from Florida Bar News
Usage of the Florida Bar’s Web site continues to climb – and most Bar members have a PIN number for the site – and a comprehensive review of www.floridabar.org will be a top priority of the Bar’s Communications Committee in the coming year.
For the 2007-08 Bar year, Chair Ray Abadin said there were 118.7 million hits on the site, up from 106.1 million in 2006-07, and nearly 37 million in 2003-04.
In recent surveys of Bar members, 92 percent said they had accessed the site in the past year, up from 85 percent in 2005 and 39 percent in 1999. And 44 percent said they had visited the site more than 10 times in the previous year.
Ninety-one percent rated the Bar site as average or above average compared to other legal sites in terms of content and ease of use, and 84 percent said they had no trouble finding information on the site, Abadin said.
One notable figure was that 66,569 Bar members have PINs, which means they have registered with the site and can use it to pay annual Bar membership fees, report CLE hours, register for seminars, and expand the information on their member pages.
Asked where they obtained information about Bar activities and services, and allowed to choose multiple sources, Abadin said 81 percent of Bar members named the Florida Bar Journal and News, 37 percent listed the Web site, 28 percent said from mailings, 19 percent said from colleagues, and 8 percent said from calling Bar offices.
The Fastcase free legal research service has proved popular, with 16,750 Bar members using that, he said.
The top 10 pages on the Web site visited during last June were Member Search/ Find a Lawyer, the site homepage, the Bar Journal, the CLER page for posting hours, the Bar News, the Bar’s master calendar, the CLE page for registration and listing upcoming seminars, the login page for further member services, the Florida Registered Paralegal Program, and the Daily News Summary.
Abadin said surveys also show that attorneys use the site to seek another attorney’s phone number or address, get a CLE course schedule, register online for a CLE course, find ethics opinions, link to legal resources, explore member benefits, pay annual Bar fees online, change membership record information, check rules updates, and get information about Bar committees.