Thursday, June 07, 2007

A New Search Engine to Find Attorneys On The Internet

There is a new attorney-search resource available on the Internet. Avvo launched yesterday and like FindLaw and LexisNexis Martindale-Hubbell, it offers users search tools to find lawyers in different categories and in different locales.

According to Avvo CEO Mark Britton, there is still room on the internet for Avvo’s services because there still isn’t an online service that provides sufficient ratings, reviews, search tools and processes that will “hold consumers' hands through the process of researching and choosing the right lawyer.”

Avvo has developed a three step process to guide users through the task of choosing an attorney and has its own unique ranking system for individual lawyers. To formulate its rankings, Avvo has created an equation that brings in ratings from users, other lawyers and publicly available databases such as state bar associations. Right now, Avvo contains records from ten states currently, and in about 110 practice areas. The attorney rankings are based on experience, education, or any slaps on the wrist they may have received while practicing.

Furthermore, Mr. Britton claims that his database includes the disciplinary history for every lawyer for ever state Avvo covers and eventually will have disciplinary history for for every lawyer in the country. Another interesting feature of this database is that lawyers are allowed to go in and add information about themselves to bolster their listing and also feed into the rating they get. Lawyers will be able to do this on Avvo by registering with a credit card, vouching for their own identity and then populating their profiles with anything they think will lend credence, trustworthiness, or marketing benefit to their profiles.

Source: Search Engine Watch

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