AVVO Refuses to Take Down Profiles on Request
A Washington, DC, marketing director contacted the controversial AVVO website, where lawyer profiles are put online and they are ranked on a 1-10 scale. She requested removal of the lawyers at her firm from the site. See Bizarre Errors on AVVO Lawyer Rating Website and Lawyer threatens to sue A v v o Lawyer Rating Site.
Here is the response she got back by email:
"Thank you for contacting Avvo. Profiles on Avvo.com cannot be deleted entirely. The information in a lawyer profile is pulled from public records and publicly available information.
If you are concerned that public information we share on our website is incorrect, please contact your state’s association directly. Once the information is updated in the public record, it will be updated on our site."
A marketer from Philadelphia told the LawMarketing Listserv, "I don't know what public records they are pulling from - I looked up a handful of our attorneys and all had an incorrect street address."
Profiled lawyers are going on the attack. Steve Berman, the Seattle lawyer who took on Enron and the tobacco companies, announced he plans to file a lawsuit as early as this week against AVVO.
"You have consumers who are going to be making decisions about whether or not to hire a lawyer based on a rating system that is completely deceptive," said Berman. "It is not reliable. It is not based on any valid criteria. And, in fact, the publisher of this site should know there is something wrong."
Avvo Chief Executive Mark Britton, the former general counsel at Expedia who founded the Internet startup in February 2006, said he stands by the attorney ratings and suggested that a potential lawsuit is being driven by "a small vocal minority" of lawyers who don't like negative information being publicly aired.
