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Farewell to Carolyn Elefant
I have not blogged here since last Thursday. In the interim, something momentous happened. Carolyn Elefant left Legal Blog Watch. Carolyn and I co-authored this blog for 3.5 years, alternating posting duties every other day, with occasional time off for good behavior. By Carolyn's calculation, that added up to some 1,680 posts for her and I guess it would be about the same for me.
Carolyn and I stepped in together to fill the shoes of -- as Carolyn put it -- the now-famous Lisa Stone, co-founder of BlogHer. Lisa started this blog back when no one was yet sure whether this blogging thing would take off. She did such a good job here that, when she left, the editors here at Law.com must have figured it would take two people to fill her giant shoes.
For me, working with Carolyn had many rewards. Most notably was simply the reward of reading her posts. Even before we started here, I knew Carolyn from listservs and from her own blog, My Shingle. I knew that she understood the interests of real lawyers out there in the trenches because she was one herself. I knew that she was an advocate for the solo and small firm lawyer, as she has continued to be. I knew that she was thoughtful and opinionated, as she consistently demonstrated. But what I didn't fully appreciate when we started out was just how good a writer she is. Through reading her posts, I believe, I learned how to be a better blogger.
One other reward of working with Carolyn was in getting to know her. Oddly, we spoke only rarely over these years. She is near Washington, D.C., and I am outside Boston. We didn't even e-mail much. If anyone thinks we spent a lot of time planning and coordinating, they'd be mistaken. Instead, we fell almost immediately into a natural synchronicity that just flowed. I like to think we complemented each other in our posts and perspectives. But I know for certain that Carolyn's insight and steady demeanor helped make this all work seamlessly.
So I will miss working with her, even as I look forward to working side-by-side with my new blogging partner here, Bruce Carton. I will not be alone in missing her, judging from the sentiments of people I've spoken to in the last few days and of bloggers such as Reid Trautz and Bill Pollak, the CEO of the company that publishes this blog. In fact, as befitting a farewell, one U.K. blogger even penned a poem in her honor. Follow that link to read it in full, but let me echo its final verse:
All I know is that
If you’re half as good at law
As you were at blogging
You'll be quids in.
Best wishes, Carolyn, in all your future endeavors. May the quids come rolling in.
Posted by Robert J. Ambrogi on September 23, 2009 at 10:23 AM | Permalink
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