Meditations On Law Review

They elect the new Board tonight. Almost everyone applied. Only about half the staff can become Board members. The people who don't make Board may have a harder time landing a Court of Appeals clerkship, and won't have back-breaking amounts of work to do next year.

For all that I love it, it is an absurd and rarefied world we live in at this school.

People agonize over whether they will get on the Board and not only that, but will they get one of the top five (five? I think six.) five or six positions. It's part popularity contest, hoping that the outgoing Board (who elects the new Board) thinks you're just the neatest person. And it's part Work-Thyself-To-Death competition. Who can do the best article reviews? Whose cite checks are most organized and perfect? Given that most of us made Law Review because we do not know how to stop working, or how to let something go as "good enough," the bar is set pretty high when it comes to out-working or out-performing your fellow staffer.

And then there are the Comments. Publish and you are almost assured a position, as long as the rest of your work is acceptable and you don't have the personality of a T-Rex experiencing nicotine withdrawal. But if you haven't at least made it to the first bench-mark, well, good luck. I am ambivalent about this unofficial requirement. On the one hand, being on the Board means you will have to meet deadlines all the time, and getting your Comment to a certain point does show an ability to do that. But the Board needs all kinds of people on it, and not all of them need to be the types to work themselves to death in an effort to get published.

This evening, in a ceremony bearing all the hallmarks of a papal election, the Board will select its replacement.

If I am selected I will smile, and sigh, and cope. If I am not selected I will sigh, and smile, and cope. Either way, working on the journal has meant a great deal to me--not so much for what it gave me in terms of career opportunities, or even what it provided by way of mental stimulation, but for the experience of getting to know and appreciate the people I worked with day after day after night. They're all good people. They all deserve the best. I wish them well.

Comments

[k]

Good luck! Either way, of course.

[LL]

I say this with a heart full of love and admiration for you- you, and all your law review cohorts, are freaking insane.

But I wish you luck in continuing the insanity!

[Chris]

Go get 'em Tiger (I guess)!

[ckm]

Your Mother thinks you're wonderful, no matter what. But that doesn't short circuit her critical faculties. GO FOR IT, BABY!