Complaint Review: LawyerRatingz.com

I wouldn't argue that "Lawyerratings.com" is not a public forum. I have no reason to believe theat it is not.

But here's where I take issue with the above employee's rebuttal:

"Ratemyteacher.com" is a fairly reliable website. The criteria used are valid, and any highl school or college student is perfectly capable of determining whether a given teacher "rocks" or "sucks." (To be honest, one of the criteria on Ratemyteacher is "hotness," so I'm not sure how much credence I would put in that site).

But when it comes to "Rate my Doctor" or "Rate my Lawyer," the layman is generally COMPLETELY incapabale of performing an accurate rating.

Case in point: I used one of these sites becuase I was searching for a new physician. He had two ratings. One was terrible, the other was spectacular. So I did some more research, and decided to employ him as my personal physician. Now, even though the first poster, gave him all "1s," I found this physician to be, far and above, the finest doctor I have ever had.

There was even one time where I visited his office, he determined that I needed to go to the ER, but I didn't have a ride. This doctor PERSONALLY drove me to the hospital, went back into the ER, explained what was going on, and explained that I had little faith in the hospital he took me to.

Lo and behold, I get the best medical treatment of my life. Pain completely controlled and the underlying symptoms completely resolved.

Nonetheless, someone gave him a "1" rating on a website. Months later, I meet the person that gave this rating. She was seeking narcotic medications, he didn't feel as though she needed them, and so he didn't prescribe them. She was obviously a "seeker" who didn't get what she wanted. And he did more than well by her by not prescribing narcotics.

So boo-h*o on "Rate my doctor" sites.

Now, I am an attorney, and I have never checked to see if I show up on any of these sites. But I practice bankruptcy law and, in my mind, if it idn't in someone's best interest to file bankruptcy, I will neither advise it nor file it. Sure, there may be some people who disagree with me, but I am bound by a code of ethics, and part of that code states that I don't advise people of inappropriate legal avenues.

Bottom line: if you want to know whether a local lawyer is good or bad, talk to local people. See if people you know and trust have used the services, what their experiences were, and how objective their opinions are.

Best regards to all, and ignore the web-based criticism.

I had to laugh when I read the above comment by one of the LawyerRatingz.com employees. LawyerRatingz.com actively CENSORS highly appropriate comments. In fact, they REMOVE posts that say almost NOTHING about unethical attorneys. That's right, they remove VERY BENIGN posts. Don't bother to post anything there unless, of course, you want to see your posts disappear while, at the same time, the attorney your reporting on writes numerous reviews about how wonderful he/she wants others to believe. LawyerRatingz.com is a joke - stay FAR away from it.

LawyerRatingz.com is a public forum, operated by Ratingz Inc, where consumers can share information and opinions about service providers. The site follows the well established tradition of sites like RateMyProfessors.com, RateMDs.com, and ConsumerConnection.com. These sites are often criticized by service providers, who claim that individuals are bias, or are not qualified to judge their professional services.

At Ratingz Inc, we believe that people are pretty smart! They can determine whether information is biased or objective, and whether the raters are providing good information, or just venting. We don't attempt to filter posts (other than those that violate our terms of use)... instead, we let consumers hear diretcly from other consumers.

To learn about the specific policies of LawyerRatingz.com, visit our FAQ page at http://www.lawyerratingz.com/faq.jsp

LawyerRatingz.com is owned an operated by Ratingz Inc, and is a member of the Rating and Review Professional Association. You'll find a great deal of information about rating and review sites at rarpa.org.

Any site that allows any Joe off the street to "rate" attorneys is bound to be defunct and rife with libel.

Think about it this way: in pretty much every civil case, one or both parties will walk away dissatisfied. Everybody thinks they have a great case but, in reality, "great" cases are few and far between. And when someone walks away from a legal matter unhappy, they rarely recognize the weakness of their own case as the cause of their failure. So who do they blame? Their lawyer, the other side's lawyer, or the judge.

Now I'm not saying that there aren't bad lawyers, or even bad judges out there. There most certainly are. But laymen, without a solid understanding of how the legal system functions, are generally very unreliable sources of information as to a lawyer's skills.

Add to that the fact that people who are unhappy with a given service are about 8 times more likely to report their dissatisfaction than satisfied clients are to report their satisfaction.

The truth is that there really is no reliable way of knowing before-hand whether a lawyer is "good" or "bad." A given lawyer may be a pro in one practice area, and a dunce in another. Even the Martindale Hubbel rating system, that uses the "AV", "BV" and "CV" ratings is pretty much useless, as it is primarily based on what other lawyers think about a given lawyer. A new lawyer who hasn't yet established himself may be an excellent attorney, but nonetheless receive a low rating because he has not yet made a name for himself in the legal community.

Your best bet, which itself isn't all that reliable, is to ask around to people you know and trust. See which lawyers they used in the past. Ask them about the attorney's demeanor, skill, and fees. This route isn't perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than relying on the hearsay statements of anonymous persons with questionable motives.