Government

The Federal Trade Commission Warns That Those Excellent Lawyer Awards Might Be Bogus

The FTC’s website published a blog post warning consumers to look beyond the awards when hiring a lawyer.

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459989Law practice is a business and as such, lawyers need a way to distinguish themselves from their peers to attract potential clients. Some use their elite law degrees. Others use their experience working for the government or a major law firm or company.

But some lawyers try to obtain as many “awesome lawyer” awards as they can.

A potential client doing their due diligence might be impressed by the fancy seals on lawyer websites claiming that they are one of the best in the field. The requirements to win these awards vary. Some require you have a solid reputation. But others guarantee you an “awesome lawyer” award if you pay for their plaques and other advertising gimmicks.

How is a potential client supposed to know if an award actually means something?

Last month, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had something to say about these awards.

The FTC’s website published a blog post warning consumers to look beyond the awards when hiring a lawyer. It stated that those fancy looking seals and badges might be vanity or ego awards that lawyers can buy. They don’t name names but recommends that people search online for the name of whoever is giving the award plus words like “vanity,” “ego,” “marketing,” and “scam.”

They next provide advice to consumers seeking to hire a lawyer:

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  • Ask for recommendations from people you trust who already have experience hiring lawyers. Online reviews can be made up or written by people with personal ties to the lawyers.
  • Lawyers must pass a state bar exam to practice law in the U.S., and they often have to be admitted to the bar in the state where they practice. Check the state bar association to see if the attorney is active, inactive, disciplined, or disbarred.
  • Look for actual accomplishments and work experience. Many court documents are public record and you can see if the lawyer you’re considering has experience handling your type of legal issue.

What motivated the FTC to publish this? Did they receive an unusually large number of complaints either from jilted clients or snubbed attorneys?

Is it possible that the FTC could take action against the companies that give out the more dubious awards? Could an investigation force these companies to disclose how they choose their winners? Many of these award companies claim to conduct a background investigation before selecting a candidate although they are not clear on how candidates are vetted. Such an investigation would likely be difficult because it is hard to determine what makes a lawyer exceptional among their peers. Is it based on their knowledge of the law? The results they achieved? Their hourly rate?

Some of these awards tout their exclusivity, citing that only a small percentage of attorneys win these awards. While this may give a sense of legitimacy, it is also exclusionary. Some very good attorneys will miss the cut solely because there was not enough room for them or they didn’t market themselves enough or to the right people.

As mentioned before, most attorney awards are little more than flawed popularity contests. And that is not necessarily a bad thing since most attorneys would not nominate a colleague who is terrible at their job or has a bad media presence. But these awards might incentivize some attorneys to focus more on marketing and networking than on perfecting their craft. And those with more advertising resources will have a better chance of obtaining these awards.

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Regardless of the flaws of lawyer awards, many seek them out anyway because it’s a great ego boost, and potential clients do look at them. They may think that an award means that the issuing organization did the due diligence that they cannot do on their own. Or they think that any award is better than none.

The FTC has finally made a statement cautioning the public to look at lawyer awards with a degree of skepticism. An award might be suspicious if you noticed that 50 of your colleagues won the issuer’s Top 40 Lawyers Under 40 award. The most likely scenario is that this will be nothing more than a public service announcement. But whether the post will show up on the first page of a Google search is questionable. But hopefully it will encourage consumers to properly research a prospective attorney instead of looking solely at awards.

Steven Chung is a tax attorney in Los Angeles, California. He helps people with basic tax planning and resolve tax disputes. He is also sympathetic to people with large student loans. He can be reached via email at stevenchungatl@gmail.com. Or you can connect with him on Twitter (@stevenchung) and connect with him on LinkedIn.

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