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Avvo

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Overview

Avvo has a rating of 1.4 stars from 419 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers complaining about Avvo most frequently mention law firm, state bar, and community guidelines problems. Avvo ranks 81st among Legal Documents sites.

  • Service
    62
  • Value
    55
  • Shipping
    18
  • Returns
    20
  • Quality
    55

This company does not typically respond to reviews

Positive reviews (last 12 months): 0%
Positive
0
Neutral
0
Negative
4
39
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How would you rate Avvo?
Top Positive Review

“Very profesional.”

Linda W.
10/28/17

Mr. Holberg is very competent, professional, and an absolutely nice person. He wins. He has been my attorney for eight years. He has never lost a case while representing me. If I ever have to go back to court he will be my attorney.

Top Critical Review

“The whole kit n kabootle 4realz,...,...”

richard cranium D.
6/7/24

Just abt all the lawyers on there are snooty,self rightous,smartaz know it alls who dgafa"wedaPpl". N thats the troooof bruh

Reviews (419)

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law firm (16) client reviews (14)
Thumbnail of user jw713
Arkansas
1 review
5 helpful votes
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April 27th, 2020

This site suppresses the truth because they deny any review that's not positive toward the person your reviewing and that's just not fair. Not everyone deserves a positive review! They are afraid of the truth so anyone on that site does have something to hide! TRUTH IN PLAIN SITE

Thumbnail of user chrisb1104
Texas
1 review
6 helpful votes
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June 9th, 2019

Wrote a review of my negative dealings with attorney Kay Goggins office. Met community guidelines, yet they chose to deny my review and not post it. This tells me they cannot be trusted.

Thumbnail of user kayn18
Maryland
1 review
11 helpful votes
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October 18th, 2016

I followed every one of their "guidelines" yet they refused to post my rating over and over again. Don't waste your time with them... they don't care abt getting real reviews out there.

Thumbnail of user maryellena1
New York
1 review
9 helpful votes
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February 3rd, 2023
Verified purchase

Many people are beginning to figure out that AVVO is not a trustworthy website for posting reviews.this is just 1 of many comments warning consumers about AVVO. It would be one thing for AVVO to post NO reviews. But to post ONLY positive reviews while refusing to post fact based negative reviews is very dishonest

Tip for consumers:
AVVO DENIES ALL NEGATIVE FACT BASED REVIEWS WITH THE SAME REJECTION EMAIL. THEY CLAIM THAT YOU HAVE VIOLATED THEIR GUIDELINES YET REFUSE TO STATE WHAT PART OF THE REVIEW NEEDS TO BE CHANGED OR REMOVED..YOU WILL GET THE EXACT SAME MESSAGE NO MATTER WHAT ..AS SOON AS THEY SEE A LOW RATING THEY DENY IT..I OFFERED TO PROVIDE PROIF ..THEY IGNORED ME

Thumbnail of user jenns19
Mississippi
2 reviews
16 helpful votes
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July 31st, 2015

All fluff and not accuracy. Anytime you want to write a bad review, they reject your review. Would stay clear of this sham. Two guy wanting to make money and that's it.

Thumbnail of user rabidb
Virginia
1 review
3 helpful votes
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November 17th, 2014

I find this lawyer from fairfax county he's very excellent lawyer Joseph h Beale I pray to god no one have any kind of trouble in life if you guys have so you can go to this lawyer he is very excellent thanks so much RABIA IBRAHIM i am not guilty and he win my case

Service
Thumbnail of user chrissyc13
Argentina
1 review
4 helpful votes
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June 2nd, 2017

AVVO.COM is not a secure site and appears to have been hacked. It contains false information about the professionals for whom it claims to provide marketing.

Thumbnail of user chriso1
Washington
654 reviews
3,555 helpful votes
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August 4th, 2010

Unlike similar legal sites which offer help and then ask you to pay, or bid to pay for services, this one is truly free and it works, too. In my experience you'll get an attorney responding within 24 hours. And it'll be a local attorney, or at least as local as the same state, so you get appropriate answers too.

