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How Avvo ratings are calculated, what an AV rating means on Martindale, where each still matters, and the bar rules that govern every review request.
Looking for the software behind this? See how Flento handles local SEO for law firms: Local SEO for Law firms. Reviews, rankings and Google posts in one dashboard.
Roughly half the people who find a lawyer online check a legal directory before they call. Not because directories rank better than firm websites, but because a prospective client comparing three attorneys wants a third-party opinion, and Avvo and Martindale-Hubbell are where the legal profession has kept its scorecards for decades.
That creates a specific problem for firms. These platforms rank for your attorneys' names, they display ratings you did not choose, and they carry reviews you may not have asked for. Ignoring them does not make them go away.
This guide covers how Avvo and Martindale reviews actually work, how they differ from Google, and where a firm's limited effort should go. If you have not built the Google side yet, start with Google reviews for law firms.
To see how this plays out in a specific vertical, read our guide to local SEO for private investigators.
Legal directory profiles rank in Google for attorney names, which means they are visible to referrals and researchers even when nobody searched the directory itself.
This is the part firms miss. You do not need clients to visit Avvo for Avvo to matter. A referral who receives your name will Google it, and your directory profile will usually appear in the first few results next to your own website.
What that means:
The practical conclusion is that these profiles are part of your reputation surface by default, and the only choice is whether you manage them.
🛠️ Action Step: Google each partner's name in an incognito window. Note every directory profile in the top ten. That is what a referral sees before they call.
If you want to go deeper, our article on local SEO tools for law firms walks through the tools that help law firms rank in competitive legal markets.
The Avvo rating is generated algorithmically from professional background rather than from client reviews, so a lawyer with no reviews can still carry a rating, and improving it is largely about completing your profile.
This confuses a lot of attorneys, who assume a mediocre rating reflects client dissatisfaction. It usually reflects an incomplete profile.
Inputs that generally affect it:
Client reviews sit alongside the rating rather than driving it. This means the fastest improvement for most attorneys is administrative: claim the profile, fill in the case history, add the publications, request peer endorsements.
💡 Pro Tip: Peer endorsements are the most underused input. They take a colleague two minutes and most attorneys have never asked for one. Trade them with lawyers you refer to and receive from.
Martindale-Hubbell ratings come primarily from confidential peer review by other attorneys and judges, which makes them meaningful to referral sources and to sophisticated clients rather than to walk-in consumers.
This is a different audience from Avvo. Martindale carries weight with other lawyers, general counsel and institutional clients. Its ratings have been part of the profession's furniture for well over a century.
Practical implications:
For a personal injury or family law practice, Martindale is a maintenance task. For a commercial litigation or corporate practice, it is worth real attention.
What an AV rating actually means. Martindale-Hubbell's peer review scale culminates in the AV Preeminent rating, its highest possible designation, awarded to attorneys who reach the top tier on both legal ability and ethical standards as judged by peers and the judiciary. An AV rated law firm has been reviewed by other lawyers and judges and cleared the highest bar on both dimensions, not just years in practice. Below AV, ratings step down through BV and CV tiers based on the same two criteria at lower confidence thresholds. If you're not sure whether you're rated, or at what tier, checking your Martindale profile directly is the only reliable way to find out, the tier isn't something you request or purchase.
State bar advertising rules govern attorney review solicitation on every platform, and they are stricter than the general FTC rules that apply to other industries.
This is where legal review management genuinely differs. Every state bar has its own rules, and some are considerably more restrictive than others.
Broadly consistent constraints:
The confidentiality point is the one that catches people. Responding to a client review by disputing their account of the case can disclose privileged information. Several attorneys have faced discipline for exactly this.
⚠️ Common Mistake: Correcting the factual record in a public response to a bad review. Even when you are right, you may be disclosing confidential client information, and bar authorities have treated this as a violation.
Check your own state's rules before running any review campaign. This guide describes general patterns, not legal advice for your jurisdiction.
Prioritise Google for discovery, Avvo for consumer-facing practices, and Martindale for commercial practices, rather than trying to build all three equally.
Effort is limited and these platforms serve different functions.
For consumer practices such as personal injury, family, criminal and immigration:
For commercial and institutional practices:
📊 Flento Data: Across professional services profiles, discovery traffic overwhelmingly arrives through Google while third-party directories are consulted during the comparison step. Both matter, but they are not interchangeable.
Ask for legal reviews after the matter concludes, from clients whose outcome was genuinely good, without any incentive and without screening by expected sentiment.
The timing constraint is stricter here than in other industries. Asking mid-matter creates pressure on a client who still depends on you, which is both ethically uncomfortable and practically ineffective.
A process that holds up:
Expect lower conversion than consumer industries. Many clients do not want a public record of having needed a lawyer, particularly in family, criminal and immigration matters. That is reasonable and should be respected.
🔥 Quick Win: Add a review request to your matter-closing letter template. Most firms already send one and it is the single most natural moment to ask.
Flento handles the Google side, which is where discovery happens, and shows whether your visibility is actually reaching the people searching for your practice area.
Google Review Management Software sends matter-close requests consistently without gating or incentives, keeping you inside both Google policy and bar advertising rules.
Local Keyword Rank Tracker shows coverage per practice area across your market, which matters because ranking for one practice area tells you nothing about the others.
Google Business Profile Optimizer keeps the profile that feeds your discovery traffic healthy. The broader playbook is in local SEO for law firms.
✅ Done? See where your firm actually ranks by practice area. Get started free
Q: Do Avvo reviews help a law firm rank on Google? A: Not directly. Avvo reviews do not feed Google's Local Pack. They matter because your Avvo profile ranks for attorney names, so those reviews are visible to anyone researching you. Google reviews are what affect your Maps ranking.
Q: How is the Avvo rating calculated? A: Primarily from professional background: years in practice, disciplinary history, achievements, publications and peer endorsements. Client reviews sit alongside it rather than driving it, which is why completing your profile is usually the fastest way to improve the number.
Q: Can US attorneys ask clients for reviews? A: Yes, subject to state bar advertising rules, which are stricter than general FTC requirements. No compensation, no misleading claims, and confidentiality still applies. Check your specific jurisdiction's rules before running a campaign.
Q: Should a lawyer respond to a negative client review? A: Yes, but very carefully. Keep it brief, acknowledge the dissatisfaction, and disclose nothing about the matter. Disputing the client's account can breach confidentiality, and attorneys have been disciplined for exactly that.
Q: Is Martindale-Hubbell still relevant? A: For commercial, corporate and institutional practices, yes, because its peer ratings carry weight with referral sources and general counsel. For consumer-facing practices it is largely a maintenance task.
Q: Which platform should a small consumer law firm focus on? A: Google first for discovery, then Avvo for profile completeness and selective client reviews. Martindale should be accurate but does not warrant active effort for most consumer practices.
Your directory profiles are part of your reputation whether you touch them or not, because they rank for your name and referrals check before they call. The only question is whether they show a complete, current picture or a neglected one.
For most firms, the highest-return hour is administrative rather than promotional: claim the profiles, complete the Avvo background fields, ask three colleagues for peer endorsements.
Do that before you run any review campaign. It moves the visible number without touching a single client. Try Flento free to keep the Google side building in the background.
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