Editor-in-Chief

Diana Cummiskey

The Editor-in-Chief (“EIC”) position requires a lot of work and dedication, but it also provides an experience that is unmatched at the law school.   As EIC, you will oversee managing an organization consisting of over seventy editors that publishes approximately 1300–1500 pages of legal scholarship a year, runs a multiday symposium, and works closely with local and national organizations that focus on constitutional law.  As EIC, you will play a significant role in ensuring the Journal accomplishes all these goals, and more.

EIC is by far the most versatile position, requiring familiarity with every facet of producing an academic journal.  You will work with the Articles Selection Committee in selecting articles for publication, and then work closely with both the Articles Editors and Executive Editors throughout the editing process to ensure that the Journal publishes meticulously edited articles in a timely fashion.   You will be required to delegate responsibilities among the Articles Editors, Associate Editors, and Executive Editors, set an editing schedule that takes each issue from source hunt to build, and then oversee the entire process.   You will also be responsible for making all the difficult decisions that arise during the process, ranging from thorny editing questions to how to deal with an unresponsive, unfriendly, or unprofessional author.  And at the end of the process, you will have the responsibility of doing the “Final Read” for every article that goes to print.   As the last line of defense, the EIC must have a great deal of confidence in his or her editing skills.

EIC is also the most interpersonal position.  The EIC must interact with every member of the board regularly.  He or she must be simultaneously demanding but flexible, and encouraging but critical, to get the most out of every member of the Journal’s extremely hardworking board and staff.  The EIC also interacts closely with authors.  Once we have selected an author’s article for publication, it is the EIC’s job to “sell” the author on our Journal.  Finding the right balance between cajoling and pressuring authors to accept an offer of publication may be the most important job the EIC has.

Finally, the EIC needs to be a leader.  You are the face of the Journal within the Law School and to the outside world, and the person who ultimately represents the Journal.  Whether it is negotiating with the administration over increasing the Journal’s space or delivering a speech to next year’s class of Associate Editors, you are often the first person that everyone else looks to for guidance and support, and ultimately the person who must make all final decisions.   You must carry on the Journal’s expansion as well as create and maintain a vision for the Journal, both regarding the number of pages that we print each year and regarding our expanding online presence.  You will initiate every process, so if you fall short, things will not get done.  Ultimately, the buck stops with you.  It may sound difficult, but it is an excellent and rewarding job.

In practice, the EIC deals with:

Authors:

• The EIC works very closely and meets regularly with the Articles Selection Committee to review and select articles for publication.

• When an article is reported favorably out of the Articles Selection Committee, the EIC must make an offer of publication and begin the process of persuading the author to publish with the Journal.

• The EIC solicits desirable authors and rising stars to build the popularity and reputation of the Journal.

 Associate Editors:

• The EIC interacts with AEs to discuss events, issues, and AE concerns, and ensure that the AEs’ experience on the Journal is a positive one.

• The EIC ultimately has final authority and responsibility to award or withhold credit for AEs (and Senior Editors).

Board Members:

• The EIC interacts with Board members daily and occasionally holds Board meetings to discuss and develop ideas, events, and concerns and to ensure that the Journal runs smoothly.

• The EIC sets a production schedule and enforces timetables and deadlines with Articles Editors and Executive Editors for the various steps of the editing process, and with Comment Editors for comment writing.

• The EIC assists the Symposium Editor in developing the Symposium topic, choosing speakers, and handling logistics with the administration.

• The EIC works very closely with the Managing Editor to help oversee day-to-day Journal functioning and more long-term projects and events.

• The EIC works very closely with the Online Managing Editor of JCL Online to solicit submissions and help build the online supplement.

• The EIC assists Executive Editors with the final production process.

• The EIC works with the Production Editor to forward the issue to the publisher

Law School Administration, Other EICs, and the External World

• The EIC holds occasional meetings with Dean Ruger and other administrative officials to develop an amicable relationship with the Law School, increase the Journal’s presence, and develop ideas and events.

• The EIC works with the other Journals’ EICs to structure and administer the writing competition, and may meet with the other EICs on occasion to discuss common problems and share potential solutions.

• The EIC works to establish connections for the Journal outside the Law School.

The newly-selected Editor-in-Chief (“EIC”) and Managing Editor (“ME”) will work closely with Diana and Aseem to learn the day-to-day responsibilities of their respective positions.   The new EIC and ME will have several months (February, March, and much of April) in which their duties will overlap with the outgoing Editors.  This will give Volume 24 Editors a chance to “ramp up” into the position with the experience and guidance of Diana and Aseem.  The incoming EIC will also immediately begin the work of fielding article submissions for consideration in Volume 24 and organizing the Articles Selection Committee.

