AVVO Has Lost its Credibility

From Scott H. Greenfield's Simple Justice: 

"Avvo made a big splash with its numerical ratings, but was subject to severe criticism from within the bar for its secret algorithmic methodology that burned younger lawyers and experienced lawyers who couldn't be bothered to play its game. Then Avvo gave up whatever credibility it might have had by selling paid lawyer advertising on the same page as its putatively consumer-useful informational pages, reducing itself to just another "business model."   And I thought Avvo had such promise.

I guess the relevance now is that people have a ton of information available.  It's just that most of it is either nonsense or unreliable.  If you want to get a good laugh, check out Avvo and see who's putting in an effort to make themselves "special."  Now it's no longer up to the cool kids, but each person by himself can create a persona that may be total sham.  How does that help consumers of legal services to know who to select?"

From Susan Cartier Liebel's Build a Solo Practice, LLC:

Why AVVO Will Hurt Lawyers: I'm no fan of AVVO for many reasons. But just this week Eric Turkewitz, in a very well considered blog post, again notes the AVVO rating system is just flat out a danger to the public it purports to serve because AVVO listed a rating of 'no concern' over a lawyer convicted of a sex offense.  You should definitely read the post.

AVVO rates lawyers such as this lawyer. as 'no concern'.  If we shouldn't be concerned about him who should we be concerned about? As of this writing here is the AVVO rating listing 'no concern' and no misconduct for Michael Rumore.

So why do I say AVVO will hurt lawyers.  Well, if lawyers like this are rated as 'no concern' when clearly they are of concern, how can we trust anything we read about any of the lawyers rated even if the lawyers are stellar? After all, they are relying upon each lawyer to update their profiles in order to keep their score fresh (as you lose rating points if you don't continuously update).  Is it realistic an attorney is going to report their own misconduct or pending suspension or that they are now serving time in jail?

And by extension, if lawyers are putting their professional 'seal of approval' by claiming their profile on AVVO they are endorsing a faulty product.

In a recent Twitter exchange between myself and a young lawyer, the young lawyer rightly said, 'I don't care about AVVO and I'm certainly not going to claim my profile.'  Well, AVVO didn't like the 'not nice' things this young lawyer said. Supposedly someone from AVVO (I'm led to believe this person was high up) called this young lawyer and left a voice mail expressing interest this young lawyer 'didn't say something nice about AVVO on Twitter.'  Strikes me a little odd. And you?

If I was a practicing lawyer today, I would not claim my profile with AVVO.  There are many ways to get your reputation out there whether you want it out there or not.  The internet has no loyalty. The internet has no filter.  If you are good the world will know you are good.  If you are not, they'll know that, too.  Don't rely upon mysterious algorithms to calculate your professional worthiness. 

From Nicole Black's

Avvo's Really Bad Answers
December 4, 2008
I never liked the concept of Avvo Answers, another ill-conceived effort to provide free legal advice online to consumers who want professional answers to their very serious questions without having to spend a dime.
http://blog.simplejustice.us/2008/12/04/avvos-really-bad-answers.aspx

Federal Judge Calls Lawyer Ratings "Nonsense"
January 3, 2008
U.S. District Chief Judge Robert S. Lasnik in Seattle, WA, declared in a 10-page opinion that lawyer ratings are “nonsense” and “ludicrous.” Specifically criticizing Avvo, the judge said, “the rating itself cannot be proved true of false.”

Bringing a Lawyer Back to Life: Should the General Public Trust ...
April 22 2008
Mr. robert ambrogi is a fellow blogger and MA attorney who wrote a strong criticism of avvo.com on june 5, 2007. I shared many of the same concerns that mr. ambrogi expressed in his blog, and then after reading a response letter by ...
The Emerging Business Advocate - http://seatondalylaw.spaces.live.com/

Illinois to Avvo: Drop Dead
July 16, 2008
From today's Chicago Tribune: Illinois Supreme Court: The high court on Wednesday denied access to information about the state's 85,000 licensed lawyers to a Seattle-based company that publishes online legal directories.

AVVO Refuses to Take Down Profiles on Request
June 12, 2007
A Washington, DC, marketing director contacted the controversial AVVO website, where lawyer profiles are put online and they are ranked on a 1-10 scale. She requested removal of the lawyers at her firm from the site. See Bizarre Errors on...

Attorney Rating System Avvo Draws Criticism
June 12 2007
Start-up site avvo raises the ire of some attorneys. It uses algorithms to rate attorneys, but the site is "riddled with bizarre errors, profiles of attorneys...
TVC Alert - http://www.virtualchase.com/tvcalert/

Avvo's attorney rating system draws fire
June 8 2007 by John Cook  
I find great humor, though it's touched with sadness at how Mr. Browne reacts to the Avvo website. It reminds me of the truism: The criticism that hurts the worst is the truest. Actions like Mr. Browne's are the reason that lawyers are ...
John Cook's Venture Blog - http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/