The LII Lawyer Directory is a partnership with Justia.com. The Justia directory provides free listings to every lawyer in the United States. The LII directory is a subset of the Justia directory that includes lawyers who have claimed their profiles by registering with Justia.
In this FAQ:
- General information:
- Information for those seeking lawyers:
- Information for lawyers who want to be listed (especially those who want to show their support for the LII):
General information
What is this directory thing, anyway?
The LII Lawyer Directory provides a searchable directory of American lawyers. It's operated as a partnership with Justia.com.
Who's listed in the directory?
Our directory is a subset of a much larger one offered by Justia. The Justia directory provides a free listing to every lawyer in the United States, using information compiled from bar-association directories and the like. Our directory contains only lawyers who have staked out their spot in the directory (Justia calls this "claiming your profile") by paying a very low listing fee and submitting information that verifies their identity and that they are licensed to practice law.
Who is our partner?
Justia.com is a law-firm marketing and web-design firm headed by Tim Stanley, the co-founder of Findlaw. Like us, the Justians believe in (and offer) free access to primary American legal materials. As many of you know, they offer extensive free collections of American primary law, supported by their for-profit activities. They took the lead in a recent effort to force Oregon to make its statutes freely available. They're talented, agile, and in front of the pack -- and they're a lot of fun to work with.
What does the directory do for our audience?
Right now, it gives our reader a way to find lawyers in the US -- that's obvious. The directory also offers a privileged position to services and organizations that provide free or low-cost legal services to individuals, making it easy for people in a particular location to find a lawyer.
The real benefits will only become apparent as we build out the service, and as the lawyers who list with us discover some of the advantages of our system. Lawyers who support us are rewarded with higher placements in the search engine rankings. The more public-spirited stand out. Over time, we are going to introduce other methods of acquiring "good karma" that will offer advantages in ranking placement. We intend to offer particular benefits to those who share their expertise via blogs and wiki entries that help make the law truly accessible for everyone. Our readers will be able to get a much better sense of the person on the other side of their listing -- what they know, and how they think about it. In that way, everybody benefits.
What does it do for lawyers?
As most lawyers know, online directory services are a very cost-effective means of marketing a law practice, particularly in competitive areas of practice in large metro areas where potential clients have many alternatives to choose from. Those who come to the LII are already seeking answers to questions about the law, and may ultimately seek advice as well. We offer the opportunity to show a receptive audience that you have expertise that will help them, and a way for them to get in touch with you easily and quickly via the contact information in your profile.
Does the LII endorse particular lawyers?
No. Listing in the directory, and ranking within the directory, do not constitute endorsement by the LII or by its parent institution.
Information for those seeking lawyers
How do I find an attorney using the LII Lawyer Directory?
Start your search for an attorney on our Lawyer Directory home page. In the lawyers search form, enter a legal issue or the name of a lawyer or law firm and the geographic location and click the search button to see a list of local attorneys, law firms, and non-profit legal service organizations that meet your search criteria. If we have your approximate location it will be automatically placed in the second text box in the lawyers search form (you may change it if you wish to).
You can also browse attorneys. Again, if we have your approximate location it will be shown at the top of the page, and you can click on the list of practice areas to find out about local attorneys, law firms, and non-profit legal service organizations servicing your locality.
If the location is not correct, use the tabs on the home page to browse our directory by state or metro area. You may also use the map at the right to select a location to search. You can also try clicking on the "Reset Location" link under the map to have us attempt (again) to automatically figure out your current location.
How do you know where I am located?
The LII Lawyer Directory uses a technology known as "IP geolocation" to determine your general location. We do this so that when you visit the site, we can direct you to attorneys in your area as quickly as possible. We do not store your location on our servers, or use this information to identify you. We only use it to simplify and enhance your experience with us.
How can I find free or low cost legal services or legal aid?
The LII Lawyer Directory lists thousands of educational and non-profit legal aid and service organizations nationwide that provide free or low cost legal services. If you are only interested in these low cost legal service organizations, click on the "Legal Aid & Services" tab on any listings page to limit your search to just these organizations.
How do I contact an attorney in your directory?
There are several different ways to contact lawyers, law firms, and legal aid & service organizations listed in the LII Lawyer Directory:
- Use their physical address: On a profile page, you can click on the "Contact & Map" tab, to see phone numbers and addresses the attorney has listed on his or her profile, as well as a map showing all of the office locations.
- E-mail them using the online form: If the attorney or law firm has a contact email address associated with their profile, a "Contact this Attorney" or "Contact this Law Firm" link will appear on the top of the profile page. You can use this form to contact the attorney by email. For the privacy and security of the lawyers in our database, we do not display their email addresses anywhere on this site.
