Our series on lawyer review websites continues with LawyersRatingz.com. If you are interested in reading about the other lawyer review websites profiled on the UpwardAction Blog, check out the Lawyer Review Websites category here.

LawyerRatingz.com is an interesting and popular lawyer review website that incorporates a bit of humor into a rating system that is entirely build on unverified consumer ratings. This is accomplished through the website’s frequently updated scorecards.

This site a part of the Ratingz network, which is a conglomerate of client and consumer based review sites. As of the time this blog post was publishes, LawyerRatingz.com claimed to be home to 98,545 ratings written by its community of users, covering a total of 770,717 lawyers.

This free site’s rating system differs dramatically from many other lawyer review sites. LawyerRatingz.com has a 5-point rating system that is expressed in emoticons that correlate to a specific number. For instance, the emoticon with the biggest smile equates to a rating of 5 (the best possible) and the emoticon with the biggest frown equates to a rating of 1 (the worst). The site also allows the person providing the rating to leave a comment that supplements their numeric rating in the box provided. Quirky, I know, but – apparently popular with the website’s users.

For Consumers and Potential Clients:
While is it unwise to solely rely on the content provided on this website, the information provided does provide a useful starting point for conversations when interviewing lawyers for legal representation. It is also useful to compare the information contained LawyerRatingz.com with what is contained on lawyer review websites like Lawyers.com and Superlawyers.com.

Folks using this website should keep in mind that anyone is capable of posting a review, and sometimes, the information provided is not entirely truthful or accurate. Generally speaking, the more ratings a lawyer has, the more likely the ratings are to be valid. The website encourages its website visitors to help moderate the site. There are red flags next to the comment boxes that users are encouraged to click if there is any reason to believe a particular attorney review is invalid or inflammatory. This action marks the comment for moderator attorney. For the most part, this is the extent of the validation of comments, so proceed with caution.

For Lawyers:
LawyerRatingz.com can be a useful tool for your online reputation management toolbox if you (or a consulting firm like UpwardAction®) are actively managing your online reputation. Even though the lawyer reviews are not validated and can be posted anonymously, LawyerRatingz.com is a useful resource for people who are in search of information about individual attorneys and also legal topics.

A key benefit of using this website is not only making it easy for happy clients to rate your legal representation, but also driving quality traffic to your website, blog or LinkedIn profile.

More than just lawyer reviews:

Like many lawyer review websites: in addition to ratings, scorecards and comments, LawyerRatingz.com also provides a list of top-rated attorneys in various practice areas, law-related articles, and an interactive forum where users can share and compare information, seek advice, and discuss all things pertaining to legal representation. Lawyers may also participate in forum discussions, answer questions, and provide general helpful information that is related to their core practice areas.

If you are an attorney who is not leveraging attorney review and lawyer ranking sites like LawyerRatingz.com in your law business, we should talk. If you are unsure about how to transform your law practice into a law business (which is true for lots of lawyers), we should talk. Click here to get started.

If you have a questions and want to get a hold of me directly, you can reach me at CoachTC {@} UpwardAction. I read and respond to every email. Just give me a couple of business days to get back to you.

Ciao!

TC Cooper