Professional Identity Development: From Law School to Beyond–Growth as an Editor and as a Journal

Introduction

A law school shall provide opportunities for . . . the development of a professional identity.^[1]

When the ABA adopted accreditation Standard 303(b)(3) (quoted above), I suspect that most legal writing professors were not surprised and knew that the standard would be relatively easy to implement. Why? Providing opportunities for professional identity development was already part of our jobs; it had been for years. Everything from skills such as research, writing, critical thinking, analysis, attribution, oral communication, and much more, to the professional skills of time management, meeting deadlines, following instructions, treating others with respect, and again, so much more—those of us who teach legal research and writing courses were already providing opportunities for professional identity development. All we had to do was be intentional and strategic in our instruction.

Developing the habit of lifelong learning is one of the professional skills that I have worked hard to instill in my students. Throughout my professorial career, I designed each assignment, exercise, project, and class to build upon the last, illustrating how fundamental skills learned in the early weeks of the semester were the foundation to developing advanced skills later in the course. With lifelong learning as a goal, it has been a joy to watch each student grow and blossom throughout their legal education and beyond.

But it wasn’t until I was invited to write this Essay that it became apparent to me that I too had developed the habit of lifelong learning. I have always looked for opportunities for professional identity development. And it was through my service with Legal Writing: The Journal of the Legal Writing Institute (Journal) that I continued to develop as an editor.^[2] And in the decade that I was on the Editorial Board, I watched the Journal develop its “professional identity,” as well.

I. My Professional Identity Development as an Editor

Before being encouraged by Darby Dickerson to volunteer to be an associate editor with the Journal, my editorial education began during law school when I joined the Stetson Law Review. I served as an Articles and Symposia Editor during my second year and as the Managing Editor during my third year. As one can expect, law review editors learn so many skills;^[3] skills such as attention to details, time management, and leadership, to name a few. Law review editors continue to develop their research, writing, critical thinking, attribution, and editing/proofreading skills; the skills learned in the first-year legal writing courses. But being an editor on the Journal provided an opportunity to further develop my professional identity. There are so many skills I could address, but I am going to highlight three—collaboration, ownership, and responsiveness.

A. Collaboration

Collaboration, the ability to work with a team, is a difficult skill to learn in law school. Given how the first year of law school is structured, unless professors add collaborative exercises in class, students can feel isolated. They are developing skills and being assessed on their own ability to demonstrate those skills. In my law school experience, collaboration did not appear until the second year when I had the opportunity to participate in extra-curricular activities, specifically, law review.

I learned about collaboration when I joined the Journal. From article review and selection to the final publication, each editor had a part to play, but together we accomplished everything. And what made this collaboration even more special was that my fellow Journal editors were not at Stetson. Editors came together from law schools across the nation.

And this collaboration brought opportunities to learn from so many. This collaboration benefitted not only me, but the entire Editorial Board. All the editors worked towards a common goal.^[4] I met so many colleagues who shared their skills and talents. There were the Editors in Chief—Mary Beth Beazley,^[5] Jim Levy,^[6] and Kristin Gerdy^[7]—who mentored me, and all the other editors who taught me so me so much.^[8] I have the utmost respect for each and every editor I had the pleasure to work with. I learned once again that through collaboration, “[w]e can learn from anybody.”^[9]

B. Ownership

And with collaboration comes ownership. Yes, as editors of law reviews or journals in law school, we were told about ownership, but I do not think ownership became real until I served as the Managing Editor of the Journal. We were responsible for everything from the budget to the publication process and timeline, to the number of issues published within a volume, to how the Journal was formatted.

We were responsible for this special gift that started fourteen years before I became a Journal editor and would continue for many years after I had left the Editorial Board. I—no, we—cared about every author and every piece ever published. And with that caring and pride, there was ownership.

C. Responsiveness

With collaboration and ownership came the responsibility to be responsive to the needs of not only the Journal, its audience, and its board members, but to the authors as well. Those who were submitting their work to the Journal could be novice or veteran scholars, and Journal editors needed to be responsive to both groups’ needs. Responsiveness came in many forms—shortening the review time so authors received timely decisions about their submissions or spending time on the phone^[10] with a veteran author to talk through editorial suggestions.