- Visit their web page: Many lawyers and law firms have included links to their websites where you can find more information about the lawyer including additional contact methods. These website links can be found on the "Overview" tab of the profile page. Some lawyers also have blogs, which offer an excellent way to learn more about a lawyer, their practice, and the law in general. Attorneys and firms who have provided blogs have an additional tab on their profile labeled "Blogs" which displays a list of their recent posts.
Information for lawyers who want to be listed
Claiming or registering your attorney profile
I want to register with the LII lawyer directory, but I keep getting shunted off to a site with a name like "Justice" or something. What's up with that?
Justia.com is the LII's partner in offering this directory service. All administrative activity (registering, claiming, and so on) takes place on the Justia site. So depending on what you're doing you might find yourself switched back and forth in a way that's a little confusing.
What's the difference between the LII Lawyer Directory and Justia's Lawyer Directory? Can I be listed in both?
The Justia Lawyer Directory currently allows United States licensed attorneys to provide a free full profile of their practice. If you have an existing profile in the Justia Lawyer Directory, you can claim and update your profile from your lawyer profile page. If you do not have an existing profile in the Justia Lawyer Directory, you can register for a new profile on the sign up page.
Lawyers who have claimed their profiles appear in the LII Lawyer directory automatically.
Is there a fee to be listed in the Lawyer Directory?
No. There is no fee be listed and have a full profile in the Justia Lawyer Directory. However, those who provide and support organizations that put free legal information online will receive higher rankings on the listings pages. You can get a higher ranking in a variety of ways that include providing free information yourself (for instance, by writing a legal blog that is editorially accepted into Justia's BlawgSearch.com) or by making a contribution to the LII.
Why should I claim my attorney profile?
The Justia Lawyer Directory provides free profiles to lawyers throughout the United States.
Registered lawyers may:
- Complete their profile to show the full extent of their professional experience.
- Help users find your Website and blog, or other social network and directory profiles, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, JDSupra, Twitter, Avvo and Nolo.
- Receive online leads from potential clients.
- Receive karma credit by providing a fuller more detailed profile.
- Receive karma credit and higher listings by providing free legal information through blogs, wikis and forums.
- Receive karma credit and higher listings by supporting the LII.
How do I claim my attorney profile?
You can claim your attorney profile by finding your profile and then clicking the "Claim and Update your profile" link on the profile page (this link is on the right hand side of the profile page) OR if you can't find your profile in the Justia Lawyer Directory, you may register as a new attorney by clicking on the "Get Listed" link (located on the top right of every page).
After filling out the Get Listed form, I am presented with a list of lawyers, what is this?
The list shows unclaimed profiles that may belong to you. If one of these profiles is yours, please claim it instead of registering a new profile. Otherwise follow the "register for a new attorney profile" link.
Claiming a profile presents me with various claiming options. What are these?
These options are different ways to verify your identity against the information already in the Lawyer Directory. Currently, the available methods are "Claim by EMail", "Claim by Phone", and "Claim by Fax". Claiming by EMail will send a validation email to the email listed. Claiming by phone will allow you to enter a validation number during a phone call to the phone number listed. Claiming by fax will allow you to fax Justia proof of your identity and license to practice law.
How do I claim by email?
From the "Claim Profile" page, select the email you wish to use for claiming. The full email address is partially hidden in order to protect you from spammers getting your email address, you will see the first letter of the email address and the domain of the email address. Once you have the email selected, click the "Claim by EMail" button. An email will be sent to that email address with a verification code and a claim link. From there, you may enter the verification code on the next page or click the link in your email to verify your identity. Once verified, the page will load a registration form where you can continue with the profile registration and editing process.
How do I claim by phone?
From the "Claim Profile" page, select the phone number you wish to use for claiming. Please be sure that you are able to take a call at this number immediately. Select the phone number to call and click the "Claim by Phone" button. Click the "Call Phone Number" button and the Justia Lawyer Directory will call the listed phone number. Enter the 5 digit code when prompted and enter pound (#) key when finished. Once verified, the page will automatically load a registration form where you can continue with the profile registration and editing process.
How do I claim by fax?
From the "Claim Profile" page, click the "Claim by Fax" button. Complete the registration form, which will be converted into a downloadable PDF. Print, sign, and fax this form along with the required documentation to the number listed on the form. Upon receipt of your fax, the Justia Lawyer Directory team will review and process your request. Upon acceptance, you will receive an email notification to the administration email address provided in the registration form.
One or more of the claiming options presented above are not available for me -- why?
If a particular claiming option is not present, it is because we do not have the information necessary to support it in our database. However, the "Claim by Fax" option will always be available, regardless.