You don't have the option to make your initial question into an ongoing thread, which is probably wise, as these things can quickly get bogged down. So you need to give careful thought to how you frame your question and get as much pertinent information in there as you can. Then sit back and see if you get helpful answers over the next few days, after which the question will be closed to new answers.

Think about how you title your question - there is ample room for a good title. Then use the first, limited space to describe the issue as fully as you can. You will get a chance to add additional information on the next page and the space for this appears to be unlimited.

There are, of course, thousands of questions that have been answered already and searching the site is probably a good idea before you ask one that's already been solved.

If you get a good answer, don't forget to click the "helpful" button.

This isn't going to replace an attorney and it's not intended to, but it will point you in the right direction and may save you some time and money.

Thumbnail of user pamelam59
Oklahoma
1 review
11 helpful votes
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March 9th, 2016

I just became the account manager in our small firm and the attorney had this service, paying $341.00 a month. When I investigated what was received for that amount I was flabbergasted! Nothing. She just received a bad review at the beginning of the year from a client she had represented 4 (yes I said 4) years ago. Our firm is primarily immigration and 4 years ago the laws could not help our client who ended up having to take a voluntary departure. It was totally out of our hands and yet, AVVO allowed this former client post a terrible review about our services 2016 of January. The attorney tried to get a representative to address, she was promised a review, a call back etc... NOTHING. She followed up and still received nothing, other than an email generated that said they received hers and they would review. I, as account manager, decided to close the account. My email was ignored, I followed up and spoke with someone who said they could not find my account right then, but would investigate and call me back within the hour, which of course did not happen and that was 10 days ago. They charged our account anyway, so I had to go to bank and cancel the card that had permission. Stay away from them. It is a total scam and truthfully I have not found any leads that turned into clients. So many of them were for areas of the law that we simply do not service.

Thumbnail of user giannab18
New York
1 review
1 helpful vote
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November 26th, 2022

AVVO is filled with fake reviews posted by attorneys and their staff and friends. The only reals reviews are the ones where people write about their horrible experiences after hiring one of the shysters but AVVO frequently removes those or edits them. AVVO should be removed from the internet. How are they different then any other consumer fraud? One way to see if some reviews are fake is to check the court docs. For example in NYS you can go to https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/HomePage, and click search as a guest. Put the attorneys name in and you get a list of their cases. If the review has a name (although the majority of the fake reviews are anonymous) you can see if the attorney actually represented them. Every name but one that I randomly checked was a fake review.

Tip for consumers:
Look elsewhere because AVVO is nothing but deception

Service
Value
Returns
Quality
Thumbnail of user loril85
Ohio
2 reviews
11 helpful votes
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January 4th, 2018

It seems like AVVO will only print good reviews. Anything negative comes back with a note claiming the review does not fit AVVO's community standards. Personally if AVVO will only print the good reviews (even if the lawyer in question is terrible) what's the point.

Thumbnail of user jds39
Texas
2 reviews
1 helpful vote
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October 14th, 2021

They candy everything up to make money. I tried to post two reviews which were one star along with various others that were 5... none of the one star reviews came up. Support just simply disregarded all support tickets about the issue with the same response. NOT AN ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF LAWYERS ON AVVO! Just another website trying to make money making people look good even if they are federal criminals.

Thumbnail of user johns9993
Florida
1 review
0 helpful votes
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December 4th, 2021

AVVO has defective algorithms which artificially read and post in different legal categories.
These categories are usually totally wrong and as a result you will get incorrect answers or no answers at all. They refuse to let users simple select their topic area like they used to years ago because they think it will go into the wrong category. So I might ask a business law question and get placed is a immigration category with immigration attorneys (who don't even read the question) telling me it sounds like I need an immigration attorney from my question.

Years ago when users could post the question in the correct categories, you would get good lawyers who know that area of law giving you decent answers but ever since they switched to an defective algorithm which override the users ability to pick a category, you get garbage.

