11 October 2022 (Crete) – The legal technology industry was the last domain I entered, and it came late. I was 51 years old when I got involved. But it fit in with what I was doing. It was a natural part of the overlapping domains I have worked in as a lawyer and that I also covered as a journalist/writer for 40+ years: cyber security, digital/mobile media, science technology and software development. I was fortunate because I became friends with the leading lights of the industry such as Craig Ball, Jason Baron, Ralph Losey, Browning Marean, and Nigel Murray.
Craig helped me to understand forensics, Jason and Ralph helped me dive into the intricacies of computer software, Browning helped me to grow a company I started called The Posse List which helped people find jobs in the legal tech industry, and Nigel helped me get established in Europe when I left the U.S. and moved here in 2005, as well as establish an expertise in “extreme discovery” projects – data collection/data investigation in extreme environments in such places as Cote d’Ivoire, Iran, and Russia where there was a big need.
And then there was Charles Christian with whom I had my closest relationship in the legal tech industry. We first met at Legaltech and then at numerous events in the UK. So I was gutted this week over his death.
We were both the same age (well, he was 1 year older) and we were both journalists. Although he was actually a significant cut above me: a writer, editor, barrister, journalist and radio host who was always writing. And the founder of the Orange Rag and a legal tech visionary, “who long before the world woke up to the importance of technology in delivering legal services, was writing about new innovations and keeping the industry on its toes with his acerbic wit”. That last line is from a beautiful piece written by Caroline Hill, the current Editor-in-Chief of the Orange Rag, more properly called the Legal IT Insider. You can read Caroline’s tribute by clicking here.
Charles and I ended up texting, emailing and Tweeting each other about 2-3 times a week. We also exchanged numerous books we wanted each other to read, and/or articles to share. I became a patron to his blog. Our last exchange is at the end of this post.
Charles became my editor. He actually appointed himself to that position, at least on my “TL;DR” blog posts. He always thought they were too long but he knew I detested today’s environment which rewards simplicity and shortness, which punishes complexity and depth. So he let me be. Although he still excoriated me on my often daily “machine gun” posts which were filled (and still are) with typos: “That’s the journalist hitting a deadline. Not a writer. Clean them up!!”
So it was Charles who slowed me down on my long, thoughtful pieces and said to me “your posts can be in depth and that’s fine. But you do not need an army of phrases, moving across a wide landscape, to wrestle your ideas to the ground. You can be long but you need to be concise. And stay on point”. As noted, he did not edit all of my work but certainly had a big hand in those “TL;DR” blog posts vis-a-vis syntax, structure, and content.
He also helped fine tune my several long running series on COVID, the Ukraine War and the changes ripping through the fabric of our society. In my book-in-progress Tales Aboard the Shipwreck Called “Civilisation” he added the subtitle Our many moments of rupture. He also helped in the distribution of my longer blog posts to build a wider audience and I owe him a big hat tip for that. His work contributed greatly to increasing my subscriber base which now numbers 28,000.
And as you can imagine for two relics like ourselves, we often chatted about our mento mori, reflecting on our mortality … and the limits of the human body. We exchanged pieces from Epicurus and Lucretius. And remained thankful we survived for another beautiful day.
You will not remember all your jobs, nor how much money you made throughout your career. However, you will remember every single person that graciously opened a career door for you, became a friend, made life meaningful. Thank you, Charles.
POSTSCRIPT
For those of you who knew Charles, you knew he loved language. We were both subscribers to Literary Hub and we often sent each other pieces to make sure the other saw it.
He also followed the Ig Nobel Prize, a satiric prize awarded annually since 1991 to celebrate ten unusual or trivial achievements in scientific research. He wrote:
“Hey! Just saw the Ig Nobel Awards. Their Literature Prize when to a research study on incomprehensible legal documents! There is a post there for you! Check it out here. The actual prize-winning legal research can be found here. I’m telling you, it’s got “this should be a Greg post” written all over it”.
Most poignant for me: he sent that the day before he died.