Avvo’s launch in Florida did not go unnoticed - in advance of our entry to the Sunshine State, the Florida Bar’s Standing Committee on Advertising issued a specific decree that Florida lawyers could not advertise their Avvo Ratings. Hey, we like attention as much as anyone else, but this left us a bit miffed. We hadn’t gotten any warning that we’d be singled out like this.

So, a couple of weeks ago Mark and I talked with the Committee and walked them through what Avvo is doing. Long story short: The Committee summarily reversed itself, determining that Florida attorneys CAN advertise their Avvo Ratings. Here’s the official notice. If you’re a Florida lawyer holding off until now to add the dynamic Avvo badge to your site, just go to your Avvo profile and click on the link for “add the Avvo Rating to your website.”

A couple of weeks ago Amanda’s blog post mentioned Lawyerpalooza, a battle-of-the-bands event that takes place each year here in Seattle to raise money for music programs at local schools. We loved the idea of lawyers duking it out on stage rather than in the courtroom, and raising money for a good cause in the process. So I picked up the phone to chat with the organizer, Mike Nesteroff, an attorney at Lane Powell and part-time musician, and Avvo is now a sponsor actually, we’re officially the “food” sponsor — of Lawyerpalooza 2008. This is the first legal event we’ve sponsored, and while not a traditional event like a CLE or conference, it seems like a fitting place to start for Avvo.

It should be a fun event that raises money for a great cause, so if you live in Seattle try to come down to the Showbox (by Pike Place Market) on Thursday, April 24th. The doors open at 5:30pm, and tickets are $20, which you can buy online at the Lawyerpalooza website or in person at the Showbox.

Hope to see you there.

Paul

Another great day for Avvo: Today we launched “About Me,” a new tab on the Avvo Profile that allows lawyers to add pictures, video and just about anything else that suits their fancy.

Why the new tab? A number of lawyers told us that their personal story, which is often relevant to their practice, is not sufficiently told by the Avvo Profile’s structured fields. Trying to remedy this was tough because everyone’s personal story is different. So we decided to abondon structure and make “About Me” a free-form forum. Whether you want to promote your zest for rock-climbing, speak to your involvement in your church, or profess your love for the duckbilled platypus, “About Me” is for you.

Another request from the lawyer community has been an Avvo page for photos and videos. Many lawyers have impressive advertisements or videos relating to big cases they want to share. Others want to show photos of their offices, staff, families, cats and so on. Well, my fellow lawyers, pine no more — you can add an unlimited number of photos and videos to your “About Me” tab, and you don’t even need to upload them to the Avvo server. You can link to your videos on YouTube or anyplace else, and for photos you have the option of uploading or linking to them. It is almost too easy.

So, lawyers, be free . . . upload as much content as you like to your “About Me” tab as often as you like. Tell us (and your prospective clients) what really makes you tick. And, if you have suggestions on how to improve “About Me,” please let us know. As with all things Avvo, we will forever continue to refine this feature.

I am reminded of the old joke, “Enough about me, what do YOU think about me.”

Mark

We all known that the most effective approach to finding an attorney is via personal endorsements. I found this outstanding post on Lovers on Bazaarblog (the guys that used to power our consumer feedback technology) that really explains why shared client feedback is so important in the Lawyer selection process.

1. Alani Golanski, Brooklyn, NY

2. Roni Deutch, North Highlands, CA

3. James Hamula, Prescott, AZ

4. Robert S. Bennett, Houston, TX

5. Craig Kennedy, Vancouver, WA

6. Steven Dickinson, Seattle, WA

7. Surjit Paul Singh Soni, Pasadena, CA
Surjit Soni represents the photographers in the suit regarding Marylin Monroe’s estate.

8. Eugene David Lee, Los Angeles, CA

9. Barbra Ilene Black, Boston, MA

10. Stephen M. Komie, Chicago, IL

1. Make it work! Lawyers Orit Snyder of NBC and David Boies of the Weinstein Co. are having a fierce battle over “Project Runway”, a clothing designer reality TV show hosted by Heidi Klum. Aired on it’s Bravo cable channel, NBC Universal filed a lawsuit against the producers of the show, the Weinstein Co. Apparently the Weinstein Brothers have decided to move the show to Lifetime, which violates an agreement to give Bravo the right of refusal. Who will say Auf Wiedersehen?

