Public Nationwide Online Lawyer Ratings

Have you heard about Avvo?



A lot has been written about online rating systems like Angie's List- and now, with Avvo.com, an online rating system has come to the world of law.

Avvo.com states that "At Avvo, our mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry. Choosing a lawyer is an incredibly important decision—yet most people have no idea how to go about doing it, and resources to guide them are scarce."

The tool is mostly for the layman, but the site offers professional lawyers the opportunity to network and answer questions that the public post to the site. While the site has not reached all states (Oklahoma, for instance, is not included), each person represented as a lawyer on the site must be registered with the Bar in their state. Only confirmed lawyers can post answers to legal questions.

Current law students should be aware of this site as they move into their professional roles. In today's digital age a reputation can be made or broken on the open web. But professionals can use the site to build their online reputation, which is of increasing importance.

For a deeper look at Avvo, please look here.

LegalTube - The Next Thing In Legal Marketing?

Legal Tube invites you to "tune in" to:
- search by practice area and location to get a list of all of the attorneys that might meet your needs
- get face time with potential matches by watching videos until you find the perfect lawyer
- get answers to common legal questions, answered by the legal experts themselves
- find out about vital legal news, like drug recalls and class-action suits
- take a break from your day with some legal humor or our entertaining original webisode series

In reality, because the site is just starting out, the "matchmaking" function between lawyers and potential clients is perhaps the least developed. Only a few videos from lawyers and firms are currently accessible. However, the site may have some potential.

Hat Tip to WisBlawg and Legal Blog Watch.

Banned Books Week Stresses Importance of the First Amendment, Sept 26 - Oct 3

Banned Books Week stresses "the importance of our First Amendment rights and the power of literature" and draws "attention to the danger that exists when restraints are imposed on the availability of information in a free society." Read more about Banned Book Week from the American Library Association.

Also, visit the Banned Book Week displays just inside and outside the Reference Wing.

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Stress Importance of "Open Internet"

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski, at a speech at the Brookings Institute on Monday, September 21st, stressed the importance of "open Internet" principles and proposed regulations intended to prevent Internet providers from restricting access to particular services. Complete video of the speech is available here.

Hat tip to Jurist.

Stamps Honoring Supreme Court Justices

On September 22nd, the U.S. Postal Service will be dedicating four 44-cent stamps honoring Supreme Court justices Joseph Story, Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter, and William Brennan Jr. The Law Library will have these stamps available as soon as possible after the release date.

Hat tip to WisBlawg.

Plan on Attending the Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Meeting

The 105th Oklahoma Bar Association Annual Meeting will be held in Oklahoma City on November 4-6, 2009. The theme of the meeting is "Failure is Not an Option" and the keynote speaker will be Gene Kranz, the NASA’s flight director who guided the crippled Apollo 13 spacecraft safely back to Earth.

Prior to October 12, Law Student registration for the educational programing is only $25.

Peer Review of Law Review Articles by PRISM

Peer Reviewed Scholarship Marketplace (PRISM) is billed as "the next generation for article submission to student edited legal journals." Prism offers authors review of their articles and then provides a pool of reviewed articles and recommendations to member law reviews and journals. For more details click here.


Hat tip to Adjunct Law Professors Blog