June 25 2007 Legal Blog Roundup

t seems somebody had the lovely idea of turning all the lawyers in the country into customers by creating a situation that more or less compels them to do so. Avvo.com claims, "Avvo is a website that rates and profiles every lawyer, so you can choose the right lawyer. Avvo delivers the information and guidance you need to help you make this important decision." Now we've got a new big brother rating every lawyer according to his own unknown criteria. And this big brother is not the state but a profit-driven organization that does not belong to the legal community.

Susan Cartier Liebel, in her blog Build a Solo Practice, LLC, sums up the issue quite succinctly in a June 12 post entitled "FICO Scores for Lawyers—I Didn't Ask for Avvo. Did You?" when she writes, "This bogus and horrific rating system will not be abided by hardworking lawyers. Thank you."


The scheme, as exposed by Liebel, really is quite horrific. She points out, "AVVO asks to swipe your credit card to verify you are who you are when you go to update your profile. They even tell you you will not be charged. Then you get charged $1 immediately. 1.1 million lawyers...$1 every time you want to update...nice little scam. Especially when they tell you it will be free."

But even more crucial is what Liebel says later: "The value of you as a professional is being determined by an alien body who doesn't understand the attorney/client relationship yet purports to understand that it is difficult to find a good lawyer. Tell us how you know this. Good lawyers have been found for centuries without Avvo. And when someone wants a good lawyer, they will do what they have always done."

She adds in bold, "[Y]ou should demand the opportunity to opt out of this dangerous rating system." But what are your chances of opting out of a system that profiles and rates you without your permission?

Larry Bodine posted an answer to that question June 12 on his Law Marketing Blog in an entry entitled "AVVO Refuses to Take Down Profiles on Request." So that is how big business works.

But the best part is that the ratings can be manipulated. Chuck Newton, in his blog Chuck Newton Rides the Third Wave, states, "I am receiving tons of emails from other lawyers stating if I will get on and rate them highly, they will do the same for me."

Lawsuits are on the way. According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Steve Berman, the Seattle-based class-action attorney who is known for taking on Enron and the tobacco companies, is going to file a class-action suit against Avvo. Berman apparently views the Avvo rating system as a "flat-out scam" that serves neither the interests of consumers nor those of lawyers. Plaintiff lawyers (including some who have received high rankings from services like Martindale-Hubbell and Best Lawyers in America) whose reputations and practices have already been damaged by the Avvo system have approached Berman to file the suit.

Berman has pointed out that while some attorneys affiliated with Avvo are ranked highly and some have been able to boost their ratings within a few days by submitting targeted information, some law school deans and Supreme Court justices rank lower than attorneys with little experience in the profession.

So, folks, whether you decide to sit on the sidelines or go forward against Avvo, it's crucial that you are aware of this new phenomenon. Since Avvo refuses to delete information upon request, the only solution other lawyers have come up with is posting disclaimers on their sites regarding Avvo ratings.