How long does it take Justia to validate a fax claim or registration?
Once Justia has received your fax, we may need a few business days to review and approve your profile claim or registration. We will notify you by email once we have approved your claim or registration.
What information will I be expected to give to Justia to claim a profile?
During the registration process, you will be asked for a username and password. We will also collect information regarding your email, full name, primary address, and primary phone number.
What information will I be expected to give to Justia to register a new profile?
During the registration process, you will be asked to create a username and password. We will also collect your email, full name, primary address, and primary phone number. Once you fill out the online registration form, it will be converted to a downloadable PDF, which you can print and fax to Justia, along with documents proving your identity and license to practice law. Upon receipt of your fax, the Justia Lawyer Directory team will review and process your request. Once accepted, the Justia Lawyer Directory will send an email notification to the administration email address provided in the registration form.
What is the difference between an administrative email and a contact email?
The Justia Lawyer Directory stores two email addresses.
We use the administrative email to contact you regarding your Justia Lawyer Directory account -- for example, to respond to password reset requests.
The contact email address is used for mail being sent from your profile by other users, for example, a potential client seeking to contact you through the Justia Lawyer Directory.
The administrative email address is required, the contact email address is optional. Neither email address is publicly viewable on the Justia Lawyer Directory Website. One email address can be used for both the administrative email and contact email.
Editing/completing your Attorney Profile
How do I log in?
To log in, click the Attorney Login link at the top right of every page. Use the login and password you picked when you claimed your profile. If you lose your password you may reset it at the password reset page.
How do I update information in my lawyer profile?
If you would like to update information in your lawyer profile, you must first claim your profile. Once your profile has been claimed, you may edit all information on your profile by following the instructions below.
The Justia Lawyer Directory team will not respond to requests by email or phone to change information listed in unclaimed profiles on the directory. This is to ensure that only lawyers who own the profile can change the information within it.
How do I edit my profile?
Once logged in, you can edit your profile simply by visiting it with your web browser. To visit your profile click the My Profile link at the top right of any page. Editing is done on the profile page by clicking the special editing icons next to each profile section.
How can I remove my profile for the Justia Lawyer Directory?
If you do not want your lawyer profile to be visible, you must first claim your profile -- this prevents unauthorized individuals from deleting it without your knowledge. On your profile page, click on the "Claim and Update your profile" link at the top right of your profile and complete the claim process. Once your profile has been claimed, you may either disable or delete your profile from the Lawyer Directory.
To hide or delete a profile, click on the User Settings tab in your profile. If you select Disable Profile", your profile will remain hidden until you re-enable it. You may also permanently delete your profile. Data contained in a deleted profile cannot be restored. The difference between disabling and deleting your profile is described further below.
What is the difference between disabling and deleting my profile?
Both disabling and deleting your profile remove it from the public listings in the Justia Lawyer Directory.
Disabling your profile is a reversible action. It allows you to hide your profile until you decide you want to show it again. You can still update your hidden profile, but it is not visible to the general public. You can make a disabled profile visible on the Justia Lawyer Directory by re-enabling it.
Deleting your profile will remove your information from the Justia Lawyer Directory permanently and you will no longer be able to login, edit or update your profile. If you want to re-add your profile after deleting it, you will have to create a brand new profile from scratch.
How can I change my password?
After you log in, click on the "My Profile" link in the upper right-hand corner to retrieve your profile. On your profile page, click on the User Settings tab. Click on the Change Password link to enter your new password.
What are the ideal dimensions for an attorney photo?
You should upload a 180 pixels (w) by 240 pixels (h) attorney photo. If you upload a photo with different dimensions, the Lawyer Directory will rescale the photo to fit within these dimensions. We accept photos in JPG and GIF formats.
How do I change the my name listing in the Justia Lawyer Directory?
Name changes must be made by the Justia Lawyer Directory support team. You may send your request to change your name by clicking the Contact Justia link at the bottom of any page.
Improving your Attorney Profile by supporting the LII
How does the Lawyer Directory order its listings?
The Justia Lawyer Directory allows users to view all listings for a particular practice area and/or location. A user selects a tab on a listings page to filter the list to show only legal aid and service organizations, law firms, or lawyers.
Under all listings, the Lawyer Directory will first display local legal aid and service organizations. These organizations usually provide free or low cost legal services and may be affiliated with a local court, law school, or bar association.
Next, the Lawyer Directory will list matching law firms and lawyers based on a number of factors, including Justia's relationship with the lawyer or law firm (eg. are they a Justia Website client); their contribution to providing free legal information online through blogging, wikis or other means; their financial support of organizations that put up free information, like the LII or Nolo.com; the status of the lawyer profile (i.e., whether it has been claimed or not) and the completeness of a lawyer profile (more complete profiles will show up higher).
