Selecting an attorney to assist with a legal problem can be a challenging process. People in need of an attorney may ask family, friends, or work colleagues when looking for a recommendation. They may search the Yellow Pages, call the bar association, or visit any of a number of websites that provide information about attorneys or firms. Even attorneys have a difficult time finding other counsel to assist with problems, and typically rely on the recommendations of other attorneys. One of the challenges in identifying an attorney to assist with a legal problem is a lack of objective evidence that may be used to assess the quality of the potential counsel. Other than word of mouth, there is no reliable source that assembles information that might be relevant to choosing an attorney and packages the information into a form that makes it easy to assess the attorney. It would therefore be beneficial for consumers of legal services if such a source of attorney information existed.
A hardware and/or software rating system is disclosed for calculating one or more ratings for an attorney. Data associated with an attorney is collected from a variety of public and private sources, such as state bar associations, court records, attorney websites, and information attorneys provide to the rating system. The collected data includes any information that can be used to assess how well an attorney might handle legal issues, such as the work experience of the attorney, professional recognition of the attorney, and the character of the attorney. The data is used to determine values of one or more attributes associated with the attorney. One or more ratings may be calculated for the attorney based on the determined attributes. Each rating may be based on a weighted combination of two or more attributes. For example, an experience rating for an attorney may be based 75% on years of experience and 25% on awards the attorney has received, while an industry recognition rating may be based 90% on peer endorsements and 10% on awards. As another example, an overall rating may be based on a combination of all of the available attributes. The ratings may be converted to a format that is more comprehensible to a user, such as a scale from 1-10, a grade from A-F, an ordinal ranking, a percentile ranking, and so on. The ratings may be presented to consumers of legal services in a variety of different forms. For example, ratings for an attorney may be displayed to users on a webpage maintained by the rating system or on a webpage maintained by the attorney. An attorney may use the rating as a badge on her website to promote her legal services and/or her abilities as an attorney. By providing an unbiased assessment of each attorney in the form of a rating, consumers of legal services are able to make more accurate and informed decisions when selecting an attorney to assist with a legal problem.
Various embodiments of the invention will now be described. The following description provides specific details for a thorough understanding and an enabling description of these embodiments. One skilled in the art will understand, however, that the invention may be practiced without many of these details. Additionally, some well-known structures or functions may not be shown or described in detail, so as to avoid unnecessarily obscuring the relevant description of the various embodiments. The terminology used in the description presented below is intended to be interpreted in its broadest reasonable manner, even though it is being used in conjunction with a detailed description of certain specific embodiments of the invention.
An attorney's rating or ratings are based on data received from the various data sources 40a, 40b, . . . 40n. The data may be pushed by the data sources to the rating system, or the data may be pulled from the data sources (e.g., via calls to an API or scraping of a website). Data may also be contributed to the rating system by consumers of legal services such as clients or other attorneys. Data from external data sources may be received on a periodic basis or on a continuous basis. As new data sources become available, the new data sources may be integrated into the ratings that are calculated by the rating system. As old data sources are discontinued or become unreliable, they may be removed from the calculation of the ratings by the rating system.
The data that is obtained by the rating system may be any data that is relevant to the quality of legal services offered by the attorney or the character of the attorney. Such data typically falls into three categories: the work experience of the attorney, the professional recognition of the attorney, and the character of the attorney. The work experience of the attorney may include certain factual details about the attorney, such as the number of years that the attorney has been practicing law and the length and type of positions in which the attorney has been employed in his/her career. The professional recognition of the attorney may include information about other parties recognizing the expertise or character of the attorney, such as awards that the attorney may have received and endorsements that were made by peers. The character of the attorney may include the criminal record of the attorney or any actions, sanctions, admonishments, or disbarment of the attorney by bar associations. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous other pieces of data relevant to the quality or character of the attorney may fall into these or other categories.
Once data from various sources is collected by the rating system 10, the data is analyzed and reconciled to determine various attributes that are associated with an attorney.
The rating for an attorney is calculated based on one or more attributes. A first column 240 of each rating in the table represents a numerical weight that is associated with each attribute in the calculation of that rating. A second column 245 represents a percentage weight that is associated with each attribute in the calculation of that rating. For example, in the overall rating 225 in
In some embodiments, the attribute data type may be taken into account when calculating the percentage weight from the numerical weight. For example, under the calculation described above, binary attributes may have a greater than desired impact on a rating since there is an all-or-nothing value associated with the attribute. In contrast, a continuous attribute may have a smaller than desired impact on a rating since the value of the attribute may only vary within a small range for most of the population of attorneys. In order to prevent binary or other similar types of attributes from driving the rating score, the actual percentage weights associated with binary attributes may be reduced to a smaller value than would otherwise be expected under the previously described calculation. For example, in
In some embodiments, the percent weight for an attribute may be fixed for a particular rating. Once the percent weight is set, the system can calculate a numerical weight for the attribute based on the weights of other attributes associated with the rating. For example, in
In some embodiments, it may be beneficial to convert the raw rating score into a more readily understood number. For example, people are generally very comfortable with a 10 point scale, with 10 being a perfect score and 1 being a very poor score. The raw rating score may therefore be scaled so that the rating for an attorney falls within a 1-10 scale. Also, because it is nearly impossible to achieve perfection in each attribute, the raw rating score may also be mapped to a bell curve or other statistical model that more closely approximates the range of scores associated with the attorney population. For example, if the maximum theoretical raw rating score is 1000, but no attorney scores more than 755 on the raw score, then 755 may be assigned a perfect score of “10” and all other scores may be mapped downward from that score.