Managing Editor

Aseem Chipalkatti

The Managing Editor (“ME”) conducts Journal business, maintains the office, and coordinates a variety of events. The ME is also responsible for identifying areas for operational improvement, prioritizing those improvements with the EIC, and then facilitating and coordinating the resolution of those improvements. This is the right job for you if you enjoy problem-solving for a large organization with diverse projects.  The ME is often the go-to person when problems arise in the office, questions about journal credits, or interpersonal matters.

The ME is also responsible for coordinating Board schedules and organizing the logistics of Board meetings.   The person in this position should be comfortable both with coordinating logistical issues, and communicating internally with the Board, the Associate Editors, and the Senior Editors.   This position requires you to wear a variety of hats, and is both a challenging and rewarding experience.  It also often requires being an authority figure to peers, which can, at times, be an uncomfortable task. There are five main components to the Managing Editor’s role:

Internal Administration

The Managing Editor conducts the business of the Journal, from billing subscribers to approving expenditures of money.  The Managing Editor is also responsible for the fiscal health of the Journal.  This include:

• Preparing the budget for the Journal as a whole and monitoring compliance with that budget

• Communicating with subscribers, handling additions and cancellations

• Overseeing subscriptions, backorders, and invoices

• Working with library staff, ITS, facilities, and administrative staff

• Approving and signing various contracts with publishers and other service providers

• Working with Lexis and Westlaw to arrange research training sessions both internally for the Journal, as well as school-wide sessions, which raise money that can be used for expenditures.

• Ensuring the timely and efficient publication of the Journal and staff compliance with Journal and school policies.

Office Administration

The Managing Editor is responsible for maintaining our office.  We are fortunate to have a great office located in Silverman.   The Managing Editor is responsible for making this space useful and comfortable for the entire staff.  The office responsibilities typically include:

• Maintaining computers, and other equipment

• Stocking the office with a variety of supplies (working with Lexis and Westlaw to ensure minimal expenditures and highlighters)

• Overseeing the return of books to the library in conjunction with the Research & Outreach Editor

• Maintaining the Journal’s reporter and journal collections

• Maintaining communication with Facilities and Building Administration to make sure the office is clean and safe for all the editors.

Journal Culture

The Managing Editor is responsible for maintaining a sociable culture in conjunction with various other board members.   Often, this involves contacting and working closely with administrative personnel and outside vendors.  Responsibilities include:

• Planning the Journal’s Spring Open House, Summer Orientation for Associate Editors and Senior Editors, and coordinating the Board Selection Process.

• Working with the Editor-in-Chief and the Social Committee to plan the Journal’s social and board calendar and outreach efforts.

• In planning these events, the Managing Editor’s responsibilities include  communicating to other Journal members their responsibilities at these events, keeping track of attendance, arranging for food and refreshments, and reserving rooms, just to name a few.

• Cultivating a fun and friendly atmosphere to allow use of the office space for socializing and study alike.

• Curating a universally-enjoyed snack supply (a deep political balancing act).

Board Support

The Managing Editor assists other Board members in the administrative and creative aspects of their positions.  These responsibilities can include:

• Assisting the Editor-in-Chief with communications to the Journal staff.

• Working with the Editor-in-Chief to plan strategic vision for the Journal.

• Helping to develop alumni outreach programs, such as newsletters and sponsorship requests.

• Taking primary responsibility for the administrative aspects of the Symposium.  This includes managing Symposium expenditures, accounting for and assisting with the solicitation of donations, and coordinating catering and travel logistics for the participants.

Journal Development

The Managing Editor will also identify and seek opportunities to expand the reputation of the Journal on and off campus. This is a new priority for the Journal, and creativity is welcomed and appreciated. Current avenues are:

• Cultivating a speaker series in the law school.

• Building the Journal’s Twitter presence on #LawTwitter.

• Curating the newly developed con.law website.

The newly-selected Editor-in-Chief (“EIC”) and Managing Editor (“ME”) will work closely with Diana and Aseem to learn the day-to-day responsibilities of their respective positions.   The new EIC and ME will have several months (February, March, and much of April) in which their duties will overlap with the outgoing Editors.  This will give Volume 24 Editors a chance to “ramp up” into the position with the experience and guidance of Diana and Aseem.  The incoming EIC will also immediately begin the work of fielding article submissions for consideration in Volume 24 and organizing the Articles Selection Committee. 

