Yesterday, I was named Student Editor of Student Lawyer magazine, which is published by the Law Student Division of the American Bar Association.The magazine provides guidance on educational, career, and related issues for division members and others. It is published every month of the school year, September through May, and is available only by subscription or as part of the $20 annual membership in the ABA Law Student Division.
The magazine is run by the full-time editor, but each year a Student Editor is chosen and given a large amount of authority in planning the magazine. I am completely in charge of one section of the magazine and assist the editor in the other sections. If you go to the magazine's website, I will be taking the place of current Student Editor Kristi Lemoine, who is listed on the right side of the page.
Ashley and I have both really loved the magazine, since I first started receiving it in my first year of law school. I applied for the position in January after coming across the call for applicants. I really didn't think I would get it because I wasn't a journalism major and haven't worked full-time for a newspaper or magazine before. So I was thrilled when they contacted me for an interview last weekend and totally surprised when they offered me the position yesterday.In general, my job description and duties include:
- Generating (through writing or assigning/editing) about 2,500-4,000 words per month for the Division Dialogue section (see website).
- Assigning articles to student writers as deemed appropriate by the student editor and staff editor, and ensuring their timely filing and editing
- Alerting law student section liaisons to requirement to write liaison notes, following-up on these requests, and editing articles
- Reviewing via e-mail all magazine copy (feature pages and Division Dialogue) prior to publication and alerting staff editor to any oversights or potential problems
- Informally consulting with staff editor on various issues involving the magazine, including editorial content
- Assisting in judging of the Law Student Division's law school newspaper contest
- Carrying out other minor assignments to assist the staff editor
I begin working immediately. Next week, I will be travel to Dallas to attend the Division’s Board of Governors meetings. I will have to travel to three other meetings over the next year. One in NYC, another in Chicago and another yet to be determined. It should be lots of fun and a great opportunity to meet lots of national ABA leaders.The Deans of my school are really excited that this will be a great opportunity for me to represent W&L on a national level. They are already planning ways to promote it. I had to convince the website to wait to do a story on me until I get back from Dallas and having a better idea what I will be doing.
The only downside about this opportunity is that we had to cancel my parents' visit to Lexington next week. We hope they can reschedule as soon as possible because it would be fun to show them our fun town as well as for them to see how much our girls are growing.
