A good run: Overlawyered, 1999-2020

I published the first Overlawyered post on July 1, 1999, and I expect this post on May 31, 2020 will be the last.

As someone in the entertainment world once put it, “Leave before they want you to leave.” I appreciate the outpouring of good wishes in recent days.

My gratitude to all those who have made it possible, including the Cato Institute, which has published the site for the past 10 years. And especially to the readers.

— Walter Olson

24 Comments

  • I’d throw one more post out there on July 1st. Hit 21. Gonna miss it.

    • Yeah – then you would be legal.

  • Best of luck and thanks for all the fish.

    Thought of having someone else taking over curation and care of the site?

  • I already miss the blog. I am not an attorney and have only commented three or four times in all the years I have read Overlawyered, but I have always been fascinated, engaged and taught by what you say and by links to other writers. Thank you.

  • I have read every single post back to the first day. This is literally the first website I read in the morning. You will be missed.

  • So long, and thanks for all the fish.

    Bob

  • Last post from me, thanks again for 20 years of interesting posts and comments (funny, interesting, frustrating, puzzling, and many more reactions)!!

    To paraphrase Tweety Bird,
    “Bye bye! Bon Voyage! Have fun!”

  • And may the Overlawyered archives remain for future visitors, immune to eminent domain, down a little side street just off the hyperspace bypass, a digital wax museum of the countless legal and constitutional Vogons that you have so thoughtfully collected, analyzed and displayed all these years.

    May your work at Cato bring forth even more fruit from the tree of Liberty.

  • I hope you realize that your blogging efforts affected more people and in more ways than you know. Overlawyered was a place to read, a place to learn and (for me) a place to engage in conversations with people a great deal smarter than I.

    You and the blog will be missed. It is as if the shuttering of Overlawyered creates a black hole in the blog-o-sphere universe.

    Thanks for everything and good luck in whatever you do moving forward.

  • you were – and are – terrific

    thank you

  • I cannot add to what the previous commenters had to say, other than my thanks for your time and effort in creating the content in this blog. I learned a lot.

  • It will be much missed. Irreplaceable, incomparable, invaluable.

  • This was one of the best blogs that’s ever existed. Best of luck in all your future endeavors, of which I hope there will be many.

  • Been a fan since back in the Reason days, you’ll be missed but never forgotten. Nevertheless, bon voyage and fair winds.

  • I have enjoyed this site often.
    Thank you.
    And good luck in your future endeavors.

  • You’re allowed to un-retire. Jay Leno did it. I’ll miss this site.

  • Many thanks. I have thoroughly enjoyed your site for the past 20 years. I will miss you

    Thank you again

  • You were a pioneer on the web and a voice — a force — for sanity and justice. I wish you well in all the cool things you will do next. — Lenore Skenazy

  • As my wife says : “ leave while you’re still having fun”. What fun and enlightenment it was. Thanks for everything.

  • Thank You one of my all time favorite sites

  • Thank you, Walter, what an incredible job you did. I hope the site will continue to link to your other writings in the future. Enjoy your reduced workload 🙂

  • Thanks for your thoughtful analysis and tireless efforts. I will miss seeing your posts.

  • Thank you, Walter. Although I rarely commented, Overlawyered was one of my three “Read Everyday” sites for fifteen+ years. This will be missed.

    Good luck. I’ll see over at CATO!

  • Thank you from a long time (non-american) reader – when I was a student to almost 2 decades later when I work on regulation, policy and legislative matters. The influence of this blog will live on – Thanks for all the posts…