Articles Editor

Joelle Hageboutros, Matthew Jerrehian, Ava Mehta, Carolyn Rice, Sherrod Smith, Leon Sunstein

Articles Editors (“Art. Eds.”) are exposed to a wide variety of legal scholarship, manage a team of Senior and Associate Editors, and communicate with authors.  Art. Eds. are the primary members of the Articles Selection Committee, which selects the articles that are published by the Journal, and guide articles through the editing process.  This is a great position for those who want to learn a lot about contemporary legal issues.

Art. Eds. work together with the Comment and Production Editors as the Articles Selection Committee to choose which articles to publish.  It is the responsibility of the Art. Eds. to review all submissions to the Journal and make recommendations as to which articles will be accepted for publication.  This aspect of the work entails reading a wide variety of legal scholarship, primarily during the spring semester of 2L year.  The Art. Ed. position is especially rewarding in that you have the primary responsibility for shaping the content of the Journal.

In each issue of the Journal, the Art. Eds. are also responsible for seeing one or more articles through the first part of the editing process.  Art. Eds. must create, assign, and review the finished product of 1) the source hunt, 2) the first edit and source sheets, and 3) the second edit.  Art. Eds. accept and reject the changes made to an article by AEs during the first and second edits and provide AEs with feedback on their performance as necessary.  This requires you to be an effective manager and team leader, and to evaluate and review AE fact-checking, Bluebooking, and source sheets.  After the second edit, Art. Eds. do their own comprehensive edit of the entire article before returning it to the author for the first author review, which allows the author to review the edits and make whatever changes he or she would like.  After receiving the modified article back from the author, the Art. Ed. must evaluate and implement the author’s changes before forwarding the article to the Executive Editors, who then see the article through the second round of edits.

Being an Art. Ed. is a diverse job that requires a variety of skills and interests.  The ability to critically read and evaluate articles is essential to the selection process.  Managing a team of AEs requires strong organizational and communicative skills.  Interacting with the author also requires strong communicative skills as well as some tact and diplomacy.  Finally, doing a comprehensive edit of the article requires attention to detail.

Executive Editor

Emily Galik, Benjamin Gilberg, Chad Keizer, Bhavin Shah, Uyen Tu, Amber Venturelli

Executive Editors (“Execs”) are responsible for maintaining the Journal’s high-caliber standards in terms of proper citations, grammar, style, and layout.  The Execs are the in-house “Bluebook experts,” resolving ambiguous citation questions and training Associate Editors on the editing process during Orientation.  Execs also play a central role in crafting and shaping the Journal’s editorial policies—working with the Editor-in-Chief and Articles Editors to resolve editing questions, to accommodate authors’ stylistic preferences, and to ensure consistency in style and formatting across Journal issues.  Additionally, the Execs are responsible for maintaining the Journal’s layout and aesthetic qualities.

After the Articles and Associate Editors are finished with their edits, Executive Editors carefully proofread an article in its entirety (i.e., above-the-line text, footnotes, and headings), while reviewing its source sheets, to ensure that sources are cited accurately and that citations are in the proper Bluebook format.  Execs—unlike Articles Editors, Senior Editors, and Associate Editors—do not conduct source hunts or engage in fact checking.   Instead, these comprehensive reads focus on ensuring that citations, formatting, and grammar are accurate and uniform (e.g., caselaw is not spelled “case-law” in one place and “caselaw” in another) across an entire article, an entire issue, an entire volume, and all volumes of the Journal.

Finally, Execs complete a “Build” Reads before an article goes to an author for a final review, and then on to hard copy publication.  Build Reads are non-source-based reads intended to give articles a final “scrub” for proper citations, grammar, and readability.  Execs also assist with the JCL Online essays by completing a single Build Read before each essay is published. Later, the Execs will review and sign off on the publisher’s proofs of the issue before it goes to hard copy publication.   At the end of the publication process, each Exec will have personally reviewed half of the entire issue.

The Executive Editor position is a good fit for someone who enjoys working with details, problem solving, and working as a member of a team.  Execs must also be willing to resolve difficult editing questions—finding creative and logical solutions in combining rules from The Bluebook or consulting other editing and style sources.  Additionally, Execs need to have good teamwork, communication, and people skills.  They work cooperatively with the Editor-in-Chief, Articles Editors, Production Editor, and sometimes authors to resolve issues with articles and maintain deadlines, so applications should convey an applicant’s good sense of professionalism and tact.  Execs also work very closely together, especially during Builds, and will need to have a willingness to work with and rely on their fellow editors. Execs can expect cyclical work, where some weeks are busier, followed by periods of downtime.  A sense of humor is always a bonus.

