By anybody's standards, Mcinnes-Cooper lawyer David Fraser is an national - and even international - success.
Not yet 40, he has become the go-to-guy in Canada whenever Canada's national media want a pertinent quote on a privacy-related story.
In researching credible panelists for "Who is SHAPING your Digital Future?" (an Internet and Digital Town Hall) here in Halifax, the planning committee quickly became convinced that all the movers and shakers on these issues lived in Central Canada - and that in fact live most with 150 miles of Ottawa's Parliament Buildings.
In a bit of panic, we called some of those movers and shakers and said, "You got to help us out - is there anyone in the Maritimes with any sort of a national presence on these kinda issues?!"
They started off admitting they didn't know anyone Down East, period, who dealt with these issues.
But then invariably, they'd pause in mid stream ,"...wait - the big guy on privacy - David Fraser - isn't he from Halifax - yeah, I am sure he is."
Then they all confess that "they read his "Canadian Privacy Law" blog faithfully".
The son of a Canadian diplomat, Fraser travelled widely as a child. But since coming, in 1993, to St Mary's for a history MA and then to Dal to get his LLB, David has remained in Halifax.
He's done all the 'old school things' a lawyer and a scholar always does to gradually get better known nationally - the articles in the traditional journals, the conferences meet-and -greets.
But conferences are a rare event and a lawyer in Halifax in the past would normally be outside the day to day connection building that lawyers inside the "blessed triangle" of Toronto to Ottawa to Montreal enjoy.
But the world of blogging - and lawyers have probably taken it up more assiduously than any other profession - allows a truly talented someone in a relatively small and remote region like the Maritimes to quickly make their mark nationally.
Not just among the lawyers and journalists inside The Toronto-Ottawa-Montreal Beltway either - the power of blogging is shown when a successful law-blogger starts getting comments and faithful readers from lawyers in Canadian towns and cities even more remote than Halifax.
To these small town readers, David Fraser is an online superstar.
Remember - "on the internet - nobody knows you're a Down-Easter."
We exaggerate - if anything, people online are even more curious than usual to learn a little more about the writers they admire.
Its just that it doesn't matter anymore where you live - if you have talent - above all the talent to communicate what you have to say - you can leap over geographic barriers without a glance, to plant your brand on the world.
David Fraser's success as a stay-at-home Maritimer who is nevertheless a nationally-known blogger shouldn't be allowed to remain unique.
Others here in the Maritimes need to learn his story - above all those ambitious young people already looking to leave here to become successful.
David shows us all that you can still stay Down East and yet establish a national voice - if you have drive, intelligence - and a blog....
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