I Am Not An Avvo Kind Of Guy. I Do Not Martindale-Hubbell. I Refuse To Be A SuperLawyer.

I understand fully that the Third Wave is all about technologies flattening the management and marketing structures of the industrial age law practice.  I know we need to embrace cheap technologies in order to find and maintain clients.  But, I am not into Avvo.  I am not a SuperLawyer.  I do not care for the Texas Blue Book or Martindale-Hubbell.

Hush!  Shock!  Get out of town!

As a home office lawyer, I do not have time for this malarchy.  These services cater to the egos of individual lawyers more than they bring business in the door.  I refuse to participate in the surveys, and fight for ratings with these private organizations just so some opposing counsel can look me up and feel better about himself because he managed to manipulate a rating on Avvo, or Martindale, or because he bought his way into the "SuperLawyer" crowd.  It takes a lot of energy, time and effort to compete on these things.  I get emails all of the time from lawyers who want to approve their position on Avvo now.  I comply because the attorneys are my friends and colleagues.  However, I am not going to do it myself.

And, here is the reason why?  I have a very keen realization as to where my business and referrals come.  Maybe it helps some Big Law attorney to be listed on Martindale when some other referring Big Law outfit needs to refer, but I think even this has been marginalized by in-house selection systems and the Internet over the years.  My business comes from networking and having a personal reference with other attorneys and groups that know what I do, how I do it, my success, and have clients in which to refer.  They get their referral sources at the water cooler, at the courthouse, at bar association meetings and from fellow attorneys.  They could care less about Avvo.

My suggestion is to stick to the basics of what actually brings in the business.  It almost always requires personal contact with your referral sources, couple with lots of reminders that you are still out there.  So, when you are thinking about writing me about posting something about you on Avvo or some other site, I will do it because I care for you.  Otherwise, I know, and I think most people know that these services can be manipulated and do not reflect anything constructive.  Instead of sending me an email, write your former clients for referrals.  Contact one of your referral sources and remind them you still want their good word.  It is, by and large, that personal attention that will keep clients coming in the front door.

Comments

[Grant D. Griiffiths]

Thank you for actually saying what I have been thinking. Great post.

[Conrad from Avvo]

Chuck - thanks for the post and I must say, that I've heard this more than once. From an admittedly biased perspective, let me respond: With all the research that we've done on how consumers choose a lawyer, I can confirm that you are right: the single most important factor consumers consider when selecting a lawyer is a personal referral. However, I believe you miss two important points: 1) some consumers start with the Yellow Pages because they don't have access to a network that includes lawyers. Avvo provides more objective information for these consumers than a garish (and expensive) YP spot. "But I don't have those type of clients!" . . . which brings me to 2) consumers often use the internet to do additional due diligence on lawyers referred by their friends. A large volume of traffic comes to Avvo through natural search terms on lawyers' names.

-Conrad from Avvo.