In some embodiments, the value assigned to each attribute or attribute element may change over time. For example, the value of awards to an attorney may decrease the farther back in time the award was received. Awards received more than ten years ago may count a minimum amount, whereas awards received in the past two years may count significantly. The decay rate for a value assigned to an attribute or attribute element may remain constant over time or vary with time. For example, the value associated with a particular award may decay linearly, exponentially, logarithmically, etc. The algorithm or look-up table used to assign a value to the attribute may be adjusted to take into account such temporal issues. The value of attributes may also reach a minimum value after a certain period of time, beyond which the value will not decay further.
Values assigned to each attribute or attribute element also may increase over time as additional information about the attribute or attribute element is collected. For example, if there is insufficient data to determine when an attorney received an award, the rating system may assume that the attorney received the award at the time the attorney was admitted to practice and assign a value accordingly. An award received by an attorney admitted to practice 25 years ago may therefore receive zero points if the date on which the award was won is unavailable and the decay function for the award reduces the value assigned to the award to zero within 25 years of receiving the award. When the rating system subsequently receives the award date for the award, the assigned value may increase if the decay period for the award is incomplete, for example, if the attorney received the award only a year ago. Conversely, sanctions may be assumed to have been imposed at the latest possible date (i.e., the time at which a value is assigned or a rating calculated). The assumptions made when complete information is unavailable tend to encourage attorneys to disclose information by not decreasing a rating value as new information is obtained. As another example of how a value assigned to an attribute or attribute element may increase, the value of an article published by an attorney may increase as other articles or judicial opinions cite the article. Similarly, the value for an award may increase if there is found to be a strong positive correlation between receiving the award and an attorney rating.
In some embodiments, the number of attribute elements considered in computing a value for an attribute may be capped. For example, the awards attribute may be based on no more than five awards, regardless of the number of awards an attorney has won. The rating system may employ different capping techniques for different attributes, such as time-based capping or value-based capping. Time-based capping involves considering only the most recent elements when calculating a value for an attribute. For example, the value computed for the Awards attribute may be based on the last five awards an attorney has won. Value-based capping involves considering only the most valuable elements when calculating a value for an attribute. For example, the value computed for the Endorsements attribute may be based on the endorsements of the five highest-rated peers that have endorsed the attorney. It will be appreciated that the cap size and capping technique for a particular attribute may be adjusted over time. For example, attorneys have a greater number of years of experience may be capped at a larger number of attribute elements, whereas attorneys having a lesser number of years of experience may be capped at a smaller number of attribute elements.
Various attributes may be used to calculate different types of ratings for each attorney. For example, the overall rating 225 uses all of the attributes to calculate the rating of an attorney. In contrast, the experience rating 230 only uses two of the attributes, namely the number of years of experience and the awards received by the attorney. The operator of the rating system or others relying on data delivered by the rating system may select any combination of the attributes that are monitored by the system and combine the attributes in any combination, using any algorithm, with any number of elements, and with any weighting in order to produce a particular rating. The ability to combine attributes in any combination provides significant flexibility when crafting ratings for different applications.
It will be appreciated that it may be difficult to achieve perfect data about an attorney. For example, available data sources about an attorney may be incomplete or missing. Furthermore, some attributes may rely on data sources that provide little if any information for certain types of attorneys. For example, court records may provide little information for transactional attorneys. As a result, only some of the attributes about an attorney may be populated. When data about certain attributes is missing, the rating system may choose to ignore that attribute in the rating calculation and assign that particular attribute a value of zero. Alternatively, the system may elect to assign an average or nominal rating to the missing attribute so that the attorney is not penalized for missing data. If a minimal amount of data is available for an attorney, the system may elect to not rate the attorney until a sufficient amount of data has been received about that attorney. Alternatively, the system may rate attorneys for whom there is limited data according to a binary rating system indicating whether there is some reason to pay attention to the attorney. For example, if the data available for an attorney indicates that the attorney has faced a disciplinary action with no positive data, the rating system may assign a rating of “Attention.” Alternatively, if there is limited data for an attorney and no reason to assign a rating of “Attention,” the rating system may assign a rating of “No Concern.” The lack of a numeric or substantive rating will often stimulate an attorney to ensure that sufficient data is delivered to the rating system to produce the rating. The ratings may be modified as additional or better data becomes available.
