Bar Associations
DC Bar Tussles With Lawyer Ranking Site Avvo Over Use of Online Information
Posted Mar 9, 2009 8:14 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss
The District of Columbia Bar has warned Avvo that it will pursue “any and all available remedies” if the lawyer ranking website doesn’t remove information acquired from the bar.
The bar association sent a cease and desist letter to Avvo on Jan. 27, the Washington Post reports. The bar contends Avvo took website information for commercial purposes in violation of the bar’s terms of use, according to a message to members posted online.
"This has nothing to do with obstructing access to information," D.C. Bar spokeswoman Cynthia Kuhn told the Post. "It has to do with a commercial company taking this information without authorization and in some cases perpetuating misinformation" by not updating the data frequently enough.
The letter, written by Sidley Austin lawyer Timothy Webster, contends Avvo is violating an anti-hacking law known as the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, according to Washington Times.
At least two states—Illinois and Connecticut—have balked at providing Avvo with lawyer information. New Jersey agreed last spring to release lawyer records.
Not everyone agrees with the D.C. Bar’s stance. Georgetown University law professor Rebecca Tushnet told the Post that the bar association's restrictions on use are "ridiculously overreaching" and it’s wrong for the bar to stand in the way of the use of public information. "The basic question is, can that little notice at the bottom of every website actually be a binding contract?" she said.
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Comments
Larry
Mar 9, 2009 9:06 AM CST
Keep up the site - don’t let big greedy government tell the little man how to make a living. All that info is public information.
Let them keep wasting their member’s dues on Sidley Austin legal fees.
lucy
Mar 9, 2009 10:50 AM CST
This article is lifted from today’s Washington Post article. It’s interesting that ABA did not include Avvo’s quotes from same article.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/08/AR2009030801530.html
Josh King
Mar 9, 2009 11:55 AM CST
A couple of items in need of clarification here: First, if the DC Bar were to provide the data directly (instead of attempting to block our access to their public website), Avvo would be happy to keep its data more up-to-date. We’d be delighted, in fact, if the bar were to set up a feed so we could keep our site as current as the bar’s own records.
Secondly, Avvo has never had any issues with Connecticut. CT is one of the many states that provides Avvo with attorney licensing information directly via disc or email.
Josh King
VP Business Development & General Counsel
Avvo, Inc.
Barry
Mar 10, 2009 10:14 AM CST
Contrary to what Lucy said above, this ABA article is not “lifted” from the Washington Post article so there is no mystery as to why the quote from the Avvo executive is not included. They are two entirely different articles. By the way, in my opinion, Avvo.com is a wildly inaccurate website which would be a complete joke if not for the fact that non-lawyers seem to believe it is accurate.
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