Avvo

I am a lawyer who recently opened up his own practice. Within a month I was contacted by Avvo representatives telling me that they would highlight my profile on their website to potential clients searching for certain key words. They worked with me to manipulate my ranking as well. They asked me for a three-month subscription and that I needed to order it before the end of the month to take advantage of a special rate. I agreed.

I received zero leads, much less actual clients, from this investment. On top of that, the billing is recurring (should have listened to my own advice and read the contract more carefully). SO when I called on the billing day, the first of the month and said I wanted to cancel, they said my subscription would end at the end of the month. Since it was the first of the month I had already been billed and they refused to issue me a credit for a month. Thus, as a new business on a tight budget I flushed nearly $1000 down the drain on this poor excuse for a lead generator. They are happy to take your money. Beyond that Avvo is good for nothing.

I have been attempting to post a detailed, thoughtful, negative review of Odelugo & Johnson and the lawyer from that firm we hired, Rabihah Owens. After submitted a review detailing their unethical and, often times, illegal conduct (overcharging, lying repeatedly, abjectly refusing to do the work she was hired to do after charging thousands for 'prep'), avvo denied the review. I asked for clarification as to what in the review violated site terms, and this was ignored by avvo staff. I attempted 3 more times to get a response from avvo, but this isn't a real review site. This is a lawyer billboard and a website run by real $#*!s.

After writing a pre estate review of a lawyer, that was glowing, it was posted within two days. After she bungled every task of my estate, I tried to get the glowing review removed. My attempt was deleted. I then attempted to write a negative review, as soon as I submitted it, the system said, sorry, we are down right now would you like to read some of our glowing reviews? I waited a half hour, it never put it through. They will not post a negative review, good luck finding any of value. This is a closed system, if you register good luck deleting your account. This attorney destroyed over $50,000 in mistakes, omissions and misfilings. Well, expecting ethics from attorneys, don't count on it! My stupid pre estate review is still there, I cannot take it down. Trust me, it is a billboard for attorneys, a total fraud. Save Your Time.

Avvos business model was originally developed by Don Corleone. Heres how the business model works as applied at its most intimate level: Avvo does not have consent to use the information it misappropriates from other websites to initially create attorney profiles. Instead, it scrapes the Internet for any information it can find on every attorney it can identify, from a reputable source or otherwise, and then it compiles some sort of unilaterally created profile that is supposed to represent the attorney. This representation of the attorneys skills and expertise in their field is figured into a rating system by way of some algorithm which is used to convey to the public the attorneys professional competence. The term algorithm as used by Avvo is meant to elicit feelings of reliability, complexity, and trust without having to explain how its rating system actually works.

The algorithm is very scientific and accurate. It is so on point that attorneys can actually leave themselves reviews whereby that attorneys rating will fluctuate, accordingly. Similarly, any weirdo with an Internet connection can leave a bad review. Both will affect the attorneys rating. The fact that this is possible, yet Avvo holds out its rating system to be credible, is absurd. Moreover, by simply claiming ones profile, that attorneys rating becomes instantly better. In reality, claiming a profile has absolutely nothing to do with any attorneys skills, ethics, or competence. It follows that Avvo represents to the public that attorneys who choose not to claim a profile versus the ones that do are less competent professionally. The foregoing, taken together as a whole, gleans that Avvos rating system is wholly inept, completely arbitrary, and clearly misrepresentative. Again, its a very scientific algorithm.

Every attorney has worked tirelessly to become a member of their respective bar. Attorneys continue to work tirelessly because the law never sleeps, and all they have is their ethics, knowledge, and reputation. What Avvo does, at its core, is that it takes advantage of this by inaccurately representing to the public what attorneys have worked so hard to achieve. Because they have worked so hard for it, Avvo knows that they will fight dearly to protect it. When an attorney hears that they are being represented to the public with any scintilla of inaccuracy or negativity, the knee jerk response is to remedy, and rightfully so. Avvo utilizes this through a toothless rating system that can only be made better by either participating with the company or by paying it money.

