Lawyer Directory
Avvo is a free website service that helps clients resolve their legal matters through the use of many services the website provides. Avvo contains lawyer directories of over 90 percent of licensed lawyers within the United States. For each lawyer that is featured in the lawyer directory, there are lawyer descriptions, client reviews, a brief history of each lawyer, and endorsements written by lawyers’ peers. There is also quite a lot of legal information in addition to the lawyer directories that provide legal advice for those seeking it, all written and submitted by lawyers themselves. In addition, there is a free question and answer service where anybody can submit a legal question (anonymously if the person would like) and a lawyer who is a member on the website can answer the questions.
The Financing of the Most Extensive Lawyer Directory in the U.S.:
Avvo is a company that is financed by Benchmark Capital and Ignition Partners. It receives revenue through advertisement spaces and other functions that lawyers use and pay a fee for (such as being featured in their lawyer directory).
Details of the Lawyer Directories on Avvo.com:
The Avvo lawyer directory is a database of over 90 percent of licensed lawyers within the United States. The profiles of each lawyer are taken from available public records that have been released by state bars and other companies and organizations specializing in attorney licensing.
Avvo covers many states within the U.S., including Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin. Also, Avvo partially covers Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, South Carolina and Wyoming. Avvo is still expanding their coverage to further states as well.
Controversy Surrounding Avvo:
Despite all the useful lawyer directory and information services that Avvo offers, it is also met with some controversy. The Washington D.C. Bar believes that Avvo has taken information from its website without permission and is using it to make a profit. They also accused them of soliciting lawyers via email in the Washington D.C. area. Avvo believes that it has done nothing wrong and refusing to remove the said information from its website.
Avvo believes that certain information on bar websites is open for all the public to use for any purpose. In addition, Avvo believes that the terms of use stated on Washington D.C.’s Bar website that prevent the use of its information is unenforceable. Law professionals agree with Avvo, believing that all information restrictions on D.C.’s Bar website are far overreaching its boundaries.
Avvo also has been in a class action law suit from lawyers that feel that they were misrepresented in the ratings in Avvo’s lawyer directory. The case was eventually thrown out though, with the judge claiming that Avvo is demonstrating its First Amendment rights. The case did, however, give Avvo more press and gave the lawyer directory a boost in attention.