Well, we started April by launching Avvo in Massachusetts and Florida. As things have calmed down a bit, everyone at Avvo looked at each other and said, “That was fun . . . let’s do it again!” So, to properly bookend April, we are launching today in the mighty states of Oregon and Colorado.

What do these two fine western states have in common? Well, outside of the 2002 Fiesta Bowl, very little. But our crack data team was able to assemble each state so quickly, we thought we might as well launch them together.

OR and CO lawyers: If you are tracking Avvo, this may sound repetitive. However, please send us any suggestions you have regarding our site. One of the best ways for us to improve is by listening to you - the lawyers who use the site everyday. Good, bad or neutral, our suggestion box is wide open. My email is mb@avvo.com.

Buffaloes, Ducks and Beavers . . . Oh my!

Mark

This is a great rating of first year lawyer, Aaron Engle:

“Mr. Engle, along with his partners, recently represented me in a disability case. I used to work for law firms and therefore was a little concerned when Mr. Engle was assigned to my case, because I felt he was a little on the young side. I had no reason to be worried. Even before speaking with me he had not only read my case completely, he had memorized many parts of it. When I referenced one letter out of the 2400 pages we had, he knew exactly what one I was referring to and was able to put his hands on it within a minute or two. Whenever I called his office and left a message, he got back to me promptly, usually within a couple of hours. This is very rare in the legal world. Whenever I had a question, he answered honestly and completely and made sure I understood his answer before moving on to more questions. He kept me informed and up to date . . .” continue reading.

1. Okori Okorocha; Los Angeles

2. Alani Golanski; Brooklyn, NY

3. Alec Rose; Santa Monica, CA

4. Roni Deutch; North Highlands, TX

5. Cynithia Sass; Tampa, FL
6. Sandra Munoz San Dimas, CA

7. Kelly Chang; Los Angeles, CA

8. Nikki Jacobson; Los Angeles, CA

9. Frank Blangiandio; Cutchogue, NY
10. Roy Glass; Saint Petersburg, FL

1. Lawyer Shawn Kasserman has a weird case on his hands. He’s representing Dr. Don Kalant Sr. who high fived the mascot to the Chicago basketball team, Benny the Bull. Apparently he got more than a simple slap on the hand… his arm was pulled and hyper extended, which caused Kalant’s bicep muscle to rupture. As an oral surgeon, Dr. Don wasn’t happy about this and now he’s suing the Chicago Bulls and their fuzzy mascot.

2. Dave Chappelle’s manager isn’t too pleased with him. With the help of his lawyer David S. Ratner, Mustafa Abuelhija, has filed a lawsuit against the comedian, claiming that Chappelle skipped out on their contract and owes him 10% of the profits from seasons 2-4 of the “Chappelle’s Show” and various comedy specials he did. So far Dave has nothing funny to say about this.

3. Stanford Lotwin, Howard Stern’s divorce lawyer, is now involved in another celebrity case. He represents Al Reynolds, who won’t be married to Star Jones for much longer. Lawyer and talk show host, Starlet Jones, filed for divorce and says that “several years ago I made an error in judgment by inviting the media into the most intimate area of my life.”

4. In Florida on Wednesday this week, Lawyer Fred Haddad expressed to Judge Joel Lazarus that he was withdrawing from representing his client, rapper Foxy Brown, because of ”irreconcilable differences’. Brown’s new lawyer, Alvin Entin, helped her plead no contest to battery and resisting arrest at a beauty supply store. Her sentence includes; six months probation, anger management classes, community service, and the release of her new album next week.

5. Frank Joseph Colucci, who represents Victoria’s Secret, didn’t return anyone’s calls this week. Katerina Plew from Long Island is suing the lingerie company for a product she created back in 2004. She says she even approached the company wanting to offer her idea of a bra that could be worn 100 different ways. “Plew seeks unspecified damages and an order to force the company from infringing on her patent.”

