‘I started reviewing because I needed something to kill time while I waited to see clients,’ said Miller, who has worked as a private defense lawyer in Southern California for 18 years. ‘But I think the reviews are actually helpful for bail bondsmen, attorneys, family members — a lot of people, actually.’

As Miller acknowledges, it’s not the kind of helpful testimonial commonly found on Yelp, the popular consumer reviews site many people turn to for recommendations on, say, bowling alleys and Chinese takeout. But as Yelp grows more popular — logging 36 million reviews as of last quarter — lawyers as well as prison inmates and their family members have turned to the site to report mediocre food and allegations of serious abuse. They join the enterprising reviewers who have used Yelp to critique traffic signals and public bathrooms.”