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Avvo Sues Again for Access to Lawyer Records
Lawyer rating and directory Web site Avvo is back in court again, this time to petition the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) to provide an electronic copy of the Master Roll of the state's 85,000 attorneys. As explained in Avvo's petition, the ARDC denied Avvo's request, explaining that disclosure of the Roll was permissible only for three specific purposes: for use by a court to conduct business, for use by the Bar to solicit membership and for use by a CLE organization within Illinois to provide programs that benefit the bar or the public. These restrictions notwithstanding, Avvo contends that the Master Roll is public information subject to release under the Illinois Supreme Court's rules governing disclosure of attorney registration information. Avvo also argues that the information already made available about lawyers on the Illinois bar Web site is limited and not in a readily usable format.
This isn't the first time Avvo has resorted to a lawsuit to obtain attorney records. As we posted here back in March, New Jersey originally opposed release of attorney data, but subsequently reversed its position. Still, Avvo's petition notes that thirty other states have provided the information that Avvo requested without incident.
Admittedly, the Illinois case differs from the New Jersey case because, apparently, Illinois has made much of the necessary information available albeit not in a "usable format." Does Avvo have the right to demand release of information in a way that facilitates its incorporation into Avvo's database? On the other hand, if Illinois can readily release a disk containing this information at little cost, what's the harm in doing so? What's your view.
Posted by Carolyn Elefant on June 11, 2008 at 02:52 PM | Permalink
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