I was deeply saddened this week to hear of Lew Rose’s passing. A visionary of early internet days, Lew was one of first lawyers in the world to create a web page. He went on to have a distinguished career in advertising, consumer law and was the managing partner of Kelley Drye for six years.
I once wrote a post about the first law firm to launch a website — a distinction I gave to Venable, which debuted its site in 1994. Lew was among the first attorneys to launch a website.
In 1994, as I wrote in 1996, Lew, then a partner at Arent Fox, “joined the 10 or so lawyers who had so far ventured onto the Web and created his Advertising Law Internet Site.” It was either the first or one of the first sites devoted to helping visitors understand an area of law.
As I went on to write: “At first, he did not tell his firm. Then, in February 1995, PC Computing’s first-ever listing of the top 100 Web sites rated his 16 — the only law firm on the list. Rose showed his review to the managing partner who, in turn, asked him to present to the partnership. Soon, Rose was helping the firm develop its own site.”
Lew was pivotal in helping Arent Fox develop its own website.
