Will Avvo Fixed-Fee Legal Services Help or Hurt the Practice of “Elder Law”?

As described recently by the ABA Journal, Avvo, founded in Seattle by a self-described “tech-savvy lawyer,”  Mark Britton,  in order “to make legal easier and help people find a lawyer,” is expanding its offerings of “fixed-fee, limited-scope” legal services.  The ABA Journal reports:

Avvo first got into the business of offering legal advice last year when it launched Avvo Advisor, a service that provides on-demand legal advice by phone for a fixed fee of $39 for 15 minutes. With this new service, Avvo will determine the types of services to be provided and the prices. Attorneys who sign up will be able to select which services they want to offer. When a client buys a service, Avvo sends the client’s information to the attorney. The attorney then contacts the client directly and completes the service.

 

Clients will be able to choose the attorney they want from a list of those within their geographic area who have registered to participate. Clients pay the full price for the service up front.

 

After the service is completed, Avvo sends the attorney the full legal fee, paid once a month for fees earned the prior month. As a separate transaction, the attorney pays Avvo a per-service marketing fee. This is done as a separate transaction to avoid fee-splitting, according to Avvo. Attorneys pay nothing to participate except for the per-case marketing fee.

Some practitioners undoubtedly are nervous about the effects of this format, expressing concern about quality and “price-point” effects.  Others see this as an option for the known, huge number of low and modest income persons, who never communicate with attorneys, for a host of reasons including concerns about price.  

Will older clients and their families, facing a range of transactions that could benefit from legal assistance, from POAs to contracts for care, use Avvo?