2. Finally, a case where lawyers don’t have to go to court! Mindy Ross, who represents Sean Penn, and Melinda Sammis , who is Robin Wright Penn’s attorney, don’t have to do much this week. The couple called off their divorce after having a romantic evening at an Eddie Vedder concert where Sean dedicated a song to his estranged wife in honor of her birthday. Isn’t it nice when things work out?

3. When Rob Lowe’s nanny threatened him; he called his lawyer Stanton “Larry” Stein to help him fight back. Former nanny, Jessica Gibson, sent the Lowes a threatening letter saying that they’d better pay up or she’d go public with stories about Rob Lowe’s sexual harassment habits. He is suing her for 1.5 million for “breach of contract, defamation and intentionally inflicting emotional distress”.

4. Wilfredo Trivino-Perez is representing beauty queen Christina Perez in her lawsuit against the Miss California Pageant. She was crowned Miss California for three short days until she was told that the pageant had made a mistake and she was stripped of her title. Silva, who is of Ecuadorean and Mexican descent, spoke Spanish to certain vendors at the event which made executive director Keith Lewis uncomfortable. Apparently the fact that Silva is bilingual “detracts for the caliber of the pageant”. She is seeking half a million dollars in damages for public humiliation. ¡Aye Dios Mio!

1. Alani Golanski, Brooklyn, NY

2. Roni Deutch, North Highlands, CA

3. Judge Peter Paul Olszewski Jr., Luzerne County, PA
Last week Judge Olszewski’s interesting sentence included learning to read and write english instead of going to jail.

4. Dave Hawkins, Seattle, WA
(Congratulations to Dave for having the most interesting profile picture…)

5. Mark Vincent Kaplan, Los Angeles, CA
Mark Vincent Kaplan defends K-Fed in his celebrity divorce battles with Britney Spears.

6. Douglas Edward Cornelius, Boston, MA

7. Shelly Crocker, Seattle, WA

8. Rachel Elizabeth Scott, Seattle, WA

9. Barbra Ilene Black, Boston, MA

10. Mark Roland Baran, Cleveland, OH

One of the hazards of launching in new states is that we have to return, once again, to the bottom of the learning curve. I recently saw a Florida news article reporting that Avvo has Abraham Lincoln and other dead lawyers in its database. And, once again, the implication of the latest Uncle Abe sighting was that the Avvo system is somehow flawed.

I officially have dead lawyer fatigue. Not enough to remove dead lawyers from the Avvo database, mind you; but rather, just enough to take the time to offer these four simple facts in an attempt to rejuvenate myself:

Fact #1:
Avvo has EVERY deceased lawyer in its database in the states we currently cover.

Fact #2:
Consumers will NOT see a dead lawyer in their search results or anywhere else on the site UNLESS they search for the dead lawyer by name.*

Fact #3:
Having dead lawyers in our system is NOT a flaw in our system.

Fact #4:
Having dead lawyers in our system is REALLY cool.

*Click here to see Avvo’s disclosure on the site in this regard. The disclosure is also on every dead lawyers profile page.

Oddly I feel better already; but allow me to offer some additional color around these facts:

Avvo is building one of the largest lawyer databases in the country. Our power is in the breadth and depth of our database, including the fact that our database includes EVERY person that has ever been licensed as a lawyer in a given state, whether that person is dead or alive. That is cool.

Why is it cool? Because whatever your research assignment may be regarding licensed lawyers, you can find it on Avvo. Wondering whether your disbarred lawyer has been reinstated? Check Avvo. Wondering why your uncle stopped practicing law in 1975? Check Avvo. Wondering when Richard Nixon was licensed to practice law? Check Avvo.

At Avvo, it is not our mission to judge what information should be available to consumers. To the contrary, it is our mission to offer as much information and guidance to consumers as possible. Dead lawyers means a darn big database, and we at Avvo are very proud of it.