Additionally, many, if not all of the websites Avvo scrapes information from, have their own terms and conditions pertaining to the information hosted on their website(s) and the subsequent use thereof. It is highly likely that Avvo violates these terms and conditions when it scrapes this information from the website(s) in order to convert same for its own commercial purposes.

Essentially, Avvo pirates information from different websites in order create profiles. Then, Avvo uses attorney names and likenesses in these profiles so Avvo can attract advertisers for its own commercial gain. Avvo stands to profit from ads that will be placed on attorneys faces, however the attorney receives no compensation, and there is nothing they can do about it; unless, of course, they pay Avvo $50 per month. Whats more, is that Avvo maximizes their gain by letting direct competitors in the same market place ads on the others profile. Thus, if one attorney chooses to submit to Avvos extortionistic business practices, then they will have a means to directly affect his or her competitors business, and the only way to stop it is to pay Avvo money and participate on their website.

Avvo will refuse to delete any attorney profiles in spite of direct and repeated requests to do so. Avvos unilateral insistence on its adhesive terms and policies are simply that; a unilateral insistence only applicable to itself, however they act as if they are applicable to people who have never had any contact with the company or otherwise acquiesced to anything having to do with Avvo whatsoever. Avvo is absolutely free to delete any attorney profiles; it just chooses not to in an attempt to effectuate all of the foregoing.

Ultimately, Avvo is a glorified Yelp, but with no credibility. It is a creative business model in that it actually does nothing of substance and is unaffected by its morally bankrupt posture, yet still stands to profit. If you are seeking an attorney, you will be wholly misguided by Avvo's "rating" system. If you are an attorney, Avvo will make you an offer you can't refuse.

I just became the account manager in our small firm and the attorney had this service, paying $341.00 a month. When I investigated what was received for that amount I was flabbergasted! Nothing. She just received a bad review at the beginning of the year from a client she had represented 4 (yes I said 4) years ago. Our firm is primarily immigration and 4 years ago the laws could not help our client who ended up having to take a voluntary departure. It was totally out of our hands and yet, AVVO allowed this former client post a terrible review about our services 2016 of January. The attorney tried to get a representative to address, she was promised a review, a call back etc... NOTHING. She followed up and still received nothing, other than an email generated that said they received hers and they would review. I, as account manager, decided to close the account. My email was ignored, I followed up and spoke with someone who said they could not find my account right then, but would investigate and call me back within the hour, which of course did not happen and that was 10 days ago. They charged our account anyway, so I had to go to bank and cancel the card that had permission. Stay away from them. It is a total scam and truthfully I have not found any leads that turned into clients. So many of them were for areas of the law that we simply do not service.

Avvo wants attorneys to PAY them for "advertising" and directory listings, however at the very same time, they allow anonymous reviews with no recourse. As has been proven time and time again, the vast majority of negative reviews are either from competitors or disgruntled ex-employees. It's amazing to me that attorneys continue to pay this company when they do such a complete disservice to the industry. The proper place for consumer complaints is each individual bar association. Shameful and unethical.

Avvo misrepresents the status of attorneys and is completely lacking in transparency.

The basic business model is to scour public records for whether someone has a law license. Whether the person actually practices law is not provided. They represent all lawyers rated as practicing attorneys. Many people attend law school, get a license yet never practice law.

Once Avvo finds a public record, they have an indiscriminate algorithm to rate that individual - again, whether or not they practice law. That algorithm is not exposed to the market. How can someone assess the true rating of an attorney in absence of knowing what the measurement criteria are?

Total joke. Someone trying to make money by scouring public records. You better suited to doing individual research on a known, practicing attorney and skip Avvo.

I found a lawyer on Avvo who turned out to be horrible so I fired her. To be fair the second lawyer I found on Avvo was fantastic. Ok, to the point: I wrote a review on the horrible lawyer that was approved on Avvo back in 2010 and it stood for five years. Then in 2015, my review disappeared along with every other negative review of that lawyer.

