Taxation & Estate Planning

Avvo.com - What Is It & Why Is It Important That Your Lawyer Be A Perfect 10?

By Darrin Mish

Avvo.com is the nation's fastest growing attorney rating service. Despite being only 2 years old, it's already approaching Martindale-Hubbell in the number of lawyers rated and number of unique visitors to their website. Avvo's mission statement says it best, "At Avvo, our mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry. Choosing a lawyer is an incredibly important decision?yet most people have no idea how to go about doing it, and resources to guide them are scarce."

Avvo has written a complex algorithm which rates virtually every lawyer in the United States based upon a variety of factors including experience, education, reputation and whether the lawyer has faced disciplinary action from their state bar association. I bet you'd agree, all these factors are things you want to know about when you're looking for a lawyer. You might think that only lawyers that went to Ivy League schools rank the best and nothing could be farther from the truth.  Unlike each State Bar's website which typically only tells you whether the attorney's license is in good standing or not, Avvo assigns a numerical value based upon 0-10 and red flags any attorney who has faced Bar discipline in the past making it extremely easy to understand. Ease of use was one of Avvo's top priorities when developing the website. It's true there are other attorney rating services out there but they're so hard to use it seems like only lawyers use them! If you're not a lawyer, what good is that? I agree….not much.

You see, Avvo's algorithm has all that figured out. No ONE factor seems to create a perfect 10 rather it's the attorney's whole life experience that factors into the rating. A perfect 10 can't be bought either, it's a totally fair and unique method to rank the abilities and expertise of a lawyer. The algorithm seems to be working great and in my opinion its very trustworthy as well.

The next time you're in the market for legal services, how about doing a little research and holding out for a perfect 10? Avvo's easy to understand rating system might just help you find the help you're looking for.

Full post as published by IRS Problem Solver Blog on July 29, 2009 (boomark / email).