by Tom Gordon
 
Consumers of legal services seeking a quick way to find lawyers while guarding against the prospect of runaway hourly billing will now have to look a little harder. Avvo has stopped offering its popular Avvo Legal Services. The service is no longer offered on its website, and the general counsel for Internet Brands, which recently acquired Avvo, has indicated that the service will be discontinued by the end of this month.

Written by Bethany Hou

​Responsive Law recently submitted comments to the North Carolina Bar regarding the Bar's recent proposed opinion on  legal participation in an online platform for finding and employing a lawyer. The proposed opinion states that lawyers should be allowed to participate in these online platforms, subject to certain conditions.  Online platforms have the potential to become the most easily accessible source of information for consumers, combatting the access to justice crisis in America. 

Written by James Duffy
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The State Bar of California has established the Governance in the Public Interest Task Force to help improve the public protection function of the State Bar. California law holds the protection of the public as the State Bar’s highest priority. Responsive Law believes that unchecked self-governance by lawyers is not in the interest of the public, and issued comments offering guidelines that would better protect the public.
 

Written by Briane Cormish

As we reported previously, Responsive Law joined in an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of North Carolina Board of Dental Examiners v. Federal Trade Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Dental Examiners case). In the amicus brief, we brought to the Supreme Court’s attention the access to justice gap in America that is caused by over-regulation of the legal market and high barriers to entry that benefit lawyers at the expense of the public interest. We encouraged the Court to rule in favor of the FTC to ensure that regulations protect consumers, not market participants. The decision, handed down on Feb 25th, 2015, did just that.

Written by Tom Gordon
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Responsive Law, along with a coalition of law professors and alternative legal service providers has filed an amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case of North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC. The case concerns whether dentists on the state licensing board are exempt from antitrust law for their behavior in banning non-dentists from providing teeth-whitening services.