Ride the Lightning

Hold on to Your Hats: It’s Now Martindale-Avvo

October 24, 2018

The American Lawyer reported on October 23^rd that Internet Brands, which completed its acquisition of Avvo in March, is rebranding its legendary and historical Martindale name, now calling its online legal network Martindale-Avvo.

What is Internet Brands thinking?

To go back in time, Internet Brands entered into a joint venture in 2014 with LexisNexis to combine its Nolo legal division with LexisNexis' Martindale-Hubbell and Lawyers.com business. After the joint venture expired at the end of 2017, the company assumed full control of the Martindale-Hubbell brand, which is over 140 years old.

The theory seems to be that pairing Martindale's reputation with lawyers and Avvo's reputation for innovation is a nice combination.

I am definitely doubtful about the wisdom of the combination. Martindale-Hubbell is indeed a storied name and greatly respected. But Avvo? Even loyal Avvo lawyers complained to us non-stop about being pestered by Avvo marketers. The company was known for being brash and aggressive – and certainly not beloved of most state bars, many of which objected strenuously to fee-splitting and other ethical concerns. Apparently, the rebranded company is now focused on innovation within the normal regulatory framework.

There was a collective sigh of relief from many bar regulators when Internet Brands shut down Avvo Legal Services, so this new move seems quite odd. The Avvo site continues to offer a lawyer search and ranking service as well as a free question and answer service.

Martindale-Avvo claims to offer attorneys an audience of 25 million consumers monthly—850,000 of whom request to speak with an attorney—who visit the domains including Avvo.com, Nolo.com, Lawyers.com, Attorneys.com, AllLaw.com, TotalAttorneys.com, DisabilitySecrets.com, DivorceNet.com.

To combine such a legendary name with such a controversial one seems like a move of dubious wisdom to me. It will be interesting to see this play out.

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