Beginning November 1, users of The Florida Bar website’s “Find a Lawyer” feature will be offered an extended search for Bar members combining a number of factors including location, area of practice, board certification, courts admitted, and other practice details that have been voluntarily added by attorneys.

Since 2007, Florida Bar members have been able to add substantial information about themselves and their practices to their attorney profiles in the “Find a Lawyer” section of the Bar’s website. More than 40,000 have done so, and now that additional information can be used via the new extended search to provide lists of attorneys who may meet the consumer needs.

For example, a consumer could search for an attorney in Jacksonville who is board certified in civil trial law and who graduated from the University of Florida’s law school, or a business could search for an attorney in Miami who practices commercial litigation and who speaks Portuguese.

However, the searches will only be as good as the information available; therefore Bar members are encouraged to provide additional information to their profiles between now and the November 1 launch date for the extended search.

The Bar website — www.floridabar.org — automatically lists a lawyer’s name, eligibility to practice, address, date admitted to the Bar, e-mail address, fax and phone numbers, any Bar certification areas, and Bar section and committee memberships.

The expanded information may include the lawyer’s website address, photo, size of the firm, areas of practice, the lawyer’s position in the firm, law school, courts admitted, special services such as translators or ADA accessibility offered by the firm, and languages spoken by the lawyer. Once a lawyer adds details, the profile page will only display those categories for which information was provided, instead of showing blank spots.

To post any or all of this information to your page:

• From the home page (www.floridabar.org), click on “Member Profile” just under the red-boxed “Member Tools” on the right side near the top of the page;

• Click on “Update address and expanded profile;”

• Enter your user name (Bar number) and password;

• Review the information listed on the screen, make any needed changes, and then click Continue;

• Click Yes on the security alert pop-up;

• Add any of the information you wish to be displayed on your page; and

• Click Submit.