Lawyer review and consumer information websites (with a focus on legal services) can provide a great service for consumers, but can be a nightmare for lawyers who are not actively managing their online reputations. Here’s the thing, if you are a lawyer in a solo or small practice and you are not actively managing your online reputation – your online reputation will eventually manage you.
Through my work, I’ve found that lots of attorneys are simply unaware of the many lawyer review sites on the Internet with the potential to impact their law practices in both positive and negative ways. I've developed this series of “Spotlight On:” articles about lawyer review websites and website that provide legal information for consumers to change this fact. Let’s get started with Lawyers.com.
Lawyer.com is a free consumer-focused lawyer review website that’s owned by Martindale-Hubbell and powered by LexisNexis. This website contains profiles and information about roughly one million lawyers and law firms, worldwide. In addition, Lawyers.com provides explanations of major areas of law, tips on how to select a great lawyer, and hosts interactive community discussions on hundreds of law-related topics.
A useful feature (for both lawyers and consumers) on the Lawyers.com website is question and answer forum in which real lawyers address real questions about legal matters that are asked by real people. The website also contains lots of “do it yourself” forms that consumers can use to handle basic matters themselves.
Designed specifically for individuals and small businesses, Lawyers.com deliver useful information to help people without a legal background develop a basic understanding of the law; make more informed decisions when trying to determine if they need a lawyer; and, identify high quality legal representation. Visitors to the Lawyers.com platform who are in need of legal representation can search for an attorney who has been rated by their peers by either area of practice or geographic location.
In 2009, Lawyers.com was selected as a Webby Awards Nominee. The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. The 13th Annual Webby Awards received nearly 10,000 entries from all 50 states and over 60 countries worldwide. Out of the thousands of entries that were submitted, less than 15% of sites are chosen by the Academy as Official Honorees; Lawyer.com was one of them. Most recently, Lawyers.com was a 2014 SIIA CODiE winner – an honor that it received for providing an exceptional consumer resource.
Lawyers.com is a useful resource for lawyers who want to build an influential online brand and manage their online reputation. For example, Martindale-Hubbell is creator of the “AV” rating – which is based on a lawyer’s reputation within the legal community (I referenced this feature earlier). The AV rating is an especially useful tool lawyers building credibility and strengthening their personal brand (both online and offline). This rating is based on a lawyer’s reputation among peers, making it less arbitrary than other lawyer ratings.
If you are an attorney and you are not leveraging the power of Lawyers.com to strengthen your online reputation, your reputation management toolbox is missing a major asset. Let's talk about what you should do about it. Click here to get started.
If you are a consumer reading this article, check out Lawyers.com.
You’ll find useful information that will help you made an informed decision when hiring legal counsel.
Until next time – take great care!
~TC Cooper
