Avvo Tackles the Midwest
Tonight Avvo launches in the states of Michigan and Wisconsin. We also filed a petition today with the Illinois Supreme Court to get additional records from the Prairie State.
Regarding Michigan and Wisconsin, I am very excited partly because I enjoy bringing Avvo goodness to anyone I can, but also because I know so many lawyers in the area. Because EVERYONE has read my “About Me” page on my profile (please note the sarcasm), you already know that a number of my family members are licensed in Michigan.
One of our biggest supporters has been my brother-in-law, Barry Conybeare, who helped us get Avvo off the ground. Not only did he play a big role in helping us view Avvo through the trial lawyer lens, he was critical in helping us formulate some of the variables in the Avvo Rating. Moreover, like the Hair Club for Men, he liked the product so much that he invested in it! So, Barry, as we arrive in your home state, thank you for helping make Avvo a reality and I hope that it lives up to the high bar by which you evaluate all things.
Regarding Illinois, we interestingly have a second state telling us that we cannot have any of the public records they have collected regarding attorneys’ backgrounds. In the case of Illinois, we have run into a brick wall called the Attorney Registration & Disciplinary Commission or “ARDC.” All we are requesting from them is the names of all Illinois-licensed attorneys that they already make publicly available, because this will allow us to more efficiently access information on the ARDC website.
Although the ARDC bills themselves as a defender of the public, somehow making information regarding an attorney’s background or misconduct more accessible to consumers is a bad thing. If you are scratching your head, so are we . . . if anything, Avvo helps the ARDC in its mission. Josh will be blogging about all of this in the next couple of days, so I will leave it to him to elaborate. But I am hoping for a quick end to all of this silliness.
Expanding states and minds . . . Avvo chugs along.
Be well.
Mark
