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Monday, December 31, 2007

Law - Does anyone else find this off-putting?

On Dec. 14, 2007, I received a letter from LexisNexis headed "Martindale-Hubbell Institutes a Peer Review Ratings Administration Fee." About half-way into the letter about its "database of rated lawyers," the letter announces:

In order to provide this same level of service to the Bar, we have found that it is necessary to institute an annual nominal administration fee to cover these costs. The $50 administration fee will be billed annually to all our rated lawyers. * * *

This administration fee has no impact in the actual rating received by a lawyer. Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings are established by lawyers. The legal community respects the accuracy of a rating because it knows that its own members are directly involved in the process. Martindale-Hubbell facilitates this process and does not determine the actual attorney rating.

We have provided you with easy payment options.

"Say what?" I asked myself. After more than 30 years M-H is hoping to charge me $50 a year for my AV rating? And they seem to be trying to catch this on the downslide, I reflected to myself -- there are many more ways to find out about lawyers nowadays than there ever have been in the past. Why do they think I am going to pay them $50 a year? I filed the letter away.

Today, Dec. 31st, 2007, I received another letter from LexisNexis, this one headed "Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings Administration Fee -- 2nd Notice." This one, which is less pleasant that the first letter, begins:

Dear Marcia J. Oddi

We recently notified you of an annual $50 administration fee associated with the maintenance and upkeep of your Martindale-Hubbell Peer Review Ratings listing displayed throughout the Martindale-Hubbell Legal Network. While we assume this nominal fee remains unpaid through an oversight, you should know that if it is not paid by 1/11/08, your rating will no longer be displayed in our online and print resources, This would not eliminate your coveted rating; however, it would exclude your rating from being seen by over 1 million visitors that reference Martindale-Hubbell when evaluating and selecting a legal resource.

[ILB - emphasis added]

Conclusion? The M-H list in the future will no longer be a comprehensive list of rated lawyers, but a less useful list of those lawyers who are rated and who have elected to pay a minimum of $50 a year to LexisNexis for the privilege of having their rating published by M-H.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on December 31, 2007 01:31 PM
Posted to General Law Related