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

1. Criminal defense attorney by day, rock star by night

Yep, today is Avvo’s one-year anniversary and, wow, what a year it’s been. It’s such a blur that I decided to write about my ten favorite Avvo memories of the year. They are not in any particular order because every one of them brings a smile to my face.

Millions of profile views: In the last year, Avvo Profiles have been viewed millions of times, and that means consumers are finding and researching their lawyers on Avvo. Come to think of it, when it comes to Avvo, I like anything measured in millions.

Consumer thank you’s: I speak at a lot of events, and every time people approach me and say something like, “I use your website and it has really helped me thank you.” We receive similar sentiments in letters, emails and calls to our customer service. To hear this warms my heart to no end. We built this site because consumers were and are lost with their legal matters; and to have even one person tell me that we have helped is success.

Great lawyers getting business through Avvo: Every time I hear about a lawyer getting business through Avvo, I have to smile. I smile because I want those lawyers that embrace helping consumers to shine. Seattle bankruptcy attorney, Shelly Crocker, in a recent press article said, “In February alone, approximately one-third of our new consumer client inquiries originated on Avvo.” Awesome.

Foes becoming friends: When we launched Avvo, many attacked us. Over time, many of our critics began to understand our mission and some have even embraced Avvo. Reputable bloggers like Bob Ambrogi, J Craig Williams, Kevin O’Keefe and Carolyn Elefant originally stoned us; but over time they have each shown great support for our product. Similarly, we have seen amazingly supportive editorials and articles from the Wall Street Journal, Seattle Times, Financial Times, National Law Journal, etc., etc. It is all very gratifying considering some of the press arrows we took when we launched.

Having Browne v. Avvo dismissed: A mere nine days after we launched, two attorneys that did not like their Avvo Ratings filed a nationwide class action lawsuit in an attempt to put us out of business. Six months later, a federal judge thankfully put their lawsuit out of business. Thank goodness for rational jurisprudence.

Having Washington’s Attorney General claim his Avvo Profile: Now, I’m guessing that Rob McKenna does not need any more work; but still he thought enough of Avvo to claim his Avvo Profile. We are humbled and honored to have General McKenna participating in Avvo.

Launching Avvo Answers: This was a highlight for two reasons: First, in recruiting for this feature, I called a number of lawyers and had great conversations about their experience with Avvo. That was great fun; but then we launched the thing and it really exploded. Consumers came to Avvo Answers asking thousands of questions and lawyers were all over the place answering them. It is such a great feature a true win-win for consumers and lawyers.

Seeing lawyers promote their Avvo Rating: I blogged about this, and even have a stack of other examples on my desk that I will presumably write about over time. I grew up watching lawyers advertise their “AV” rating (even though I didn’t know what it was), and to now see lawyers advertising their Avvo Rating in papers, on their websites, in brochures, etc. How cool is that?

Powering Washington CEO’s “top lawyer” issue: A year ago, no one had heard of Avvo. Today, Washington CEO is relying on the Avvo Rating to select the best business lawyers in Washington. We are humbled and honored to have this much credibility in the marketplace.

Working with my fellow Avvoites: We have built a great team here a team that is rabid about building a better marketplace for consumers and lawyers. It is so much fun to come to work here everyday. Yes, it is sometimes scary because there is seldom a roadmap for what we are doing . . . but with this group I would enjoy navigating Dante’s Inferno.

Thank you to everyone who contributed to our success in our first year.

Be well.

Mark

Two years ago, when Barry Bonds was in the throes of the BALCO investigation, a quirky thing happened in the ESPN fantasy baseball league I participate in: The league website stopped referring to “Barry Bonds”, substituting instead the nomiker “San Francisco OF.” It turns out that ESPN pays Major League Baseball a licensing fee to use the names of major league players; the league was in a dispute with Bonds, and one side or the other insisted that his name not be associated with MLB for a time.

The particulars aren’t important. What is amazing is that MLB felt like it had the right to license the player’s names, and fantasy baseball league operators like ESPN actually went along with the licensing scheme. But not all of them did - a smallish outfit in St. Louis challenged the licensing deal and won in court. MLB pushed the case all the way to the Supreme Court - which just denied cert, letting the lower court victories for fantasy baseball stand. Good news for baseball fans and advocates of sensible IP rights everywhere.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has insightful commentary from Randy Aliment this morning on the vulnerabilities of both parties in the City of Seattle’s lawsuit against Clay Bennett’s Sonics:

From the city’s standpoint, forced occupation here is going to be a difficult proposition because the team would only be here two years, the NBA is going to be upset and the prospects for a team long-term are problematic,” Aliment said. “Some type of mediated solution where Bennett can take his toys back to Oklahoma and the city gets a different team, or Bennett gets a new team and we keep our Sonics, would obviously be the best.

Taking a cue from Above the Law, we have lunch suggestions for lunching on an expense account - as well as for lunching on your own dime:

Expense Account Lunches

• Old: Metropolitan Grill or The Georgian
• New: Barolo or Steelhead Diner
• Something Blue: Earth & Ocean

Lunch on Your Own

• Old: Brooklyn or Le Pichet
• New: Matt’s in the Market (new space) or Taste (at the Seattle Art Museum)
• Something Blue (this one’s a bit of a stretch): Salumi

Having done my share of M&A work, I’m a big fan of Steven Davidoff’s “Deal Professor” column in the NY Times Dealbook. His recent bit of informed speculation about the nature of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s rights viz-a-viz his VC backers is a great high-level illustration of some of the not-immediately-obvious issues that founders need to consider when considering venture capital investment.