Legal Bloggers

Legal Bloggers

By David R. Corder

Associate Editor

Sometimes it's the realm of the irrational - these things called weblogs. They're more commonly known as blogs, essentially personal journals posted on the Internet. Anyone with a personal computer, a Web hosting service and blogging freeware can rant, rave, lie or simply bore to death anyone who traipses across his musings.

Then there are a number of attorneys in Florida such as Sarasota's Robert Lincoln and St. Petersburg's Matt Conigliaro who have found intrinsic value in this digital-age tool.

Over the past few years, they have learned how to convey knowledge specific to their areas of legal practice on a scale far greater than they ever could through e-mail, digital message boards or even hard-copy newsletters.

On his blog, Lincoln focuses on land use law decisions - public takings, zoning and other issues. Conigliaro delves into the vast area of appellate law from the federal 11th Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta to Florida's appellate system. He's board certified by the Florida Bar in that area of law.

They're not alone, either (see accompanying chart). On his blog, Clearwater attorney Marcus Castillo, past chair of the Clearwater Bar Association's labor and employment law committee, writes frequently about issues related to the federal Employee Retirement Security Income Act (ERISA). Orlando-area attorney Jonathan Alper publishes two blogs - one on asset protection in Florida and another on bankruptcy law. Fort Lauderdale's Perry Itkin even publishes a blog on mediation.

All publish periodic updates in relative obscurity with an exclusive bent on matters that typically interest other attorneys. Despite that focus, it's becoming more obvious they've attracted the interest of a wider audience. The number of visitors to their sites show readership is growing.

On average, Conigliaro's blog now receives from 150 to 250 visits a day. That changed dramatically, however, when the Terri Schiavo right-to-die legal issues dominated national news coverage. Earlier this year, his site recorded from 50,000 to 60,000 visits a day. His treatment of the Schiavo appellate issues even earned him a mention on CNN's "Inside Politics."

On the other hand, Lincoln says his site gets about 50 hits a day or 1,500 a month. "It would be a pretty astounding land use case to gain that type of national exposure," he says.

Each blogger devotes considerable time and energy to what they describe as a labor of love.

"Some days, when work or other things have me too busy, it can be no time," says Conigliaro, a shareholder at Carlton Fields PA, one of Florida's largest law firms. "Some days it's hours.

"It is time consuming, but a lot of that is time I would spend reviewing new cases and keeping up with new events, anyway," he says. "In that sense, it's made me a better-informed lawyer."

Lincoln, too, balances the demands between clients' needs and his devotion to the blog.

"Right now the area of land use law is incredibly hot," says Lincoln, an associate at Icard Merrill Cullis Timm Furen & Ginsburg PA, one of Sarasota's largest law firms. "We're very, very busy. So I spend less time this year than I did last year (on the blog)."

Each downplays any commercial opportunity from their weblogs. Neither links his site to commercial advertisers, for instance.

"There's no direct way for the Web site to produce money for me," Conigliaro says. "I've never tried to make it into that. I don't link to ads. But you'll see a number of (general interest) bloggers who have begun to incorporate commercial aspects into their Web sites."

It only makes sense that a financial reward exists at some point in the future - either in the form of new business or referrals - as this vast community known as the World Wide Web stumbles upon their sites.

"While the blog gives me a certain amount of visibility in the land use community, and also credibility with that group of lawyers, the direct benefit to my practice is over the long run because of those factors," Lincoln says. "I don't view this as an advertising vehicle with a click-through rate or a referral rate. I look at it much more as a visibility-and-credibility builder."

Each started their Web sites around the same time in 2003. Lincoln says his blog pales in comparison to what Conigliaro has accomplished.

"I can't say enough about Matt's efforts on this," Lincoln says. "I enjoy what I do on my blog. It gives me an outlet to catch everybody up and give (them) a quick take. But the breadth and depth of what Matt is doing is unreal.

"It's a real service to the Florida Bar," he adds. "It's the kind of thing that if nobody was volunteering to do it, it would be something that the bar should track down and pay somebody to do."

Conigliaro's work even earns him a compliment from his boss, Tom Snow, the firm's president and CEO. He says the lawyer's blog "portrays the firm in a very favorable light."

Conigliaro realized in 2003 that other than traditional research tools, such as LexisNexis, he knew of no one that offered in-depth focus on Florida appellate law. Early on he recognized just how important this area of law had become especially to those who followed the Schiavo case.

In addition to commentary on court rulings, Conigliaro provided links to the actual court documents in the Schiavo case.

"One of the greatest rewards I have gotten from the Web site has been an astounding number of e-mails thanking me for the way I discussed the Schiavo case and the way I offered people opportunities to read the court material," he says.

Conigliaro's treatment of the Schiavo issues on his blog even earned him a speaking engagement earlier this month at the Tallahassee Bar Association. The group wanted to know more about the issues in the Schiavo case and about his use of the blog.

Kathy Arrant, the group's executive director says: "He had a lot of questions from the membership on the legal aspects."

Such exposure created a string of new contacts that possibly at some point should bring Conigliaro new business. So that's a plus for him. But he also talks about the intangible aspect of the exposure.

"It's fun for me and very rewarding to get the positive feedback I've gotten from lawyers, non-lawyers, reporters, law professors," he says. "I've even have heard from (media) editorial boards who thanked me for keeping them straight on cases. That's the sort of thing that makes everything worthwhile, to think I can help clarify what's happening."

All of this makes Lincoln think that no one really understands the potential benefit of blogs for business people. Besides his legal career, he worked as a programmer in the 1980s, spent time teaching land-use planning and later worked with emerging high-tech companies. He is convinced this Internet tool has value beyond the actuality of today.

"This kind of thing will change the way we do a huge amount of business," he says. "But anyone who can predict how that's going to work is going to be wrong."

Some Florida Law Blogs

Blog name bloggers Web site Date started

Florida Land Use Law Robert Lincoln http://flalandlaw.com/landblog/landblog.html April 2003

Abstract Appeal Matthew Conigliaro www.abstractappeal.com July 2003

Florida Asset Protection Blog Jonathan Alper http://floridaassetprotection.blogs.com July 2004

Florida Bankruptcy Blog Jonathan Alper www.bankruptcyorlando.com September 2004

Florida Mediator Perry Itkin http://floridamediator.blogspot.com November 2004

Florida ERISA Blog Marcus Castillo http://floridaerisa.blogspot.com January 2005