(Below is a transcription of this video)
Hi. So I’ve been asked a few times, what do I think about lawyer reviews? Now, generally speaking, my answer is I think they’re relevant. I think they’re important, but it really depends on the kind of review we’re talking about. And, I divide reviews in to two types; public reviews and peer reviews. Let me explain what I mean.
Understanding Immigration Lawyer Reviews
Public reviews are the reviews that we see every day, online for example, like Google reviews. If you’re an appliance store, a restaurant, if you’re a law firm, you can always click on to Google and you’ll see, in some cases, a number of reviews about that business. Some are good, some are not good.
Yelp is also another review site, where you can look at various reviews about a business. These reviews are public because they are posted by the actual users of the service. So for example, in the immigration context, people who have used an immigration law firm’s service will be able to post a review on Google or on Yelp or even some other specific review sites about their experience.
I think these reviews, public reviews, are super important because they tell others who are interested in the service what it was like. Now, of course, not every business is going to get a great review; some businesses get pretty poor reviews, I’ve seen. But overall, if you could take an average and you can get a sense by people’s comments. It will give you an idea about whether or not the service is good and whether or not the service is for you. So I think public reviews are a great thing. It forces businesses to do a really good job because they’re in the spotlight and if they don’t, expect a bad review. So I think it’s a win-win for the consumer and for businesses who do a good job.
Differentiating Peer Reviews Vs. Public Reviews
Now, there’s the other type of review which I call peer reviews. And these are a little different. These are reviews that are solicited by different organizations. And essentially, it’s a situation where it’s kind of like the Academy Awards, where you have a movie and you have members of the Academy who vote based on their opinion and they take certain polls and they speak to various organizations and they come up with an opinion as to who’s the best, what’s the best movie, who’s the best Director, etc.
Similar concept with peer reviews. In the law business context they will send polls out to our colleagues and things like that and get an opinion as to the rating of a various lawyer. Those are important but if I was a consumer of legal services, I would be more interested in public reviews than peer rated reviews. For the simple reason, is because I think there’s an inherent bias. If you are a member of the New York State Bar for example, and you’re a well known lawyer and you have a lot of connections and you’re well liked, I think, chances are, you’re going to have a better review than someone who’s relatively unknown.
The Benefits of Having Immigration Lawyer Reviews
So businesses, in particular law firms that focus on the public, on the public’s opinion, I think do a better job at informing the public as to whether or not they’re the right service provider. And that’s not to say that if you’re highly rated in a peer review it’s a bad thing, of course it’s a good thing. But I think from a public’s perspective, to properly objectively evaluate the services of a law firm, it’s best to go to what I would consider an unbiased source that really solicits the public’s opinion; because after all, it’s the public that’s going to be using your
services.
Are You Interested in Hiring an Immigration Lawyer?
So those are my thoughts on reviews. I think all businesses, whether or not you’re a law firm or an appliance store, to do a good job, they should really be aware that reviews are very important for future customers and clients. Hopefully that gave you some idea as to the importance of immigration lawyer reviews.
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President & CEO
Michael Niren
Mr. Niren is CEO of VisaPlace LLC and the President and Managing Partner of VisaPlace Legal Canada, an immigration law firm based in Toronto, and VisaPlace Legal US a law firm registered in The District of Columbia, USA. Mr. Niren is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, a member of the Law Society of Upper Canada, the Canadian Bar Association’s Citizenship and Immigration Section, American Lawyers Association, and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.
