So, I've been meaning to post an update on my law school comings-and-goings, but I've been waiting to hear back on a couple of things. Now that we're about halfway through my second 2L semester, I guess it's about time I said something! Because while I am (unfortunately) still looking for a summer job (everyone cross your fingers on that count), I have actually managed to accomplish some exciting things this semester.

I mentioned in my interim update that I was waiting on Law Review Editorial Board selection. Well, I now officially bear the title of "Lead Articles Editor" on the BYU Law Review Editorial Board. It is my job to review and reject submissions (a sort of legal slush pile), consult with the other "Leads" on acceptances, and work with authors on editing their pieces once they have accepted our publication offer. I work strictly with professional authors--the "Lead Note and Comment Editors" work with student pieces...

...including the article I'm publishing in September! I received the offer today, so my article, Active and Passive Telepresence: Repairing Judicial Overgeneralizations of Technologically Enabled Student Speech, will be appearing in the 2008 volume of the BYU Law Review. I really enjoyed writing this piece to fulfill my "substantial writing" graduation requirement last semester, and I'm looking forward to polishing it up for widespread publication. While it will not be my first academic publication, I will now have something more recent and pertinent to my profession on my resumé.

My grades from last semester also came back--it was my best semester yet, by a few hundredths of a point. I'm still recovering from the blight that was my first 1L semester grades, but now I've established that the anomaly was in fact the low grades. This semester is going to be a hard one, but I think I can continue the upward trend.

All of this combines to make me cautiously optimistic about this summer's prospects. About half of the new Editorial Board is in the hallowed "Top 10%" of my class, and of the five "Lead Articles Editors," I am the only one who is not in the "Top 10%." Honor magnet notwithstanding, hard work and demonstrated merit can occasionally pay off. d^_^b It's nice to have something more than my wonky GPA testify of my abilities in the job search.

Plus, I really wanted to be a "Lead Articles Editor." A lot of people think I'm masochistic, but law review is my favorite part of law school. I love reading academic contributions to legal theory, especially where they wax philosophical. Being on the law review is a lot of work, but it's work that ends with a product I can be proud of. My 2L year has been ludicrously busy, but as a consequence it has moved quickly and I've accomplished some good stuff. Any 1Ls out there who are wondering whether law review is worth it, I would emphatically state that it is absolutely worth it.

Some days more than others, but that's life for you!