More Firms Opt out of Martindale-Hubbell
According to Law.com, megafirms Baker & McKenzie, Weil, Gotshal & Manges; Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld; Dechert and Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal have all dropped out of Martindale-Hubbell. Indeed, of the firms listed in the Am Law 100 survey of the nation's top-grossing law firms, nine no longer have Martindale-Hubbell profiles.
A major firm without a Martindale-Hubbell profile would have been unthinkable a decade ago, but because of the Web, the value to a law firm of merely being in Martindale-Hubbell has diminished. Instead, firms have been flocking to Chambers guides that purport to rate lawyers.
Martindale-Hubbell is now set to take a page from those new competitors. Joe Douress, LexisNexis' senior vice president of client development services, told Law.com Martindale-Hubbell will this fall unveil online client reviews and rankings of lawyers and firms. He called the expanded ratings system the "cornerstone" of a two-year-old project aimed at boosting the value of a Martindale-Hubbell profile in the eyes of large-firm customers.
For the full Law.com article, see http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1179479108140&rss=newswire
The question of value is particularly pressing for Martindale-Hubbell because the cost of its profiles is substantial. The most basic information about firms and lawyers is listed for free in the front blue pages of each print volume and on the firm's online directory, but the traditional profiles detailing lawyers' educational and professional credentials cost around $200 per lawyer per year.
With Chambers, firms and lawyers are ranked whether they purchase a profile or not, but most do. Boxall declined to say how much the profiles cost but said it was "peanuts compared to something like Martindale." Firm marketing staff said Chambers profiles generally cost a few thousand dollars or less.
In its first year, the Chambers U.S. guide had 150 pages of firm profiles and 1,319 individual lawyer profiles. Now it has 414 pages of firm profiles and 6,777 individual profiles. Boxall said the U.S. edition ranked a total of around 11,500 lawyers. Martindale-Hubbell has biographical information on more than 1 million lawyers and that 95 percent of large firms pay for a directory profile.
Martindale-Hubbell's current peer-review rating scheme has only three scores, with the highest "AV" rating supposedly indicating lawyers at the top of their field. But the AV rating applies to so many lawyers in so many practices and jurisdictions that most large firms see little value in brandishing it.
Martindale-Hubbell's introduction of client reviews is part of a broader revamp aimed at the client community being led by LexisNexis vice president Barry Solomon, one of the founders of customer relationship management (CRM) software maker InterAction, which was acquired by LexisNexis in 2004. Solomon said firms had "rightly questioned" the value of participating in Martindale-Hubbell.
"For many years there had not been any innovation," he said. "It was perceived by the marketplace as just a directory."
I am providing the emails to & from Martindale concernign the "fee for rating" policy. Apparently, staff was not informed of the policy. (I attest that these are true copies of the emails, but I have deleted my personal information.)
From: D.com
Sent: 12/24/2007 12:33:59 PM
To: info@martindale.com
Subject: Martindale.com : Customer Email - Subscription, Billing, or General Inquiries
Name: D Firm: D City: A State: A Phone: 999 Email Address: D.com
Comments: Re: ISLN 907785192
I have been practicing law since 19xx.
I prize my av Martindale rating.
I have never paid for a rating or advertizing.
I was shocked to receive your letter and bill for $50.
Does this mean that if I do not pay the $50, Martindale will no longer list my name with my rating?
If that is true, then a Martindale rating is no better than an ad in the yellow pages saying that I am qualified to provide a specific service.
I am profoundly disappointed in Martindale.
________________________
At 08:41 AM 1/7/2008, you wrote:
Greetings,
Thank you for your inquiry.
I assure you that this is not the case. I am forwarding your request to the Ratings department for further explanation.
For your reference Ratings can be reached at ratings@martindale.
Please contact us again should you need further assistance.
Have a wonderful day!
Kimberly Williamson
[THREAD ID:1-5DGS66]
________________________
Kimberly Williamson,
Thank you for your reply.
However, today I received a further mailed notice from Martindale that says that if the fee "is not paid by 1/11/08, your rating will no longer be displayed in our online and print resources".
This treatment is outrageous.
Thanx, D
________________________
From: info@martindale.com [mailto:info@martindale.com]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2008 11:38 AM
To: LNG-NPV-MH Ratings
Subject: FW: Martindale.com : Customer Email - Subscription, Billing, or General Inquiries
Greetings,
Please review and contact.
Regards,
Kimberly Williamson
[THREAD ID:1-5DGS66]
________________________
Mr. D,
Please accept our apology for our rather lengthy delay in response. Due to technical difficulty this mailbox was not accessible for an extended period of time. Just in case we are replying to your initial request we thank you for your patience.
The $50 administration fee was recently introduced to continue the display of a rating for an attorney in our publications. The rating will remain part of your records, however, if the fee is not paid, the rating will no longer be displayed.
Dana L. Green
Peer Review Rating Representative
Lexis/Nexis Martindale-Hubbell
121 Chanlon Road
New Providence, NJ 07974
Direct Dial: 908-771-8687
Fax: 908-790-2170
Email: dana.green@lexisnexis.com