Comments on: And So It Begins . . . Avvo Launches Its Beta . . .

By: barbara Pate

barbara Pate — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:16:07 +0000

I would like to see the credentials or mistakes about these lawyers before I hire them. YOur, Barbara B.,P Pate, bpate1@bellsouth.net Thank you

By: Blake

Blake — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 16:55:29 +0000

When will you start to list Canadian Lawyers?

By: Yet Another Scam

Yet Another Scam — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 23:08:55 +0000

It only takes a little bit of research to find out that the “public service” information you have presented on your web site is irresponsible and rife with errors in data and judgement and will affect the lives and reputations of so many people and families.

As a result, I can only imagine the law suits that will certainly come your way as a result of your short-sided greed.

Shame on you.

By: R. Mullen

R. Mullen — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:59:00 +0000

18 months and what a polished result!

You guys are going to have your work cut out for you, but that’s the price of setting the bar as high as you did. There’s no reason to set it lower and the public are going to be pleased. I’ll blog about it as often as I can. It’s all good.

Now comes the hard part of making Avvo operatic.

Sanjaya doesn’t look too busy,–now wouldn’t THAT be fun?!

BTW, I’m expecting to see SOMEONE in a kilt on the front page in the near future!!

By: Jay W.

Jay W. — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:37:13 +0000

Thanks for the site. As for a consumer that is just now trying to find a lawyer I am looking at anything to help me find the right one. Although I understand some of the concerns by other lawyers, I fully take responsibility to use the information I find here not as the gospel but as a tool to help me find the right representation. All ratings have their positives and negatives…and they can be made to look which ever way the statisticians want them to look. They are also as good as the information that feeds them. I would like to make a request though, you improve on the search features on the site and let us find the field a lawyer is in by a term or word…for example…I’m trying to find a lawyer that is knowledgeable with ERISA but as a layperson, don’t know how to narrow down the field let alone where to start…

By: anon

anon — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 22:09:53 +0000

The status & discipline information for Washington lawyers is over 7 months old. When and how often to you plan to update it?

By: Dave Schappell

Dave Schappell — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:34:47 +0000

Mark - congratulations on a sweet launch — the site looks awesome and it seems to be perfectly optimized for search engines, so kudos on that — you should start seeing some sweet traffic from that over the next 60-90 days.

Please keep your blogs posts coming fast & furious — share what’s working, what’s not functioning as expected, and what the top complaints are (from lawyers, users, etc.) — think the openness will only build on the great press you’ve been receiving.

Onward!

By: James Cameron

James Cameron — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 21:07:37 +0000

“Just like the rest of the world, lawyers will now need to learn how to manage their online reputation”

“And lawyers are just going to have to figure out how to make the best of it”

But many do already . . . through their own Web sites or elsewhere. They have no special obligation to maintain information on every legal services Web site that springs up, which could become unmanageable and time consuming. Moreover, in the case of law firms with more than a handful of attorneys this responsibility lays not with the attorney but the firm administrator or marketing director (and it is highly unlikely this individual is going to load up and maintain profile information for 20 or 30 or more individuals).

The onus here is not on attorneys nearly so much as Avvo, whose system is highly dependent on the quality of the information it does receive, a good deal of information it doesn’t receive, and a highly suspect rating methodology.

Until these issues are addressed - and this could be a tall order - Avvo has no idea themselves how valid their results are and consumers are quite likely receiving misleading information regarding the relative merit of attorneys.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:03:53 +0000

What have you done to cover your exposure for libel by attorneys upset with a “client’s” negative comment?

How about adding a feature to allow an individual to rate their legal adversary’s attorney…or an attorney to rate their opponent…parents to rate their kids who made it through law school?

By: VG

VG — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 19:36:14 +0000

The uproar in reaction to this launch has been interesting. Welcome to the world of accessible public information, lawyers! How is this any different from Citysearch, where a chiropractor for example can be rated highly by happy clients, bashed by unhappy clients, review himself if he feels like it, and bash the competition if he feels like it?! People have a right to be informed with as much data as possible, and then they need to use their judgment to make the best purchasing decision. Does anyone know how Citsearch comes up with their star ratings? No. But as a consumer you can either trust that it’s valid, or not. If Avvo can work out the kinks and gain consumer’s trust about the ratings system, this will be a great service. And lawyers are just going to have to figure out how to make the best of it, just like the chiropractor.