I read the sad news in the WSJ today about Craig Johnson's death. I met Craig in the 1990s when he was running VLG and my wife was working there. VLG created a unique culture for a law firm: open, equity oriented, tech savvy.
The lawyers I met at VLG were truly passionate about what they were doing. Admittedly this was the 90s, and things were pretty distorted from a lot of angles, but the VLG team seemed to have created something special.
When we founded Optify we decided to work with John Robertson, an attorney who came to Heller Ehrman through their acquisition of VLG. Heller Ehrman then dissolved, on the day we were closing our Series A. John stuck with us and we continue to work together now that he's with Cooley Godward.
It's often hard to know how to measure a legacy in business. Wealth created? Jobs? Innovation? Law firms come and go. VLG is gone, but its legacy continues long after its corporate structure.
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