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Is Martindale Dropping Its AV Ratings?
That's the talk around the water cooler this morning, The Legal Watercooler, that is. The blog's author, Heather Milligan, director of marketing at Barger & Wolen, conveys an e-mail she received from a peer whose position as a rating specialist at Martindale-Hubbell is being eliminated:
I want to let you know that I will be leaving Martindale-Hubbell at the end of the month. The Rating Specialist positions for Martindale-Hubbell have been eliminated, so that means that I will not be coming to visit you to review your firm’s ratings initiatives. I am told that some of the other people who visit your firm from Martindale or LexisNexis may add the ratings items to their meetings with you.
Reading between the lines of this message, Milligan sees the future -- or lack thereof -- of Martindale's peer-review ratings. "It appears that the Martindale-Hubbell AV Ratings System is officially dead, or, at the least, on 'dissolution watch.'"
Her post has prompted eulogies from other legal bloggers, including Kevin O'Keefe and Scott Greenfield, and lots of buzz on Twitter. As of yet, however, no corpse has been sighted. One possibility is that the A/V ratings will continue under the auspices of different staff. Another is that the company will give greater play to its recently launched system of client reviews and ratings.
Update: Martindale responds: "The reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated."
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on December 23, 2008 at 11:14 AM | Permalink
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