My most recent question is a question about debt collecting and a writ of execution and sale of property of a debtor. My question went into a consumer product protection category instead of on debt collecting.

Until AVVO removes the algorithm which is putting question in the wrong category, the site is utterly useless.

Thumbnail of user robertr190
California
1 review
11 helpful votes
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March 29th, 2016

AVVO made promises as to contact numbers (never reached even 1% of the numbers they represented)
AVVO promised I had a three month contract (specifically 3 months) and then tried to keep the service charges going after the third month
AVVO insisted on continuing charges claiming I had to write to cancel 30 days in advance and said it was a "digital agreement" even though I did not agree in writing to such a term

Thumbnail of user lorrainez1
New Jersey
1 review
22 helpful votes
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August 20th, 2015

I wrote a simple review on AVVO--that anyone thinking of hiring attorney Norman Pattis should first read the malpractice complaints filed against him by his former clients in both state and federal courts. My review was soon deleted by AVVO.

Thumbnail of user jdy2
Colorado
3 reviews
12 helpful votes
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June 22nd, 2021

Finding out the so-called legal minds there can't advise if someone lies on governments form is a crime or not. Very sad this is what we now have after #45s time in office.

Tip for consumers:
Don't do it

Products used:
None

Service
Value
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Thumbnail of user freddyr5
Pennsylvania
1 review
14 helpful votes
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December 8th, 2015

A family member hired what turned out to be a totally incompetent, and possibly fraudulent attorney in Bellevue, WA named Jenny Cochrane. She not only reneged on her $1,500 "flat fee" agreement with him, she then had the nerve to charge him an additional $1,000, then called him two weeks after taking the extra money and told him he was..."on his own..." and there was nothing more she could do. A total lying, incompetent scumbag - stay away. This is one situation where you are better off representing yourself! I was able to verify via third parties that 80% of her positive reviews are fakes, either from her (using fake email addresses) or phony "clients." She even faked a positive review from the family member she essentially stole money from! The one posted negative review is real, but probably won't last since AVVO.com is a scam website designed to dupe consumers into thinking their positive ratings are legitimate... Most of the lawyers on the site and AVVO itself are a complete joke!

Thumbnail of user silvial1
New York
1 review
16 helpful votes
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September 11th, 2015

AVVO is the most ridiculous, non-merit based "rating" system on the planet. I feel awful for anyone who is really looking for help and relies on this website. AVVO's ratings are based on how often an attorney answers free questions on AVVO (accuracy in answering is irrelevant to AVVO-- just some words typed gets you points), and based on how many of their lawyer friends they can get to "endorse" them. ACTUAL CLIENT REVIEWS AND EXPERIENCE ON AVVO ARE IRRELEVANT TO AVVO'S RATING PROCESS. AVVO would be a complete joke if it weren't playing a serious game with people's lives. STAY AWAY FROM AVVO!

Thumbnail of user jennaj18
Missouri
36 reviews
145 helpful votes
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March 8th, 2018

Unprofessional lawyers who aren't even trying, and you can't give bad review because it'll always be rejected for dumb nonexistent reasons even though good reviews are always kept

Thumbnail of user anonymousa224
North Carolina
2 reviews
12 helpful votes
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August 12th, 2018

I cannot believe there is not an avenue available for the public to post about bad attorney practices without the potential of us (the client) being sued by deceptive and even illegal practices by lawyers. Can they just charge us anything they want even though they do not the job that was instructed? I had an attorney that could not even write a cover letter without grammatical errors and content mistakes. However, he charges nearly $300 an hour? He also made major changes to my original legal documents without my consent and said I needed to report my spending activities to him on an annual basis? There is no reason for any of this. Yet this person demands payment and shows absolutely no results. AVVO does not help us (the client) that is made to pay high legal fees as it will not allow honest reviews on the attorney websites. Even if this was honored by AVVO then the potential of being sued by an incompetent attorney looms large. I wonder how many of these "five star" reviews are actually created by the attorneys themselves as so many are listed as "anonymous". AVVO should be shut down as it does not help anyone except the attorneys for who it was created to begin with.

