From the Desk of
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Machines Need Permits, Too
On July 8, the Sarasota County Commission voted 5-0 to freeze the acceptance or review of data center applications for a year. One of the commissioners stated, “For me, it’s a no. Not now, not ever.” I’ve spent a number of recent blog posts writing about the AI industry and what it takes from us…
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Dear Grads (2026): I Want to Believe
“Dear Grads” is a series I publish each spring for high school graduates. Consider it unsolicited advice from a lawyer who has been around long enough to know a few things — and young enough to still remember what it felt like not to. Growing up in the 1990s, Friday nights had a shape to…
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Florida SB 1616: A Gift from Florida Legislators to The AI Industry
March 13, 2026 Update After this blog post was published, Senate Bill 1616 “died in judiciary” and so it was never voted on, and, of course, never became law. Good. Nevertheless, I’ve left the original blog post up as a reminder of what they tried to do. Remember When I Said We Need AI Regulation?…
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Why I’ve Stopped Feeding the Machines
If you’ve been a regular reader here, you’ve probably noticed my posting cadence has changed. Where I used to publish multiple times a month, it’s now sporadic at best—mostly thoughts on AI and what it’s doing to the world we used to know. This is a deliberate choice, and I feel that maybe I owe…
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Lawyers, We’re Having the Wrong Conversation About AI
Picture this: You’re at a bar function, someone mentions they’re using AI for legal research, and immediately three people jump in with: “Oh, you have to check the citations!”… “It hallucinates!”… “I heard it gave someone completely fake cases!” Yes, we know. That was 2023. Don’t get me wrong—those were valid concerns when ChatGPT first…
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Gone in 60 Milliseconds
Does Anyone Care that AI Bots are Stealing Everyone’s Data? As artificial intelligence continues to reshape our digital landscape, website owners, content creators, and businesses are grappling with a fundamental question: Who controls how your online content is used to train AI systems? The answer, unfortunately, is more complicated than you might expect. The Current…
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How to Disable eBay’s Hidden AI Data Collection Setting
I’ve been using eBay for years. With 132 million active users, chances are that you are an eBay user, as well. Recently, while adjusting some of the payment preferences in my account, I stumbled upon a surprising setting buried deep in my account settings. It’s a toggle that provides “consent” for eBay to use your…
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Florida’s New “Gold Standard” and Documentary Stamp Tax
As a real estate lawyer practicing in Lakewood Ranch, our profession constantly navigates the interplay of property law, financial mechanisms, and state taxation. The recent enactment of Florida House Bill 999 (HB 999), effective July 1, 2026, which formally recognizes qualifying gold and silver coins as “specie legal tender,” will undoubtedly have wide-reaching implications. However,…
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The Enduring Art of Justice
Courtroom Sketches in the 21st Century Have you ever wondered why, in this age of high-definition video and instant Instagram uploads, you still see a lone artist in a courtroom, furiously sketching away with pastels and charcoal? It’s a curiosity, isn’t it? A seemingly anachronistic practice in our hyper-connected world. But believe it or not,…
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Dear Florida HOAs, Enough with the Estoppel Extortion
As a real estate closing attorney here in beautiful Lakewood Ranch, board certified in real estate, in fact, I can honestly say that I love handling real estate closings. Having navigated the thrillingly adversarial waters of other practice areas earlier in my career, such as representing both the harried debtors and the hopeful creditors in…