So I e-mailed Avvo asking why. They replied that I didn't follow the guidelines for reviews. I replied, so why did you approved it, post it for five years, and then taken down? I never got a satisfactory answer from Avvo on that question so I gave up.

My take away: It appears to me that lawyers can pick and choose what reviews they want posted on Avvo. Thus making the site completely worthless in my opinion.

Yeah, I hear all of you complaining and they're all legitimate complaints. AVVO isn't a good place to hire an attorney but it is a really good place to get some good, free legal advice. Over the years I've asked a LOT of questions and the answers usually are very helpful. I, too, made a mistake and hired an attorney from the ratings and got royally burned. Yvette Banker from Arizona, usually does probate, guardianship, conservatorship. She did the old 'bait and switch' where she said only $500 retainer until I signed the contract and all of a sudden, the case was "very complicated and (she) needs another $2500 immediately." Even though I kept telling her I needed to make the case go away, get it dismissed, she kept saying "private fiduciary." I finally got nasty and told her she was to do what I tell her. She continued to screw the case up so I fired her before we even got to court. Arizona adult guardianship court and court appointed lawyers are predators personafied. They are only in it to take the person's estate away and line their own pockets. Two other AVVO attorneys to avoid is Joseph Boyle and Shad Blackford. Imagine why they would be putting a 91 year old through hell just so they can steal the person's estate! They are real bastards!

I retained this attorney for my divorce after I filed for the divorce and did all the leg work for paperwork to prove the mother was unfit to gain child custody as she has a severe gambling issue this attorney allowed my case to be rushed without putting out any discoveries to prove the mothers negligence and allowed the courts to put in 2 child support orders for the same mother, she did not file paperwork on time which lead my case into default, the mother doesn't work and the judge clearly stated to get the child exemptions were awarded to me for tax purposes and at the end of my case which she allowed to be rushed and closed in 2 months I lost the exemptions, I have no divorce decree and my children are living in an unsafe environment thousands of dollars later. She would not fight or argue anything in my defense I could have represented myself better and I have a technical education please beware unless you want to give your money away and get railroaded at the same time do not use this attorney and do not trust avvo review about her i wrote a review about this attorney and avvo removed it and replaced it with a fake one describing her as an awesome attorney. You can make your own descisions just know after your bad experience that I tried to warn you and protect your bank account as well as your life altering divorce and or child custody case please beware!

Dear Daniel A. DeLiberty Esq., thank you for your excellent representation in my credit card case. You relieved the stress of the constant battering of calls and mail sent to me by a company to pay on an old debt that was not owned. I did not have to attend one court hearing and my case was resolved by your Law Firm. Another good thing about your Law Firm, your cost was reasonable. Thanks again, I well refer your Firm to others and I will use you in the future if needed. Keep up the good work. T. Harris

I wrote a 1 star review of a lawyer I had a really bad experience with - not returning my calls / e-mails, charging me for services that were sort of half-rendered, not even explaining the legal process to me...

Avvo denied my reviews over and over citing "guidelines". When I enumerated exactly how I was meeting the guidelines, and I kept asking over and over for something more specific if I was truly not meeting the guidelines, I was finally told my review was about "mediation / arbitration" (those are not accepted).

Mediation / arbitration in their guidelines is about the lawyer being a neutral third party to mediation. It was 100% clear in my review, and my response to Avvo support, that I hired the lawyer to represent me in court and our interests were aligned - this was NOT a neutral party.

Each time I asked for a phone number to speak to a specific person, I was ignored.

So, the most logical conclusion I can reach is that they are cultivating reviews by making the barrier to acceptance so high they hope I will just give up.

AVVO increases ratings only for academic work, not for real-life success in trying cases. Many of their attorneys who have 10 ratings have never tried a case in their whole career. Further, an attorney who has won every case they tried will not get an increased rating because AVVO does NOT consider the attorney's litigation record. AVVO also does not figure client reviews into a rating; they only figure peer reviews. So an attorney who's "job" is to write articles for a newsletter will have a 10 rating, while an attorney who tries and wins cases may have a 5. DO NOT trust this rating system.