I have a 7.3 rating at Avvo, the online find-a-lawyer site. Why? I have no idea. I’m rated 7.3 (“very good”) in both California, where I live and work, and New York, where I’m admitted but don’t even know the names of most of the codes.

My sister, who’s been in practice almost as long as I have, has a 6.5 rating. Why? No clue. She only gets a “good.” My daughter-in-law outranks her at 6.8 (also “good”), after just five years of active practice in California. How come? Who knows?

All three of us have the designation “no professional misconduct found,” but none of us has been “reviewed,” whatever that means. My daughter-in-law is listed reasonably accurately with her middle name, as a “CA litigation lawyer,” licensed for five years; without her middle name, she’s inaccurately listed as a “CA advertising lawyer” licensed for nine years. I’ve been in practice for 38 years (Avvo got that one right), but I’ve never heard of an “advertising lawyer.”

With her middle name, my daughter-in-law is rated 6.8; without it she is not rated, but is designated “no concern.” Avvo says that “no concern” means they have “no information in this lawyer’s background that is, in our opinion, concerning.” Could her middle name make the difference? Meanwhile, my sister is described as “Massachusetts lawyer,” even though she’s only practiced in California (where she’s not listed at all).

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