"Goat" Is Awarded a 'Superb' Avvo Rating
You may have read my articles detailing my distrust of Avvo and its easy-to-manipulate attorney rating system. A couple recent Avvo stories really emphasize just how out of control it is--and made me laugh my ass off.
The first--and funniest by far--is the story of "Goat Lawyer". Apparently a Minnesota attorney converted his own Avvo profile into "Goat Lawyer". Complete with his goat photo, he put a bunch of time into creating a profile and CV for the barnyard figure, including a host of goat-related articles and accomplishments, including a fake Creighton Law Review article, “Reexamining EPA Regulations Regarding Plastic Fencing, BPA, and Chewable Contours of the Farm”, and a Minnesota CLE speaking engagement, “Tech Tools for Lawyers, Goats, and Canaries.”.
How did Avvo rate Goat Lawyer? "Superb" 9.2 rating. Hilarious, if it wasn't so sad. Of course, Avvo will probably explain that it has no control over people lying. Good out? Hardly. Avvo sucks, in my opinion.
Need more? How about the Avvo peer endorsement racket I complained about in my earlier post? A case in point: Howard Lewis, a Massachusetts attorney who personally endorsed more than 9,000 attorneys. He's not the only one, at the time of this article, Christian K. Lassen II, has 1,026 endorsements of himself. He has endorsed lawyers from sea to shining sea on Avvo.
Endorsement fishing is a practice whereby lawyers give other lawyers--sometimes scores of them--a good endorsement in hopes that she/he will reciprocate with a good endorsement of them. Some extreme cases illustrate the potential abuse of Avvo's peer rating mechanism, which tempts some lawyers to artificially increase their so-called "Avvo rating" by racking up peer endorsements.
If you see a lawyer or law firm bragging about their so-called Avvo rating, consider the source.