Members may personalize their page on Bar's Web site.

Florida Bar members can now post moe information about themselves and their law practices on their member pages on the Bar's Web site, following action by the Communications Committee.

Committee Chair Richard Tanner told the Board of Governors last month that Bar members' pages can be a valuable tool, and one committee member reported being contacted by a Fortune 500 company because of information on his member page.

"Your constituents soon will be able to add any advanced law degrees and, most significantly, the practice areas that identify what you want the public to know about what you do soon will be expanded from 32 to 110 practice areas," Tanner told the board.

He said the changes had been proposed by a subcommittee headed by John Biesinger, a member of the Bar's Citizens Forum, and including board members Laird Lile and Jake Schickel.

Since July 1, Bar members have been able to post information about themselves and their law firms on the Bar member profile page. That includes a picture of themselves, giving the number of lawyers in the law firm, their Martindale-Hubbell rating, listing languages spoken at the firm and whether offices are handicapped accessible, states where a member can practice, and what level of federal courts they are admitted.

Only information checked off by a Bar member is shown on his or her profile page. If the lawyer does not check any of the ratings, say, for Martindale-Hubbell, then no information from the rating service appears on their page. Likewise if they don't check one of the boxes on law firm size, then no information about the number of lawyers in the firm will be displayed.

The Web site now allows Bar members to list their law schools and J.D. degrees. The change will allow them to list LL.M. or other advanced law degrees that were obtained from ABA-accredited schools, Tanner said. He added for lawyers without advanced law degrees, nothing will show on their member page except the J.D. information that they provided.

The expanded list of practice areas was developed by looking at Bar sections and certification areas, types of LL.M. degrees, Martindale-Hubbell practice areas, practice areas listed by Florida Trend magazine in its annual "Legal Elite" publication, and suggestions from Bar members.

Tanner said the expanded list of practice areas will help the public by providing more specific information about lawyers and their areas of expertise.

Bar members can make the changes to their member pages by going to the Bar Web site at www.floridabar.org, clicking on Member Services on the right side menu. They then should click on the link, "Update address on official Bar record and add practice information."

They then will be asked to log on with their Bar ID and password. If they have not obtained a password from the Bar, there is a link on the page for obtaining one.

Once logged in, members are presented with their official address, which is listed in the Bar Journal directory issue. Going past that information brings members to the elective information that can be displayed on their member pages.

The first option is to add a picture (with a width of no more than 250 pixels), followed by opportunities to list law degrees, law schools attended, size of firm, position held (including corporate counsel, government attorney, law faculty, associate, partner, retired, etc.), Martindale-Hubbell rating, practice areas, and admissions to federal courts and other state bars. Lawyers also specify if they provide ADA accommodations, hearing impaired translation, and foreign language transcription.

The subcommittee looked at allowing the listing of each specific federal court where a lawyer is admitted, but a decision was made that specification was too detailed. So the Web page asks only if lawyers are admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. circuit courts of appeals, federal district courts, or federal bankruptcy courts.

An estimated 8,000 to 10,000 Bar members have so far taken advantage of the ability to add extra information to their member pages on the Bar's Web site, which can be found at www.floridabar.org.