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"I Will Diminish and Go Into the West"

March 26, 2007 1:26 AM

ow. Sometimes, life happens so quickly that it's easy to completely lose sight of where you've been, where you are, and where you're going.

Today, the Wisconsin Law Review held its annual elections. I literally can't believe that it's been almost a year since I was on the other side of this--since it was me standing up in front of eighty people, telling them why they should vote for me. Although that day perhaps did not go as I had hoped, the ensuing year has surpassed all of my expectations.

Someone asked me why I wanted to be SME when I ran for it. The truth is that I love Law Review. It's that simple. I've said it plenty of times before, but Law Review has been, by far, the best experience I've had in law school. It's given me the opportunity to work with so many talented, intelligent people; it's made me an immeasurably better writer; it's taught me how to effectively work with people; it's taught me how to deal with an almost constant state of near meltdown; it's taught me how to manage my time more effectively. This list could go on forever. But it still wouldn't get to the heart of what makes me love Law Review so much.

What makes the organization so special is the people. I don't always see eye to eye with some of the people I work with. I don't always agree with the decisions I have to go along with. I hate having to put people in difficult positions. But, simply put, the people that make up the journal are, for the most part, talented, intelligent, thoughtful, dedicated individuals.

One of today's candidates said something that resonated with me. He said that Law Review, ideally, should be a place where smart people can talk about important ideas. There's been a lot of discussion lately about what our purpose is or should be, and I think there can be no better description of what we should strive to do than that we should secure for ourselves the greatest possible range of intellectual stimulation and discourse.

I think I've been a decent senior managing editor. As far as the technical aspects of the job are concerned, I was awesome. I think I did a decent job of motivating and engaging with the 2Ls (although maybe that would depend on who you asked). But something I failed at personally was keeping my eye on the big picture. When I was elected, it was honestly my goal to improve the Law Review experience for everyone involved with the journal. I hope I (and the rest of the board) have accomplished that to some degree. But, even if we have, I think I could have--and should have--done more.

And that's where the newly elected board comes in. I've come to feel like very invested in the Law Review. To a certain degree, I understand why previous board members have been hesitant to have this experience end. But I have no doubt that the new board is going to be amazing. Each and every single one of the positions is filled by a competent, dedicated, motivated, talented individual, and I think the Law Review stands to gain a great deal through this new board's leadership.

Still, although I have the utmost confidence in these guys, I'm sad on some levels to see my tenure as senior managing editor come to a close. As I said today at elections, sitting through edits that went on for several hours was always the best part of my job because I wasn't working--I was hanging out with my friends. Perhaps no Law-Review-related memory means more to me than the numerous times that I sat at my desk, David to my right, Emily to my left, Ben further to the left, and Kristin behind me, with various members coming and going. And who could forget the name-that-member game?

Everything, of course, must end. I've got a few more months of this job, but the finish line is on the horizon. Regardless of where I end up, I know I'm going to look back on this experiece--on all the people--and smile.

That way at attention and loading of my article is the I render thanks.



1 Comments


tRJ said:

"...where smart people can talk about important ideas."

I agree. That was the biggest problem with WLR under the editorial board that preceded yours. I hope you guys did better.

March 26, 2007 8:02 AM



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