Tort Law
Lawyer Rankings Rankle, Suit Results
Posted Jun 18, 2007, 04:05 pm CST
By Martha Neil
Rankled by lawyer rankings that reportedly gave the dean of Stanford Law School a lower score than that of a dead and disbarred lawyer, affected attorneys are--surprise!--suing.
John Henry Browne, a Seattle trial lawyer who is also unhappy about his own score, has filed a federal class action suit against Avvo Corp., based in Seattle, contending that the Internet start-up's effort to assign numerical scores from 1 to 10 to help consumers select the "right" attorney is inaccurate and misleading, reports New York Lawyer. Browne represents Steve W. Berman, managing partner of the city's Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro.
Berman says the rankings are "unreliable and meaningless, misleading to a consumer trying to find a lawyer." But Avvo CEO Mark Britton says they are accurate. Reportedly, the company has made some ratings adjustments.