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July 24th, 2008, 1:40 am · 15 Comments · posted by Gadgetress
Have a legal question? At Avvo.com, there’s a lawyer waiting to answer it. For free. You don’t even have to have proper punctuation or leave an e-mail address.
The year-old site named after avvocato, or lawyer in Italian, targets consumers who want free legal advice or help choosing a lawyer. Yet, says founder Mark Britton, Avvo’s chief executive (pictured on right), it’s also for lawyers. I spoke to Britton recently to get the background on how this works for lawyers and us regular folk.
“Our mission is to get consumers more information and better guidance regarding legal situations and specifically in choosing a lawyer. We give them a free place to get information and feel empowered,” said Britton, a lawyer himself who previously oversaw the legal team at travel site Expedia.com.
Avvo lists thousands of lawyers in the Orange County area, and 1,158,491 listed on the site. With ratings and reviews, this is definitely better than hiring a lawyer straight out of the Yellow Pages, which most people still do, Britton said.
Asking a question is simple. Just type in the question, categorize it by legal subject, hit ‘continue’ and your question is live for all to see and waiting for anyone (hopefully a lawyer) to answer it. You will need to leave an e-mail address to be notified of a response or to answer a question yourself. Then check back in to see if anyone answered your question, which will look something like this:
Britton says that only 9 percent of the questions don’t get answered and that’s usually because they are incomprehensible.
“It’s this beautiful win-win situation. The consumer has a personal question. Lawyers see it as a great way to establish themselves, or advertising. With that incentive, lawyers get in there very quickly. We have two, three, four lawyers answering the same question,” he said.
A quick glance at questions posted within the past 24 hours shows that most have not been answered. But go back a few days, and every other questions appears to have a response.
Hiring a lawyer
Avvo assigns Avvo Ratings based on all public information on the lawyer (state bar associations, court records, lawyer web sites). Using a mathematical formula, Avvo calculates the years in practice, disciplinary history, professional achievements and industry recognition into its rating.
There is also space for registered clients and peers to leave comments about a lawyer. If a lawyer feels a review or comment is unfair, Avvo will first ask the reviewer. If there’s no response, Avvo takes the comment off. If the person stands by his comment, Avvo leaves it up.
“They’re all opinions in their own way and imperfect in their own way. But bringing them all together, they are a mosaic, so you’ll have a pretty good opinion of the ratings,” Britton said.
The online service is expanding nationwide and currently covers 65 percent of the lawyers in the U.S. By the end of the year, the site will have cover 80 percent of the lawyers.
“The reality is that lawyers solve a lot of problems in our community every day and they get a bad rap. We’ve all heard the bad lawyer jokes. But in reality, you have a lot of lawyers out there solving problems.”
Images from Avvo.com
July 29th, 2008 at 8:25 am
in injury case lawyer cancelled court date without my knowledge day before court date and stated after i requested for more money to make it to next court date that if i wanted money to feed my family i better sign offer sheet because he would not give me anything else. this sheet signed away all responsibility of railroad…under these circumstances does this include the seniority buyout at that time was $75,000 and later went to $150,000?
July 29th, 2008 at 8:49 am
Glenn — You need to ask your question on Avvo’s web site, at avvo.com/legal-answers. Good luck! — Gadgetress
July 30th, 2008 at 9:20 am
My question is, can I suite the woman who is having an afair with my husband?
July 30th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
My daughter and a friend rented an apartment for 1 year. Both paid security deposits of $100.00. My daughter elected to move out at the end of the first year. The new tenant replacing my daughter was not required to pay a security deposit and the complex is holding my daughter’s deposit until the apartment is vacated. Since my daughter is no longer a tenant there and not a party to the new lease agreement, she has no control over when the apartment will be vacated. Is is legal for the apartment complex to keep her deposit?
August 6th, 2008 at 11:34 pm
last year in october to january of this year i stayed in a hotel in salt lake city. the hotel has some nice rooms. the rooms i stayed in
was not that nice. i kept asking and asking for a new room and they kept saying next week. it was cold and snowing and
i kept asking for another room. the floor was covered (the carpet) with wax and the water faucets did not work. the dresser
drawer was half apart and the fan in the bathroom was putting out sparks and smoke so bad that if you left it on it would make
the hotel fire alarm go off. i ended up hurting myself because of a number of reasons in this hotel room. the ad they put out
states room service once a week. i never did recieve such. i took a number of injuries from this room. anyways to make a
long story short i kept asking and asking for another room and never did recieve such. in the end i went down to the front desk
clerk and told him if i could not get another room then i was checking out and he just looked at me and told me that i could
not have another room. i ended up checking out right then after asking him about fifty times for a new room. i halfway through
contacted the headquarters of this hotel chain about all the issues sent them a fax and did recieve a reply. to no avail.
