Dear 1L,

 

TheGeorgetown Journal of Legal Ethics (GJLE) hopes you will consider joining our Volume 25 editorial staff next year.

 

GJLE is the nation’s leading journal on legal ethics and the future of the legal profession—and one of the three most-cited student-run specialty journals in the country. During a moment of rapid change in the profession, the ethical issues confronting lawyers and scholars have never been more complex and relevant; topics of debate range from jurors contacting defendants on MySpace to political interference with law schools’ clinical programs.

 

As a member of GJLE, you will be a published author by the end of your 2L/3E year, which makes us unique among Georgetown’s journals. You will choose your own topic, write an original note, workshop it with the help of our editors, and have offprints of your published work in hand as you apply to jobs and clerkships at the end of your 2L summer. Like most things worth doing, it is challenging but enormously gratifying to write a printable note. Our editorial board is committed to making the authorship and publication process as collaborative and intellectually rewarding as possible.

GJLE’s success draws heavily on our commitment to the values of public service and social justice. When the late Father Robert Drinan founded the journal in 1987—after his career as a congressman and human rights advocate—he wrote: “[No] journal has been established as the central form for the discussion and development of the ethical and professional dilemmas confronting the lawyers of America . . . . The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics hopes to be that forum.” We have worked hard to honor the vision of higher ethical conduct and community service that Father Drinan fostered during his years at the law center. We retain his conviction that lawyers work in service of justice, and justice works in service of society.

 

Historically, we’ve been unable to offer membership to students who rank GJLE lower than third during the Write On competition. Our selection criteria are intended to attract individuals who have strong academic and writing abilities, and who are motivated to contribute to the journal’s continuing success.

 

If you have any questions about GJLE, please feel free to contact me at annaoffit@gmail.com. Good luck with exams, and we hope you will join us!

 

Sincerely,

 

Anna Offit

Editor in Chief, Volume XXV

The Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics