Companies

Lawyer rating and directory site Avvo has received $10 million in a new round of financing, led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm DAG Ventures. Current Avvo investors, Benchmark Capital and Ignition Partners, also invested in this round. The funds will enable Avvo to further expand and enhance its products and services…

In a move that underscores the increasing importance of lawyer ratings and reviews in helping consumers select a lawyer, Thomson Reuters announced today that it has acquired the Super Lawyers, the suite of attorney-rating publications and Web site created by Key Professional Media, based in Minneapolis, Minn.

Super Lawyers creates and distributes an…

Lawyers spend much of their time at their computers, and much of that time using Microsoft Word or Microsoft Outlook. In recognition of that, LexisNexis today is announcing a major new product that integrates search and other tools directly within Word and Outlook. Called Lexis® for Microsoft Office, the product is an add-on to Office…

I am very happy to report that I will be a keynote speaker at the Avvocating Conference Jan. 21 and 22 in Seattle. Sponsored by Avvo, the conference has a great line-up of speakers who will address the theme of advanced online marketing training for lawyers.

The line-up includes insiders from LinkedIn,…

I am honored to say that this blog is included among Avvo’s Favorite Legal Blogs of 2009. I appreciate the honor and appreciate being included among such a stellar lot of legal blogs.…

Lawyer-rating site Avvo will introduce a premium version next week that will enhance lawyers ability to customize their profiles, enhance their visibility in other Avvo sections, and provide them with more detailed analytics. Called Avvo Pro, it will be available starting Nov. 6 for a monthly subscription of $49.95. (An initial promotion will offer…

The “scandal” making its way around the blogosphere over FindLaw’s allegedly selling text links in violation of Google’s policies is certainly worth discussing and debating. But I am concerned that the facts are being misconstrued in a way that is distorting what should be the focus of the debate. Some blogs portray FindLaw’s sales of…

I am not sure when this happened, because I just noticed it, but I see that Justia has added a lawyer directory to its many features. It lists lawyers and law firms by their practice areas and jurisdictions and can be searched by name and location. It is labeled “pre-beta,” suggesting it is…

The lawyer rating site Avvo unveiled a major redesign of its Web site last night in order to enhance user access to its three main features: Lawyer Search, Answers & Advice and Legal Guides. It also formally launched its Legal Guides, a series of brief overviews of legal topics written by private attorneys or…

As a follow-up to my post Monday, Avvo Expands to Mass., Florida, here is a report from the Boston Herald: Lawyers Caught in Web of Scrutiny.…

Lawyer-rating site Avvo expands this week to Massachusetts and Florida, bringing its coverage to 60 percent of licensed U.S. attorneys and spanning 11 states and the District of Columbia. Launched in June 2007, Avvo’s goal is to serve as a consumer resource by rating and profiling every U.S. lawyer. Initially, I was somewhat skeptical…

A federal judge in Seattle yesterday dismissed the class-action complaint filed by two lawyers against lawyer-rating site Avvo. U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik ruled that the opinions expressed through Avvo’s ratings system are absolutely protected by the First Amendment. Here is the money quote from the opinion:

“Rather than seeing the Avvo ratings