Live from Seattle, it’s Lawyerpalooza. Tonight there are more lawyers packed into the famous Showbox on first and Pike to hear five lawyer bands in the sixth annual Lawyerpalooza. Right now I’m listening to a reasonably good cover of Dance to the Music by No Rules from Karr Tuttle Campbell. Proceeds go to support music in pulic schools.

Update: The Crowd Favorite from Robert Half just got slammed by the judges. And while I may agree with the judges’ comments that they were great only half of the time, the female vocalist was outstanding.

Update II: Last year’s winner from Perkins Coie is currently on stage. One of our younger Avvo team members just mentioned, “It’s so cool, they are playing their own music.” Apparently, she’s never heard of the Beatles - love the generation gap. Another female staffer, who will remain nameless, just admitted to having a huge crush on the guitarist in the red tie. “He’s so hot,” she said. “I love that he looks like he should be driving a Mercedes and grumbling about traffic, but instead he’s up there bringing down the house.”

1. Alani Golanski, Brooklyn, NY. I have no idea how Alani keeps showing up at the top of this list. I can’t find any links coming in to this profile. Perhaps, as some people suggested, this list is being gamed as some form of self-promotion. Any ideas? Alani, care to weigh in?

2. Okorie Okorocha, Los Angeles, CA. I couldn’t help but notice sexual harassment lawyer Okorie quoted in last week’s People magazine. (As I was reading over my wife’s shoulder.)

3. Roni Deutch, North Highlands, CA. April must be pretty busy for Tax lawyer, Roni Deutch.

4. Dan Harris, Seattle, WA. I meet Dan at the Seattle Law Blogger Meet-up in January. Seems like we are overdue for another one of those . . .

5. Mark Britton Seattle, WA. Our CEO comes back on the list courtesy of the video functionality we just added to the site in the new “About Me” section. Mark wrote about the new functionality earlier this week in our blog here. To see how lawyers are now using Avvo to showcase their videos, check out Mark’s About Me tab.

6. J Hoelscher, Buffalo, NY

7. Kelly Chang, Los Angeles, CA. I’ve followed Kelly for about a year now as one of the best legal marketers in divorce law. We finally connected last week as I helped her upload video into her “About Me” tab. Check out the four videos she’s uploaded for an example of nailing online video as a marketing tool for lawyers.

8. Richard Ackerman Murrieta, CA

9. Nikki Jacobson Los Angeles, CA

10. Nicholas Okorocha Los Angeles, CA. I can only assume that Nick is Okorie’s brother (see above), unless there is another good reason that Los Angeles is replete with good looking lawyers with the last name Okorocha.

It’s no secret that Avvo has raised $13 million in venture funding from Benchmark Capital and Ignition Partners. In the process, we’ve talked to lots of other folks in the venture world; you might say we’re familiar with the ideosyncracies of those who inhabit that world. Lots of smart people, lots of ego, and a relentless drive to always look forward. So I was delighted to read about Bessemer Venture Partners’ “Anti-Portfolio” – those investment opportunities BVP passed on. From their take on Google:

“[BVP Partner David] Cowan’s college friend rented her garage to Sergey and Larry for their first year. In 1999 and 2000 she tried to introduce Cowan to “these two really smart Stanford students writing a search engine”. Students? A new search engine? In the most important moment ever for Bessemer’s anti-portfolio, Cowan asked her, “How can I get out of this house without going anywhere near your garage?” “

BVP has had a lots of hits and can afford the candor, but it is refreshing all the same to see these guys look back and laugh at what might have been.

Josh

According to a recent post by Tim Stanley, the founder of Justia - the terrific site for, among other things, free legal reference materials - the State of Oregon is demanding that Justia pay a licensing fee to display the Oregon Code.

As someone who grew up in Oregon, I have to say I’m a bit embarrassed for my home state. First and foremost, shouldn’t a state want its statutes disseminated as broadly as possible? After all, it’s hard to comply with the law if you don’t know what it says.