The ratings of attorneys maintained by the rating system may be calculated periodically (e.g., once a month, twice a year, when new data is received), on a continuous basis, or any combination thereof (e.g., continuously for new attorneys and quarterly for those attorneys that have been practicing for more than 10 years). If changes are made to the manner in which a particular rating is calculated, the ratings that result from those changes may be phased in over time so that attorneys will not see a step-function in the ratings (e.g., so that an attorney doesn't see their rating drop from a “9.0” to an “8.5” overnight). Instead, the new ratings may be phased in over a period of six months to a year to ensure that the change will be gradual. If a rating changes based on new data that is received, the change to the rating may be made immediately or it may be phased-in over time. Allowing the rating to change immediately provides a benefit in that it encourages attorneys to update their data since they see immediate results from the update.
Once one or more ratings have been calculated for an attorney, the ratings may be displayed to consumers of legal services in a variety of ways.
In some embodiments, consumers of legal services are allowed to adjust the weight or value that is assigned to at least one of the attributes or attribute elements in order to change the relative importance of that attribute or attribute element to a rating score. For example, if a consumer considers the years of experience to be the most important attribute when selecting counsel, the consumer can increase the weight of that attribute in the rating process and receive a rating of counsel that is skewed towards years of practice. As another example, if a consumer does not consider the law school that an attorney attended to be relevant to their selection, the consumer may decrease the weight of the law school attribute in the rating process and receive a rating of counsel that does not depend on the law school attended. Similarly, if a consumer considers articles published in journals that are not peer-reviewed to be unimportant, the consumer may adjust the value assigned to these articles accordingly. To facilitate the adjustment of values, the rating system may categorize attribute elements allowing a consumer to quickly sort and select attribute elements that should or should not be considered when calculating a value for an attribute.
In addition to presenting the rating of an attorney, other information that may be helpful to assessing an attorney is provided in the interface 300. Various tabs may be accessed by consumers to see some or all of the data used to determine the attributes of the attorney. For example, an experience tab 340 may be selected to see data that might be used to assess the attorney's experience. A recognition tab 345 may be selected to see the data associated with awards, publications, and other public recognition of the attorney. A client ratings tab 350 may be selected to see comments that were submitted by clients that have used the attorney. A peer endorsement tab 355 may be selected to see comments that been submitted by attorneys that know or have worked with the attorney. A review tab 360 may be selected to see comments and ratings contributed by an attorney's clients or those who have worked with the attorney. Various links 365 are provided to allow clients and peers to submit comments about the particular attorney. Other information may also be presented to consumers, such as a picture of the attorney, firm affiliation, contact information, etc. By providing such a complete picture of an attorney in one place, consumers of legal services are able to quickly find the attorney that is best suited to help with their legal problem.
Rating information may also be displayed to consumers as a “badge” on other websites. The badge may provide an indication of an attorney rating and a link to a profile for the attorney maintained by the rating system. For example, an attorney may place a badge on her personal website or on the website maintained by her law firm as an indication of the quality of her legal services. Clicking on the badge may direct the consumer to a webpage maintained by the rating system where the consumer can browse information about the attorney and the attorney's ratings. The badge may display a single rating for the attorney or a more comprehensive list of ratings. In some cases, an attorney may be permitted to customize a badge by configuring various physical attributes of the badge (e.g., size, shape, color, font, etc.) and which ratings are included with the badge (e.g., overall rating, experience rating, etc.). Badges may also include other information maintained by the rating system, such as an indication of awards an attorney has received or names and links to profile pages of those who have endorsed the attorney. In addition to advertising the qualities of an attorney, badges have the effect of advertising the rating system and directing consumers to the rating system through the associated links. Furthermore, the rating system can track the number of times that an attorney's badge is viewed and use this information in rating the attorney.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that specific embodiments of the invention have been described herein for purposes of illustration, but that various modifications may be made without deviating from the spirit and scope of the invention. It will be appreciated that although processes or blocks are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps, or employ systems having blocks, in a different order, and some processes or blocks may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified to provide alternative or subcombinations. Each of these processes or blocks may be implemented in a variety of different ways. Also, while processes or blocks are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or blocks may instead be performed in parallel, or may be performed at different times. Accordingly, the invention is not limited except as by the appended claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/942,182 entitled RATING SYSTEM THAT CHARACTERIZES ATTORNEYS BASED ON ATTRIBUTES, filed Jun. 5, 2007.
Number | Date | Country | |
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20090307237 A1 | Dec 2009 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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60942182 | Jun 2007 | US |