When I posted this two years ago, I heard from several old friends: Carolyn Elefant, Nikki Black, Craig Waters, Jennifer Rose, and Bruce Dorner. We all began our Internet journey in the Nineties, and we have seen it blossom into the juggernaut it is today.
"I gave my first seminar on the Internet for lawyers in 1994. It is hard to believe that I have been shilling for Lawyers on the Internet for 26 years. That date coincides with my first website for the FutureLawyer, which has been going strong every day since. Teaching lawyers about the Internet and how it could amplify and energize their law practices has been a life long obsession. So, I look with pride at the complete integration of the Internet into the practice of law, just as it has infiltrated other professions. Technology can be harnessed for good purposes, and can enable a life well lived. In 1994, when my Committee on Technology conducted the first statewide demo of the World Wide Web for lawyers at the Florida Bar Convention, we setup computers and monitors and dial up access, and sat Bar members down to show them the future of legal research and computing. I actually saved the graphics banner from the Convention, and it is mounted on the wall of my home office."
Craig created the Florida Supreme Court's first website, although he had created a personal web page even earlier. That personal page was what prompted Justice Ben Overton to ask if he could create a page for the Court.
Carolyn put up a website for her firm in January 1995 and taught a course on Energy Resources on the World Wide Web in 1996. She had an email address on her business card in 1994.
Bruce, I met in the Nineties at the ABA tech convention, and he has been around forever. He is so old that one of his mentors taught Wozniak how to code.
He also did the first demo of a remote connection to the office by dial-up at TechShow way back in the mid 80’s.
Nikki created a personal website in 1995 and met her husband online that same year. (I met my wife, Jacquelyn, may she rest in peace, online in 1997).
Bruce started Solosez; but, Jennifer has been den mothering it since 1998.
So, on this first day of 2023, I honor these legal Internet pioneers. May we all live another 20- something years, and see what it becomes.