We will be offering additional ways for lawyers to contribute to the community in the near future. We will credit lawyers who help the community by writing providing free legal information online or who support other free legal information websites with higher rankings in the Lawyer Directory.
It is free for any US lawyer to have a full profile in the Justia Lawyer Directory, even if they are not clients and from organizations that are hostile to free information (you know who you are :). Only the ordering of the results is influenced by these factors.
How can I improve my Attorney Profile Rankings in the Lawyer Directory?
The Justia Lawyer Directory displays matching
lawyer profiles on the listing pages. The order of the profiles
depends on a number of factors. The fastest way to move above
many of the lawyer profiles in our directory is to claim your
profile.
- Claiming your profile will quickly move
it above most of the unclaimed profiles in the directory.
- Once you have claimed your profile, you can increase your
rankings even more by fully completing your profile. More
complete profiles move higher up on listings pages.
- To
have the most impact on your position on results pages, you can
obtain profile badges by providing or supporting free online
legal information.
What do the badges on some profiles mean and how can I get them on my profile?
Justia works with individuals and organizations that provide free legal information to the online community. Our directory highlights lawyers who support these organizations or who themselves put up free information (such as by way of blogging).
Note: These badges and support levels only impact the placement order on the Justia Lawyer Directory listing pages. They are not required to be in the directory or to have a full profile in the Justia Lawyer Directory itself (which is free :).
Cornell LII Badge
class="faq">The Legal Information Institute of Cornell Law
School is a leading provider of free public legal information.
Attorneys can obtain one of three levels of LII badges (bronze,
silver & gold) on their lawyer profiles by financially
supporting the LII. Supporters will also receive a higher
placement listing in the Cornell LII Lawyer Directory and the
Justia Lawyer Directory. Lawyers can support the Legal
Information Institute and obtain LII Badges here.
Justia Badge
class="faq">Justia's Website clients receive prominent
placements in the Justia Lawyer Directory. Their business with
us provides us the resources to publish more free legal
information online. Learn more about Justia's Law Firm Website
Design and Legal Marketing Services.
"Verified by Nolo" Badge
Nolo is the leading provider of consumer and
small business legal information and has their own separate
lawyer directory. Attorneys with the "Verified by Nolo" badge
have enhanced placements in the Nolo directory, have taken the
Nolo pledge of service and had their licensing credentials
checked. Visit Nolo's Lawyer Directory to sign up for their
directory services.
BlawgSearch.com
class="faq">BlawggerLawyers can contribute free legal
information and commentary to the online community through
blogging. If you publish a blawg (law blog) and Justia's editors
have accepted it into our BlawgSearch.com directory and search
engine, we will reward you with the BlawgSearch badge. You can
submit your blawg for consideration in BlawgSearch here (it's
free :).
How do I purchase a Badge Subscription?
- You can purchase a supporter badge
subscription by visiting our Badge Subscriptions Page, if you
are not logged into the Justia Lawyer Directory, you will be
prompted to log in with your username and password first.
- Once on the Badge Subscriptions Page, you can select the
badge(s) that you would like to subscribe to, and also select if
you would like to subscribe on a monthly or yearly basis.
- Once you have made your selection click on the "Pay with PayPal"
button. on the bottom of the page.
- You will be taken to a
PayPal payment page. If you already have a PayPal account, use
your paypal email address and password on the form on the right
to log into your PayPal account. If you do not already have a
PayPal account, you can use the form on the left to create one
quickly using your Credit Card information.
- Once you have
logged in, or created your PayPal account, you will be asked to
confirm your subscription.
- Once you have confirmed your
subscription you are returned to the Justia Lawyer Directory
where your badge has been activated.
- Your subscription will
automatically renew either Monthly or Annually depending on the
selection you chose back in Step 2.
What payment methods do you accept for
Badge Subscriptions?
In order to provide the most flexibility for
both our subscription system, and for your available payment
methods, the Justia Lawyer Directory currently accepts PayPal
for Badge Subscriptions. PayPal allows you to pay for your Badge
Subscriptions through Credit Card, Checking Account, or through
PayPal account balances, and keeps your financial information
safe and under your own control.
We do not accept payment for Badge Subscriptions through any means other then PayPal at this time.
I want to cancel my subscription. Can I get a refund?
Payments received for Badge Subscriptions are
relayed by Justia to the affiliate organization that the badge
represents, as such all payments are final. You may cancel your
subscription at any time, and once you do so you will not
receive any more charges. All badge cancellations are effective
on the date that the subscription would be up for renewal, and
badges will remain on your profile for the full duration of your
current subscription term.