Secondly, Oregon’s position is flatly contrary to very well-established copyright law. Cases going waaaay back have found that public laws are not copyrightable; at best, publishers (such as the State of Oregon) can protect the “creatively original” portions of the “selection and arrangement” of their publications of the codes. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that no court is going to find that the numbering or structure of the Oregon code is copyrightable by the state.

Kudos to Justia for continuing to fight to make this kind of information more readily accessible to the public.

Josh

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There have been more than 1 million views of lawyer profiles on Avvo since we launched less than a year ago. And while Avvo is free to every lawyer, some attorneys have figured out how to set themselves apart from the rest and the payoff is more clients. True to our promise of treating every lawyer equally, we'd like to share these best practices with anyone who wants to optimize their presence on Avvo. On April 29th we'll be hosting a free online webinar (an online presentation combined with an audio conference). Mark and I will host, and it will be a very practical look at how to make the most of your presence on Avvo. We'll also share some of the research we've done with consumers to help you understand what they are looking for when searching for a lawyer. You'll also have an opportunity to ask me and Mark questions. Some of the topics we'll cover include:

-What factors influence a consumer's decision to hire a lawyer
-What does (and doesn't) influence the Avvo Rating
-How to optimize your Avvo Profile for search engines
-How your profile can help you connect on a personal level with potential clients
-How to demonstrate your expertise in specific areas of the law
-How to be the first attorney to interact with a potential client
-A look at recently released features such as “My Profile” and “About Me”
-An update on soon-to-be-released features

The webinar is free and will take place on Tuesday, April 29th from 12pm to 1pm Pacific time.

To register, simply click here.

In Avvo’s new “About Me” section, lawyers can post various juicy tidbits about their lives, including videos. As videos take over the internet, it seems make your own free ringtones free ringtones for verizon wireless phone cell free get phone ringtones sprint pcs ringtones free real music ringtones sprint free ringtones for cingular phone free cell phone ringtones ringtones converter download free hindi ringtones ringtones for nextel phone cingular ringtones spainsh download free maker ringtones download free ringtones sprint boost free ringtones nickelback ringtones nextel real music ringtones free verizon cell phone ringtones boost free mobile ringtones complimentary music ringtones free get ringtones that this medium is a great way to connect lawyers to clients.

• DUI Lawyer William Head has been one of the first to upload a video on his avvo profile.

• Here you can see family lawyer Kelly Chang’s prime example of using this new function to give you a taste of what her practice is about. “She is frequently quoted in the media and was a legal expert for TV Guide and MTV on the Britney Spears custody case.”

• Posted on youtube.com, Tricia Walsh Smith reaches out to divorce lawyers as she airs her personal business online, claiming she married a “mean bad husband”. If only she were to come upon Kelly Chang’s avvo profile… The two could be a match made in heaven.

• Speaking of Britney, K-fed’s lawyer, Mark Vincent Kaplan could certainly add this to his “About Me” section…

• Lawyers can also add their commercials to their profiles. I’m not exactly sure if this tells you anything about Dallas attorney Bruce Flint, but it is an entertaining way to promote his personal injury practice.

• In New York this week, Harry Potter author JK Rowling and her attorney, Dale Cendali, went to court over another writers work. Steven Vander Ark, one of Rowlings’ biggest fans, wrote Lexicon, an encyclopedia explaining Rowlings complicated books. She claims the book does not offer any analysis of the Harry Potter series; it is a rearrangement of her own work. Rowling and Warner Bro. are suing RDR Books for publishing Vander Arks book. David Hammer represents RDR and could connect this video to his avvo profile.

• Also this week, Florida federal judge William Terrell Hodges denied a motion to delay Wesley Snipes’ sentencing on tax evasion charges scheduled for April 24. Wesley faces three counts of failure to file federal income tax returns. Snipes’ attorney Daniel Meachum explains in this video.