Directories

The largest and best know is Martindale a product of the large legal publisher Lexis  at www.martindale.com . This directory is know for the famous rating system of AV, BV, CV, etc. The trick to interpreting this system is to remember it is a peer review and that a lawyer cannot be rated higher than a CV with 3 years of experience, BV with 5 years of experiences, and AV requires ten years. Since this is peer review a lawyer should almost always attain an AV eventually provided he is minimally competent, not an abrasive personality, and ethical. Eventually, a consensus will build that he’s an okay lawyer and the social network will give him the coveted AV rating.

So if a lawyer tells you he’s been practicing 20 years and just got an AV rating be wary. On the other hand if a lawyer in the upper thirties obtains an AV rating then that’s a really good sign you’ve got a super competent go-getter on your hands.  Lawyers.com is essentially a mirror of www.martindale.com in a more consumer friendly context.

The other option is www.findlaw.com a product of West-Thompson the other large legal publisher. Findlaw is a more consumer oriented site offering a greater range of information but a less clean interface.

Law Guru, www.lawguru.com, has a good directory. This site lets attorneys post briefs answers to consumer questions in exchange they get free advertising. The answers will quite frankly leave you still in a quandary most of the time, but the attorneys tend to be well-meaning.