Years ago, when I was a puppy lawyer hoping to achieve some middling acknowledgement that I possessed the slightest degree of competency at my chosen profession, I hoped to somehow make it onto Martindale-Hubbell’s radar so that I could be rated. There was no guarantee that a lawyer was even worthy of consideration, no less a rating. But M-H was like the Oracle, looking down on mere mortal lawyers to decide whether they were worthy.
That was then. Now, M-H has not only fallen from its perch on high, but is so low down that it needs to buy a few minutes of attention. This is the email received yesterday:
Dear Scott,As an AV® rated attorney, I know you value your credential and want to share the distinction with as many potential new clients and peers as possible. That’s why I’m pleased to offer you a complimentary Martindale-Hubbell® AV Rated Attorney lapel pin for simply agreeing to a
5-minute phone conversation about our new Lawyers.comSM Enhanced Profiles.Lawyers.com is the most visited site for consumers seeking an attorney, with more than 20 million visitors a year.* While you’re listed in Lawyers.com, your current profile has limited information and could be working much harder for you: Click to view your profile
Act now to take advantage of Lawyers.com Enhanced Profiles, a new inexpensive listing option available only to select attorneys. For a minimal investment, you can enhance your profile by adding:
- Your phone number and e-mail
- Your AV® Preeminent™ rating
- A direct link to your website and law firm video
- Biographic information, including professional accomplishments and Areas of Practice
- Direct links to your Facebook®, LinkedIn® and Twitter® pages
- Plus we will promote your Lawyers.com profile in Google™ Web searches
Please let me know when you would have five minutes to talk, so I can validate your credentials and mailing address to send your lapel pin, while supplies last.
While supplies last? Do they anticipate a mad rush to get those “AV” lapel pins? I mean, hot dang, strutting my stuff through the courthouse, an “AV” on my lapel, fighting off all those Big Money clients clawing at my preeminent heels. And all this for only giving the M-H salesperson five minutes of my life, which I will never, ever, get back.
As much as I, like any other red-blooded American lawyer, crave an “AV” lapel pin, the notion of spending five minutes of what’s left of my life with a M-H salesman falls slightly below sticking a needle in my eye. I wonder if the back of the lapel pin would serve that purpose?
But then, Martindale-Hubbell is offering to “validate my credentials.” Are my credentials currently unvalidated? Isn’t validation what we all seek. Especially from Martindale-Hubbell? I was nothing until M-H sent me a lapel pin. Now I’m a preeminent lawyer. Something tells me, however, that there will be an additional cash payment on my part before I’m as “validated” as I could be.
It’s just pathetic that M-H has been reduced to sending out solicitations like this. Gone are the days when M-H was best known for its very large, very heavy, very brown books, and looked awfully darn good behind your head when the ambush interview aired. Gone are the days when a young lawyer prayed that some old guy in a pinstripe suit and white shirt from M-H would peer over his spectacles and whisper, you’re worthy. I can still remember the crashing anguish of a lawyer down the hall who received a BV rating, sending him into a tailspin that didn’t stop until he was found in the gutter on skid row.
Was it a joke then, but we didn’t know any better? It’s not clear, but its certainly a joke now. An AV rating and a metrocard gets you a ride on the subway. What it won’t get you is a client. What it won’t get you is the respect of your fellow lawyers or judges. Not even if you show up for your next court appearance sporting a shiny new “AV” lapel pin.
One question, however, continues to pound at my brain. If you were one of the lucky few to get an “AV” lapel pin, while supplies last, would you actually wear it?
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Some of my jackets don’t have lapels. How much would I have to donate to get the Martindale-Hubbell AV-rated Attorney tote bag instead?
Pathetic is right. They had a window of about three years to turn around their legacy market position and leverage into something meaningful in the new media context. Like most monopolies, they had no clue how to compete, much less innovate.
Lapel pin!
I want the coffee mug.
I’m holding out for the beach towel and umbrella set.
I’ve been getting those for at least a year. Every month they send an email saying the offer is about to expire.
Maybe if they had t-shirts……
Say what you will, the MH rating system is still the standard bearer to compare and evaluate attorneys. Even the most hardened critics who are AV rated will attest….You can buy a Superlawyer moniker but not an AV….If it was meaningless on the whole, FindLaw would never have bought the SuperLawyer nonsense….Come on Ron, this from a member of the AV club?
You’re right about that, Walter. In fact that AV rating made me a significant amount of money (spread out of course over a significant amount of time… still, I’ll take it). But it may very well not be enough to save their business model.
See, I won’t pay Avvo $59 a month for ANYTHING. I _would_ pay MH that much for an expanded listing, however. And that could add up to a lot. But they’re nowhere near there. Plus, last time I looked, I can’t do that individually. And my partners, most of whose business (unlike mine) does not come from the Internet, are not interested in paying, well, anything…
You and Bradley Collins are both AV-rated. Congratulations! However, he needs to update his “Reported Cases” section. I didn’t see reference to Holland v. Flordida anywhere.
But does he wear his AV lapel pin to prove he’s one of the cool kids?