Editors may not have said it out loud, but personally as a Journal editor, I found myself thinking about how publishing an article could help improve an author’s status within their law school and start them on the road to further scholarship that would be part of a future tenure decision. I also thought about how the Journal was the place in which a long scholarly agenda continued to unfold and reach all its intended audience members.^[11] As I learned to be more responsive, it led to many wonderful conversations and mentoring moments for me, and hopefully, the authors or editors I worked with. Through my service to the Journal, I learned there was more than just the work that I needed to accomplish; I had a responsibility to my fellow editors and the legal writing community.

II. Professional Identity Development for the Journal

As discussed above, being an editor of the Journal furthered my own professional identity development as an editor, scholar, and professor. But during my years on the Editorial Board, I also saw the Journal’s professional identity develop as the Journal continued to address the needs of its readership and the discipline through creativity, change, and technology.

A. Creativity

“Creativity comes in numerous shapes and sizes . . . . Creativity can be reflected through new ideas, approaches, perspectives, and initiatives.”^[12] The creativity of the Journal’s editors and authors and their ability to think outside the box helped us see challenges as opportunities. Creativity enabled the Editorial Board to be responsive to readers’ needs and to adapt and grow.

Tying back to the skill mentioned previously, it was through collaboration that creativity grew. The Journal’s Editorial Board was more than just one individual—it was the entire Editorial Board. Whether considering new ideas for article submissions or rethinking a publication process, the Editorial Board was constantly developing and growing. Many board meetings and retreats were spent brainstorming. Creativity led to change, and the Editorial Board’s ability to change led to the Journal’s continuous development.

B. Change

As Oliver Wendell Homes once said, “Man’s mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.”^[13] As an individual editor, I was looking for professional-identity-development opportunities, but as an Editorial Board, we looked for opportunities for the Journal to grow as well. The Journal, through its editors and its authors, was always thinking about old topics in new ways. Authors challenged and inspired us to think about things differently.

“Change—it is our only constant and it is something facing legal education and this Journal.”^[14] The change could be something as simple as streamlining internal processes, creating a team environment for the assistant editors, or bringing back the Editor’s Note at the beginning of a volume.^[15] Or change could be “bigger,” such as creating the first one-day Symposium^[16] or inviting “superstars” of our community to serve as senior editors to share their time and wisdom with the Editorial Board.^[17] Change could even be figuring out how to publish unique visuals in an article^[18] or continuing to rethink how to incorporate essays on timely topics.^[19]

Or change could involve changing how the Journal was published. We knew that to survive and thrive, the Journal had to change and evolve.^[20] And in 2015, the Journal embraced creativity and changed—launching an online publication.^[21] This change would forever transform the Journal.^[22]

C. Technology

Adapting to changes in technology is part of being a competent attorney.^[23] Being willing to think outside the box and being willing to change tested our “competency” as an Editorial Board. We had to use technology to our advantage.

Through collaboration, ownership, and responsiveness of individual editors, and the Editorial Board’s creativity and willingness to change and adapt, technology became the Journal’s friend, not its foe. After much planning, the Journal went online with Volume 20. This accomplishment was only possible due to the work of the entire Editorial Board. At minimum, we learned how to design a website, how to format articles for ease in readability, and how to present footnotes in an online platform. And to this day, the Journal has continued its online presence, benefiting all of us in the legal writing community.

Conclusion

As I come to the end of this wonderful trip down memory lane, it is amazing to reflect upon the professional identity development that has occurred not only in the Journal but for me personally. Learning and developing the skills of collaboration, ownership, and responsiveness, in addition to all the skills I learned as an editor on the Stetson Law Review, has kept me on the path of lifelong learning. As I turn my attention to other editorial pursuits,^[24] I would strongly encourage everyone who is involved in legal writing instruction to continue their lifelong learning by being an editor of a peer-edited journal.^[25] These opportunities can lead to professional identity development, not only for yourself but for the journal you join.