Constitutional Law

D.C. Bar: Don't Re-Post Attorney Profiles

Avvo.com posts profiles of attorneys that users can search by name and region. And this irks the District of Columbia Bar.

For the 90,000 or so attorneys admitted to the D.C. Bar, Avvo uses the profiles maintained by the Bar Web site. The Bar alleges that, since Avvo re-posts these profiles for profit, the Web company is violating copyright and privacy rights. According to The Washington Post, the Bar is also not fond of the feature allowing consumers to rate attorneys.

'This has nothing to do with obstructing access to information,' said Bar spokesperson Cynthia Kuhn. 'It has to do with a commercial company taking this information without authorization and in some cases perpetuating misinformation' by failing to frequently update the data.

However, Above the Law points out that it may serve a useful purpose. For instance, some may find it reassuring that Attorney General Eric Holder is rated 9.4 out of 10.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on March 10, 2009 (boomark / email).