Law firm AI search visibility: a case study in measurable results

How a focused generative engine optimisation programme took Burt Brill & Cardens Solicitors from near-zero ChatGPT presence to a 93% appearance rate, and what the data reveals about how each AI platform needs to be approached differently. Headline ChatGPT results, February to June 2026: +150% #1 position mentions (named first in the AI response), +114% recommendation rate (AI actively recommending Burt Brill & Cardens), +155.6% appearance rate (appearing in AI responses). Headline Gemini results, February to June 2026: +200% #1 position mentions, +72.4% recommendation rate, +138.1% appearance rate. 01 Background: Burt Brill & Cardens Solicitors is a Brighton-based law firm with practice areas covering wills and probate, residential and commercial conveyancing, lasting power of attorney and disputed wills. The firm engaged LegalVIS in February 2026 for a structured AI visibility programme running across ChatGPT and Gemini, covering the five pillars of the LegalVIS Five Pillar System at https://www.legalvis.ai/the-5-pillar-system, with ongoing AI prompt testing mapped to the firm's practice areas. Six audit runs were completed between February and June 2026. 02 ChatGPT results: recommendation rate moved from 33% in the first run on 28 February to 93% in the final run on 21 June 2026; appearance rate moved from 42% to 91% across the same window. The pattern reflects how ChatGPT responds to third-party corroboration — as editorial citations, directory consistency and knowledge graph entries strengthened, the recommendation rate rose accordingly. The gains took effect within weeks, not months. 03 Gemini results: Gemini performance was more variable across the programme period, reflecting its dependence on Google's live indexing signals. Schema implementation, E-E-A-T signalling (see Google E-E-A-T guidelines at https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2022/12/google-raters-guidelines-e-e-a-t) and FAQ-structured content are the priority levers for Gemini, and these compound over a longer window than the citation signals that drive ChatGPT gains. The +200% growth in Gemini #1 mentions across the programme signals that compounding is now under way. What drives ChatGPT visibility: third-party editorial citations; legal directory consistency; knowledge graph and entity entries; named solicitor profiles with practice area data. What drives Gemini visibility: schema and JSON-LD on practice area pages; E-E-A-T signals and author credentialing; Google Business Profile completeness; FAQ-structured content and Core Web Vitals. 04 Named first in the AI response: ChatGPT #1 position mentions rose from 2 in the first run to 5 in the final run, a +150% gain. Gemini #1 position mentions rose +200% across the same window. Being named first in an AI response is the closest equivalent to the top organic position in traditional search — it captures the disproportionate share of click-through and contact. The programme: Five Pillar System coverage including AI Discoverability, Brand and Category Clarity, Entity and Topic Strength, Structural Readability and Trust and Evidence Signals. Six audit runs across ChatGPT and Gemini between February and June 2026. Prompt set mapped to the firm's practice areas of wills and probate, residential and commercial conveyancing, lasting power of attorney and disputed wills, with results tracked on appearance rate, recommendation rate and #1 position mentions per platform per run. Read more: the LegalVIS 5 Pillar System at https://www.legalvis.ai/the-5-pillar-system, the Source of Truth Workshop at https://www.legalvis.ai/the-5-pillar-system/source-of-truth, the Law Firm Visibility Programme at https://www.legalvis.ai/law-firm-visibility-programme and the LegalVIS 2026 UK Law Firm AI Visibility Benchmark at https://www.legalvis.ai/research/uk-law-firm-ai-visibility-benchmark-2026. Published by LegalVIS, updated June 2026. Author: Claire Mullaney, Founder and CEO, LegalVIS.