One closing note here: If a bar does not tell us someone is dead, there is really no way for us to know that the lawyer is truly dead. Sadly, a start-up budget does not contemplate a forensics team. Still, on occasion, we will get a call or email informing us that a dead attorney still has an Avvo Rating. Our general response is that they (or, even better, the lawyer’s family) should let the bar know so that the bar can update their records. Prudently, in my opinion, Avvo relies on the bars to tell us who is in fact dead or alive.

Hopefully this will lay to rest (every pun intended) any confusion about Avvo displaying dead lawyers.

Mark

1. High five! Manhattan Judge Loretta Preska dismissed a “Borat” case this week. Jeffrey Lemerond, who is represented by Eric Hecker, filed a case agains 20th Century Fox, suing the company for being randomly accosted and hugged on a mid-town street. He was shown (visibly frightened) for 13 seconds in the movie and briefly in the trailer. Lemerond argued that his image was used without consent. The judge concluded that the movie “appeals to the most childish and vulgar in its viewers” but does make an effort to offer a critique of American society. Very Nice!

2. This week District Court Judge Margaret Morrow ruled that blonde bombshell Marylin Monroe was a New Yorker, meaning, she has no right to publicity. Marilyn’s estate, represented by Martin Pollner, argued that she resided in California, where publicity survives a celebrity’s death. This ruling means that the sellers of Monroe memorabilia will be able to use the stars images without having to pay a fee to her estate. Monroe owned a home in California because she traveled there so frequently, however, she told California tax authorities she was a New York resident. Surjit Soni, who represents the photographers who filed this suit, says “you will see a great deal more Marilyn-related products, and they will be lower in price.”

3. Time to change the channel

Sometime in the summer of 2006, I got a mysterious message from one Ken Moscaret. He said, “Hey Mark, my name is Ken Moscaret. I am a lawyer, fee expert, and I am pretty sure I know what you guys are up to. I suspect it is a Zillow-like model for lawyers, where you bring a lot of information together regarding lawyers. I think it is a great idea and I would like to chat with you about some of my own.”

While I may not recall the message exactly, I do recall that it made me smile because (a) we were still in stealth mode, and (b) this guy certainly knew what he was talking about. So, I looked him up on the Internet and found this blurb:

Ken Moscaret, Esq., is a leading expert witness on attorney’s fees and litigation management, whose clients include big corporations, public entities, and Top 250 U.S. law firms. Mr. Moscaret testified as an expert witness in federal court in 2008 regarding $700 million in attorney’s fees in the Enron securities class action litigation in Houston.

Impressive. I decided to give him a call.

After becoming painfully acquainted with each other’s voicemail, Ken and I finally shared a long phone call where Ken offered a number of interesting ideas regarding new business models in the legal industry and where we might take Avvo. We continued to keep in touch over the next year and a half, with Ken consistently offering interesting ideas about opportunities in the legal marketplace.

Well, one of those ideas is now reality in form of a new blog penned by Ken called myLawCoach. Flatteringly, Ken talks about myLawCoach as a consumer-centric, informational resource that picks up where Avvo leaves off. In other words, once you have researched your issue and selected your lawyer, myLawCoach helps you manage your relationship with the lawyer. The site is set up as a number of question and answer, plain-English tutorials. Topics include things like attorney billing rules, costs of different phases of a case and explanations of different parts of the legal process.

Now, I tip my hat to any site with a sincere mission of helping consumers better understand the legal industry. However, Ken’s idea of holding their hand through the litigation process is truly unique. Yes, it will take Ken some time to build up enough guides to cover a broad swath of the almost-infinite number of issues that can arise in litigation, but he is off to a great start. Currently, many of the guides are cost focused but, hey, that’s the guy’s greatest area of expertise, and geez I found cost issues to be perplexing even as a General Counsel.

So, Ken, kudos to you and myLawCoach. Congratulations on launching this novel site, and I wish you luck on continuing to build it out.

Mark

p.s. Once you have read every one of Ken’s myLawCoach posts, check out his eloquent prose in this article published in the Daily Journal this week. While I would have written this post even without this article, it only reinforces for me how much Ken and I see eye to eye.