Avvo, the Seattle-based lawyer directory, last week announced that it has added DUI (“driving under the influence”) cases to its legal marketplace service.
1.4 million people are arrested each year in the US for drunk driving
The Avvo marketplace takes the concept of a legal directory but goes one step further: once you have found lawyers of interest, the site enables you to contact them and receive multiple costs proposals for free.
For their part, attorneys evaluate the consumer’s case and then decide whether to provide a personalized proposal.
The attorneys have three days to respond with a personal message.
Mark Britton, founder and CEO of Avvo commented:
“The Avvo Legal Marketplace solves the primary issue that causes consumers stress about hiring an attorney – cost – by giving them information about cost and process, up front.
We’re providing consumers with legal needs the confidence that they can afford an attorney, and empowering them to hire the best one for their needs.
This drives more business to lawyers instead of do-it-yourself legal services whose prices, not necessarily their value, are attracting consumers in an otherwise cost-cloudy legal world.”
Avvo has adopted a staggered approach to the legal marketplace by introducing new practice areas on a progressive basis.
Divorce and traffic offenses were the first ones to be rolled out.
To date, Avvo says that than 10,000 divorce and traffic ticket cases have been submitted.
More areas will be added in late 2013.
Avvo launched in June 2007 and is now one of the most heavily used legal websites in the US.
Originally a lawyer directory, the company soon evolved into a “question and answer” forum – where consumers leave questions for attorneys to respond online.
The company’s growth has been staggering: avvo.com now receives six million visits per month.
Avvo answers a consumer legal question every 8.3 seconds, while Avvo-listed attorneys have provided more than 2.5 million answers to legal questions.
Avvo’s growth reflects the trend of consumers moving online to access legal services.
In an announcement last month, Avvo claimed that 58 million consumers in the US sought an attorney in 2010 and 76 percent of them used an online resource for that search – the first time that more people went online to search for an attorney versus consulted with family or friends.
As well as the legal marketplace, Avvo recently introduced Avvo Ignite, a client conversion service for attorneys.
Avvo is privately owned but has received investment over the years from Benchmark Capital, Ignition Partners and DAG Ventures.
The company employs 85 people and recently moved to a new office in Seattle’s International District – in a space formerly occupied by Amazon.
It’s interesting to see this on your blog today. This past week I had been researching the different legal practice areas on well known attorney directories and one of the findings was the fact that many of them now separate Traffic Laws into Traffic Tickets and DUI/DWI.