Thumbnail of user stephenp1615
California
1 review
0 helpful votes
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September 11th, 2023

HIRED EMPLOYMENT LAWYER IN CALIFORNIA HAD VERY BAD EXPERIENCE.LAWYER WAS DECEPTIVE STILL HOLDING ON TO MY SETTLEMENT AND MAKING EXCUSES IT WAS LOST IN MAIL.LEFT REVIEW OF THIS LAWYER ON AVVO.AVVO REJECTED REVIEW.I HAD TO MAKE COMPLAINT WITH CALIFORNIA BAR ABOUT THIS LAWYER...DO NOT BELIEVE REVIEWS ON AVVO...AVVO IS BOUGHT AND PAID FOR LAWYERS...

Thumbnail of user daniell937
New York
1 review
15 helpful votes
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May 19th, 2016

I'm an attorney and I saw that Avvo created a "profile" of me without ever communicating with me. The profile had the wrong photo, misinformation about my practice and my location. Ultimately, I "claimed" the profile to correct the misinformation. Except that resulted in my receiving a flood of phone and email solicitations from Avvo. I resisted. Ultimately, someone on the phone got me on a good day and convinced me to pay for a 90-day trial where I would receive endless phone calls and new business for $99 dollars a month. I did the trial. The day after I signed up, the person who was supposed to be my contact was leaving Avvo. He was never replaced. I received one phone call in 90 days from a mentally ill person, and no cases. I can write off the $300 as advertising, but I just came from checking my credit card transactions and found that they billed me again for another (4th) month. Just checked my "profile" to find a 6.5 rating and an (855) number listed for my business. Avvo is a scam. I reported their unauthorized charge to my credit card as fraud.

Thumbnail of user aprila22
Maryland
2 reviews
13 helpful votes
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December 16th, 2016

I posted a review about an attorney and went by every guideline they required but still after 5 tries they would not post my review. They are not to be trusted at all.

Thumbnail of user misterw2
Florida
3 reviews
15 helpful votes
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August 16th, 2019

I sympathize with the recent negative reviews. First, they basically block any negative feedback you post. Three times I modified my review and each time it was rejected for not meeting the guidelines. Their online customer service reps are rude and unhelpful. When I informed Anna, a senior customer care representative that their site is only allows for positive reviews to be posted, she replied with a snarky remark. Screenshot is enclosed of her bogus explanation. It is obvious that their main objective IS to help unscrupulous attorneys save face. I agree wholeheartedly with one reviewer that stated that we cannot file formal complaints with the regulatory board. If you file a complaint, the attorney can sue you for slander or defamation if you post your experience online. Avvo is not a reliable platform to find a reputable attorney.

The Schiller Kessler Group
My fiancé and I used this firm when we got into a car accident. Our case manager was rude and incompetent. Poor communication and representation overall. Our attorney only cared about settling quickly and collecting his attorney fee. We have used law firms in the past and this was by far the worst experience. We have tried to share our experience on Google but the firm continues to flag and delete our reviews to save face.

Thumbnail of user nickw57
Wisconsin
1 review
19 helpful votes
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April 1st, 2016

I am a lawyer who recently opened up his own practice. Within a month I was contacted by Avvo representatives telling me that they would highlight my profile on their website to potential clients searching for certain key words. They worked with me to manipulate my ranking as well. They asked me for a three-month subscription and that I needed to order it before the end of the month to take advantage of a special rate. I agreed.

I received zero leads, much less actual clients, from this investment. On top of that, the billing is recurring (should have listened to my own advice and read the contract more carefully). SO when I called on the billing day, the first of the month and said I wanted to cancel, they said my subscription would end at the end of the month. Since it was the first of the month I had already been billed and they refused to issue me a credit for a month. Thus, as a new business on a tight budget I flushed nearly $1000 down the drain on this poor excuse for a lead generator. They are happy to take your money. Beyond that Avvo is good for nothing.

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Matt L.
Typically does not respond to reviews

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