Recently, a law firm was accused of falsifying positive reviews about itself online. Reviews
The firm allegedly encouraged its non-lawyer employees to write positive reviews about the firm, and to solicit non-client friends and family members to do so as well. Employees allegedly received rewards for writing and securing the positive reviews.
A woman, joined by several others, filed a class action lawsuit against the law firm, claiming negligence, fraud, negligent misrepresentation, and unfair trade practices (among other things). The woman asserted that the firm mishandled her sexual harassment claim against a former employer by failing to file a charge of discrimination with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by the required deadline. As a result of the firm’s alleged mismanagement of her claim, the woman left the firm a “one-star review” online. In a letter sent within weeks of the woman’s review, an associate at the firm threatened litigation over the allegedly defamatory post.
The woman claimed that she was tricked into hiring the firm because the positive reviews that she relied on were fake. She believed that the reviews came from employees, and employees’ friends and relatives, rather than real clients of the firm. Many five-star reviews were secured in short periods of time, and some of the reviews were the same for offices located over 300 miles apart, according to the woman. She also claimed that the reviewers received benefits, such as paid time off, in return for the positive online marketing. Despite the foregoing, the firm vehemently denied falsifying its positive reviews, and the parties ultimately reached a settlement.
Read the full article here.
