Robert Ambrogi Blog
Today marks the 18th anniversary of the launch of LawSites blog. My first post was on Nov. 19, 2002.
My initial focus was on tracking web sites of interest to legal professionals. Over time, I expanded to cover legal technology and legal media more broadly, and eventually to also include legal ethics and legal innovation.
Never did I imagine I would still be at it 18 years later — more “at it” than I ever was in those early days. And never could I have imagined the degree to which legal technology and legal practice would continue to evolve and transform all these years later.
For my blog’s continued existence, I owe a big thanks to two companies and the people behind them.
Ten years ago, I almost shut this blog down. The platform on which I’d published was disappearing. The prospect of transferring to another platform was daunting.
Then I heard from the founders of Justia, Stacy Stern and Tim Stanley. As I related in this 2010 post, they offered a lifeline. They would migrate my blog to WordPress, create a new design, and host it — all for free.
Justia became my blog’s home for eight years. I can’t say enough about the amazing people who work there. But, in addition to Stacy and Tim, I am forever indebted to Justia’s CTO Vasu Kappettu and to the tireless Nick Moline, senior software engineer.
In 2018, I joined LexBlog as publisher and editor-in-chief and moved my blog there. While I am no longer with LexBlog in a formal role, I am honored that they continue to host and support my blog, as they do so many outstanding legal blogs around the world, and thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with the great people who are the backbone of that company.
In particular, I owe a great debt of gratitude to LexBlog’s founder and CEO Kevin O’Keefe, who I would never have met but for blogging. Kevin has been a true friend to me and supporter of this blog in so many ways and for so long that I could never begin to express my appreciation.
But something remarkable about Kevin is that he has been that friend and supporter to so many bloggers. I’ve lost track of how many people have told me that Kevin was their inspiration to start blogging, their cheerleader to keep going, and their trusted advisor on how to make thier blogs succeed.
While all of the people I’ve named so far provided much-needed technical and moral support for me to keep at it, the real fuel that keeps this all going is you, the reader.
You all have been extremely kind and gracious in your support and feedback over the years. I have come to know many of you as virtual friends, and many even as real friends.
I view this as a service. I endeavor to help keep you better informed so you can better understand the tools and options available to you. I hope you continue to find it useful and informative, and that you will let me know how this blog can better serve your interests.