Avvo Legal Advisory Reveals Correlation between Lawyer Reviews and Prospective Client Inquiries

Data shows that bankruptcy, DUI and immigration clients are generally the happiest with their lawyers.

Seattle, Wash – May 16, 2012 – Avvo, Inc., the web’s largest expert-only health and legal Q&A forum and directory (http://www.avvo.com/), today released its first Avvo Legal Advisory (ALA) highlighting trends in lawyer reviews on Avvo.com. Among Avvo’s users, more than 87 percent of lawyer reviews are positive and over 89 percent say they would recommend their attorney to others. Furthermore, ratings and reviews are a key driver of new business. According to an April 2012 survey of legal professionals, 56 percent of respondents reported that aside from referrals, the majority of new business is generated online through lawyer directories, rating and review sites.

“There is a strong correlation between the number of positive reviews a lawyer has on their profile and the number of new client inquiries they receive,” said Mark Britton, founder and CEO at Avvo, Inc. “In fact, our data shows that attorneys with at least 20 reviews receive seven times more contacts from potential clients than their peers with fewer than five reviews.”

Avvo identified the following trends and behaviors related to clients’ reviews of lawyers:

• Bankruptcy, DUI, and Immigration clients are generally the happiest with their lawyers. DUI lawyers received the highest volume of positive reviews with 93 percent of clients leaving a five-star review. Bankruptcy and immigration lawyers received 92 percent and 90 percent of positive five-star reviews, respectively. Conversely, family law attorneys received the greatest negative ratings with 20 percent of client reviews receiving one-star, followed by divorce attorneys with 19 percent of negative reviews
• Language relating to the effective outcome of the case and an attorney’s knowledge were key factors cited in positive reviews and ratings.  Key phrases such as “won the case” or got the “case dismissed” were used in 23 percent of attorney reviews while 22 percent of all five-star reviews referred to their lawyer’s knowledge as a top factor for leaving a positive review. 
• Lack of perceived value for the money spent on their lawyer was the leading factor in negative reviews.  The high cost associated with legal fees was cited in 42 percent of negative reviews, indicating clients felt they did not receive value for the money they spent on their attorney.

Providing a Forum for Constructive Client Reviews

Avvo provides users the ability to provide detailed reviews of their client experiences as well as rate their attorney’s performance on a five-star scale, addressing areas such as trust, responsiveness, and overall knowledge.  Avvo maintains a rigorous process for evaluating all client reviews placed on the site to ensure the highest level of integrity and objectivity.  Reviews determined to be fraudulent are removed from the site, and professionals on Avvo have the ability to respond to negative reviews.

The Avvo Legal Advisory (ALA) features data from Avvo’s broad user base and community of licensed professionals, as well as analysis of questions asked in Avvo’s Q&A forum which receives more than 75,000 legal and health questions and answers every month.

About Avvo, Inc.

Avvo provides trusted answers to consumer health and legal questions every 9.7 seconds. In Avvo’s free Q&A forum consumers can get free legal advice or free medical advice from more than 125,000 participating lawyers, doctors and dentists. Avvo’s professional directory provides comprehensive profiles, patient and client reviews, peer endorsements and the industry-recognized Avvo Rating for more than 90 percent of doctors, dentists and lawyers in the U.S. Avvo launched in 2007 and is privately held with funding from Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Ignition Partners.