Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog

My friend Mark Beese has a great post about vanity directories like "Superlawyers" and "Best Lawyers in America"  in a post titled "Supercalifragilistic Lawyers."

"I know of no research that shows that clients find attorneys through these directories," which play to the lawyer's ego, says Mark, Marketing Director for Holland & Hart in Denver.  In fact, the ethics rules in New Jersey ban these two directories by name.

On the one hand Mark says, "Superlawyers, Best Lawyers in America and other publishers should have the right to publish what they want and how they want.

So he calls for a national Angie's List for lawyers.  "If you want reliable information on the "best lawyers" based on criteria that is important to legal consumers, we need an "Angie's List" of lawyers.  "'Angie' solicits feedback from people who use contractors for home repairs.  Contractors don't pay and can't lobby to be on the list.  Only the people who use their services and report on quality AS THEY DEFINE it."

It's a great idea. Why not? Survival and success rates of particular hospitals and physicians are public information.  Why not lawyer success rates.

"Such a feedback and ranking system, if done right (which will not be an easy task, by any means), would quickly replace the vanity press in the legal industry."

Right on.