its AI visibility using only ChatGPT, it could come away with a very different impression than if it evaluated Gemini or Perplexity.
Each platform had a different most-frequently recommended firm.
| AI Platform | Most Frequently Recommended Firm | Appearances |
| ChatGPT | Frank Azar | 10 of 15 |
| Perplexity | Zaner Law | 8 of 15 |
| Gemini | Bachus & Schanker | 12 of 15 |
The differences become clearer when comparing individual firms.
Frank Azar: Frequently Recommended by ChatGPT, Absent From Gemini’s Primary Lists
Frank Azar appeared in 10 of ChatGPT’s 15 responses, making it the platform’s most frequently recommended firm in our sample.
Perplexity included Frank Azar in two primary recommendation lists.
Gemini did not include the firm in any of its 15 primary recommendation lists.
That doesn’t mean Gemini never recommends Frank Azar. Our study captured a limited number of responses under specific conditions.
But within this sample, the difference was substantial.
A firm looking only at ChatGPT might conclude that its AI recommendation visibility was strong. The same firm could have a very different competitive position on Gemini.
Bachus & Schanker: A Different Picture on Gemini
Bachus & Schanker showed nearly the opposite pattern.
The firm appeared in 12 of Gemini’s 15 responses, compared with four appearances each on ChatGPT and Perplexity.
That made Bachus & Schanker the most frequently recommended firm on Gemini in our study.
Its overall recommendation frequency was high, but Gemini accounted for a disproportionate share of those appearances.
Zaner Law: More Consistent Across the Three Platforms
Zaner Law showed a more balanced distribution.
The firm appeared in six ChatGPT responses, eight Perplexity responses, and seven Gemini responses.
That gave Zaner Law the highest combined recommendation frequency in our sample.
The comparison illustrates why measuring AI visibility as a single number can obscure meaningful differences.
A firm might be recommended frequently on one platform, less often on another, and rarely on a third.
For managing partners, the practical question isn’t simply whether AI recommends their firm.
It’s which platforms recommend the firm, how consistently it appears, and which competitors are being recommended instead.
The Question Matters: Different Searches Produce Different Recommendations
The platform wasn’t the only factor associated with different recommendations.
The question itself mattered.
We tested five types of inquiries:
- General personal injury lawyer recommendations
- The best personal injury law firms
- Firms with the strongest reputations
- Firms recommended for catastrophic injuries involving a serious truck accident
- Firms with the best client reviews and ratings
These questions reflect different considerations someone might have while researching legal representation.
A person looking for a highly reviewed firm may not receive the same recommendations as someone specifically seeking representation after a catastrophic truck accident.
Our results reflected that distinction.
A Serious Truck Accident Produced a Different Set of Firms
On the third collection day, we asked each platform:
Which personal injury law firms in Denver, Colorado would you recommend for a serious truck accident involving catastrophic injuries?
Ogborn Mihm was the only firm included in the primary recommendations from all three platforms for that question.
Other firms appeared on one or two platforms but not all three.
This is one example from a single collection day, not evidence that Ogborn Mihm would consistently lead that type of inquiry.
Still, it illustrates a broader point: the firms AI presents as options can change when a potential client’s needs become more specific.
For a law firm, that distinction may matter more than its performance on a broad question such as “Who are the best personal injury lawyers in Denver?”
A firm focused on serious truck accidents, traumatic brain injuries, or another particular case type should understand whether it appears when someone asks about those matters specifically.
That is a different question from whether the firm receives general recommendations.
What Does This Mean for Your Law Firm?
The findings don’t establish that AI recommendations are replacing traditional search, generating consultations, or changing signed-case volume.
Our study wasn’t designed to measure those outcomes.
But it does identify another area of competitive visibility that law firms may want to understand.
Three questions stand out.
1. Is Your Firm Being Recommended?
A firm may invest heavily in its website, local presence, and reputation without knowing whether it appears when someone asks ChatGPT, Gemini, or Perplexity for lawyer recommendations.
Traditional search visibility and AI recommendation visibility are not necessarily interchangeable.
Understanding both can provide a more complete picture of how prospective clients may encounter the firm.
2. Which Competitors Are Being Recommended Instead?
Knowing that a firm appeared in five AI responses is useful.
Knowing which competitors appeared in the other ten may be more actionable.
Repeated competitor appearances can identify firms worth examining more closely.
That doesn’t establish why AI recommended them. It does provide a starting point for investigating competitive visibility.
3. Does Your Firm Appear for the Cases You Want?
A general personal injury recommendation may be less relevant to a firm that primarily wants catastrophic injury cases.
Likewise, a firm with a strong reputation in one practice area shouldn’t assume that reputation translates into recommendations for every type of legal matter.
The questions being tested should reflect the matters the firm actually wants to attract.
For managing partners, the objective isn’t simply to appear more often in AI-generated lists.
It’s to understand where the firm is being considered, where competitors are gaining exposure, and which gaps deserve closer investigation.
How We Conducted the Study
RankCraftr collected 45 official AI responses on October 15, 16, and 19, 2026.
Each day, we submitted five identical questions to ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini, producing 15 responses per platform.
The study focused exclusively on personal injury law firms in Denver, Colorado.
Platforms and Settings
| Platform | Collection Settings |
| ChatGPT | Plus subscription, fresh Temporary Chat, Instant/Search |
| Perplexity | Free subscription, Incognito, Search |
| Gemini | Temporary Chat, Auto |
The same settings were used throughout the study.
Questions Asked
- Which personal injury lawyers would you recommend in Denver, Colorado?
- What are the best personal injury law firms in Denver, Colorado?
- Which Denver personal injury law firms have the strongest reputation?
- Which personal injury law firms in Denver, Colorado would you recommend for a serious truck accident involving catastrophic injuries?
- Which personal injury law firms in Denver, Colorado have the best client reviews and ratings?
How Recommendations Were Counted
We counted each law firm once per response when it appeared as a primary recommendation.
Repeated references to the same firm within one answer did not increase its count.
Clear naming variations were standardized. For example, Zaner Law and Zaner Harden Law were treated as the same firm.
Individual attorney recommendations and secondary mentions were distinguished from primary firm recommendations.
Study Limitations
This was a small observational study conducted in one legal market over three collection days.
AI responses can vary with model changes, platform settings, timing, and other conditions. The results should not be interpreted as permanent rankings or as representative of every possible recommendation.
Some original response text was not preserved verbatim. The analysis therefore relies on the recommendation records documented during collection.
We did not independently evaluate the firms’ legal capabilities, client satisfaction, case outcomes, or actual intake performance.
The findings also do not establish which factors caused a platform to recommend a particular firm.
Our objective was narrower: to document which firms appeared in the collected AI recommendations and how those appearances differed by platform and question.
Conclusion: AI Visibility Isn’t One Universal Ranking
So, do ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity recommend the same Denver personal injury lawyers?
Sometimes.
Several firms appeared repeatedly across all three platforms. But the differences were meaningful enough that the leading firm changed depending on which AI platform we used.
The recommendations also changed when we asked about reputation, reviews, or a serious truck accident.
For law firm owners, the takeaway isn’t that every firm needs to chase another marketing metric.
It’s that a firm’s competitive visibility may look different depending on where a potential client asks for recommendations and what that person needs.
Understanding those differences can help firms identify where they are being recommended, where competitors are appearing instead, and which opportunities warrant closer attention.
That’s the kind of visibility intelligence that can support better decisions about new case acquisition.
Research conducted by RankCraftr, a legal marketing intelligence platform that helps law firms understand where they’re losing new case opportunities and what to do next.