at this point i then asked them for my money back. a long while went on and they did call me back (the hotel headquarters)
and did make me a offer. a $100 was what they offered me. they even called me back a second time and offered me the same amount.
i did not take it. instead i filed suit in small calims court. now this is what i am writing about. the court clerk filed
the small claims and the constable or sherriff or whoever they have to serve the defendant
was paid and by law was supposed to serve the
defendant. i then called the small claims court (the justice court) where the small claims was supposed to be seen by the judge
and asked the court clerk when the court date was. they politely responded that the court date was on this date and at this time.
that was just fine with me. when the court date and at the time this was supposed to be i showed up in tie and nice clothes
ready to defend my rights. i did have the time and date as right yet i was still not on the court
schedule. i was there when the court clerk told me that a court date had been set yet there was no official court hearing or
i was not on the court list for this night. upon asking the court clerk why i had been told there was a court hearing in small
claims court and that i was not on the list of small claims for the night they responded that the defendant had not been served.?
so i showed up from hundreds of miles away stayed in a hotel and then went into court for?
i am not a expert on such matters. i am not a attorney. if they had not served the defendant as they were supposed to then
why was i given a court date and time. they clerk told me the defendant had not been served and that they had not responded.?
i sat there for a while in court and then went and asked for the clerk to give me some kind of proof that i was at court and
he did such. he gave me a signed and dated and timed piece of paper stating i had been there and the defendant did not
show. now upon this they are asking me for (i do have what they are asking me for) the summons and to fax it to them so they may
serve the defendant. i am wondering if this is exact lawfull and if they can do this. what is then to stop them from doing this all
over again. telling me there is a court date and time and then me to travel hundreds of miles and to show up and then not be on
the small claims court list for the night. if you need more info please e-mail me at
boise123123@usa.com i am all ears on this issue. and will check my e-mails daily. and will respond to each one.
have a great day.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:52 am
I was charged with petit larceny when i found a wallet on the counter of a subway store. I picked up the wallet and then took the money out and threw the wallet in the garbage. It ended up being a ladies wallet in the store next door. She had misplaced it she had told the cops that someone took it out of her purse. She did not relieze she had misplaced it. She looked through the garbage and she has her wallet the very next day before they even knew who i was. Is that still considered a petit larceny because she had misplaced her wallet and got it back?
August 13th, 2008 at 6:10 am
what if a lawyer lies during a deposition
August 14th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Hi, I helped a family member on a Job doing tree work he said he would pay me $10.00 Hr. We got the Job done and now he will not pay me or talk to me or even answer the phone I have left him messages asking for my money he owe’s me. He owe’s me $585.00…..how do I get my money he owe’s me??………..Mike Jones thecopycat2008@yahoo.com
August 14th, 2008 at 10:15 am
Again folks: You need to ask your question on Avvo’s web site, at avvo.com/legal-answers. Good luck! — Gadgetress
August 20th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
someone is involved in a murder case. that person is now receiving death threats from another person involved, how do they become a witness for the state?
August 21st, 2008 at 5:28 pm
i have a friend that lives in russia. she has gotten a visa to come to the U.S. and work. but she says they told her that she had to have 2000 dollars on her to get through customs because she has to have money to live on over here. well i told her i would give her a place to stay and take care of her until she could go to work. so how can i get her over here without having to show customs 2000 dollars for her to get in the U.S.
August 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
I am starting a photography business. I want to take action pictures of school age athletes playing team sports and post them on my web site for sale. Are there any legal restrictions?
August 27th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
If a man takes you on a date and buys you rounds and rounds of beer then takes you back to your car for YOU to drive home, is he responsible?
August 28th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
Tuesday, of this week someone that I know attacked me and robbed me of my cell phone on the property of Southwest Police station (LAPD). I ran into the police station and the officer saw the hair coming out of my hair from which she pulled as well as the blood on my hand that came from her scratching me. I gave the officer her name and later I gave him the vehicle’s vin number and her address. I asked them was there any cameras, they said there weren’t any on that side. They took a report and told me I would have to wait until a detective contacts me. My question is shouldn’t the police department be liable for my injuries and my incident because there weren’t any cameras on that site. I also think it wasn’t handled in an appropriate manner since it happened on their vicinities. Please email me back with an answer. I’ll greatly appreciate it!
August 28th, 2008 at 9:20 pm
Can I sue the police department?