Comments Editor

Jessica Rizzo

Being the Comments Editor involves working with Associate Editors (along with the occasional Senior Editor or Board Member) to generate ideas and provide guidance throughout the comment-writing process.  This is a great opportunity to learn more about substantive constitutional issues, and requires a strong interest in, and familiarity with, scholarship on contemporary constitutional problems.  As a Comments Editor, you work closely with the Associate Editors and build relationships with them throughout this writing process.  Part of this role also allows you to be a part of the uniquely dynamic Articles Selection Committee.

Part of the role of the Comments Editor is to inform the Associate Editors of the benefits of comment writing and administer the program in a way that helps to ensure the greatest possible participation.  This includes planning events during the fall semester that help Associate Editors understand what a comment is, the benefits of writing a comment, how to select a topic, and how to approach legal and academic writing.  The Comments Editor will also need to provide informal guidance to Associate Editors who are struggling, for example, to secure faculty advisors or select topics.

The Comments Editor will work with Associate Editors who choose to write a comment to review their comment proposals, outlines, and other submissions to ensure that they meet Journal requirements for publication (for instance, to ensure that the submissions include a constitutional nexus and draw on a wide variety of sources).

The bulk of the Comments Editor’s work will be reading and commenting on each and every comment submitted. The Comments Editor will also be working with the members of the Comments Committee, who will each review some comments as well.  The Comments Editor will have a limited role in selecting the comments that will ultimately be published, giving him or her direct control over some of the Journal’s content.

This is a fun and rewarding position that involves guiding comments to publication from the germination of topic ideas to the Articles Editors’ final sign-off.

Online Managing Editor

Caroline Mansour

The Online Managing Editor of JCL Online oversees all aspects of the publication process for the Journal’s online supplement, JCL Online, and personally executes most of the tasks necessary for the publication of short essays that address timely issues of constitutional law.  The position is perfect for anyone who is interested in all Board positions at once and yet desires something off the beaten path.

The position first and foremost requires versatility, as you must be able to wear the hats of almost all other Board positions.   Like the Editor-in-Chief, you must have a substantive vision for JCL Online and must oversee all aspects of the publication process.   Like the Articles Editors, you select content for publication and oversee a source hunt and first edit conducted by Senior Editors.  Unlike the Articles Editors, however, the decision of which content you will publish is by and large your decision alone, though you do consult with the Editor-in-Chief.  Like the Executive Editors, you personally edit the content and must have strong Bluebooking skills.  You manage the JCL Online website and, along with the Production Editor, the general Journal website, and you also address any administrative or disciplinary issues that may come up inside the Online Committee, similar to the Managing Editor.  In short, the Online Managing Editor of JCL Online is a jack of all trades.  For further information, consult the other positions’ descriptions, since implicitly they also describe many aspects of the role of the Online Managing Editor of JCL Online.

The position also requires independence, which is a unique characteristic when compared to the other Board positions.  You will have a committee of Associate and Senior Editors, you work closely with the Editor-in-Chief, and you consult from time to time with other Board members, but for the most part, you work on your own.  One of the main benefits of this is that you get to correspond one-on-one with the authors, and you may even have the opportunity of working personally with the authors to develop the content of their scholarship.  The position thus is suited for someone who is self-motivated and enjoys having his or her own autonomy.  In addition to being independent, you also need to be a good salesperson.   JCL Online is a young institution, and you need to be able to “sell” JCL Online to prospective authors.

Symposium Editor

Simon Shahinian

The Symposium Editor is responsible for selecting a topic, inviting participants, and planning all aspects of the Journal’s annual symposium, including:

Selecting a Topic

As Symposium Editor, you will have the freedom to select a topic in conjunction with the EIC and ME. The Symposium Editor may decide to accept proposals from professors on a specific topic. This is your opportunity to contribute to the academic community, and devote the Symposium to an area of constitutional legal scholarship that you find worthy and interesting. Further, an entire issue of the Journal will be devoted to this topic. 

Inviting Panelists

Upon choosing a topic, you can frame specific panel topics and invite legal academics to participate in the symposium. This is a great opportunity to network with some of the best and brightest in academia and to make connections in the area of scholarship you have chosen.

Planning the Symposium

From choosing a date and location, selecting food to be served to guests and participants, and putting together advertising materials, the Symposium Editor is responsible for all of the planning and work that goes into making a major conference successful.  The Symposium Editor is also responsible for working with the Editor-in-Chief in keeping the participants on task for publication deadlines. The Symposium Editor works closely with the Managing Editor and the Symposium Committee to make sure that all travel arrangements for participants are made and that reimbursement guidelines are given to participants.   Furthermore, the Symposium Editor coordinates fundraising efforts for the Symposium and the Journal.  Organization skills and attention to detail are important.

Research Editor

Alison Freudman

The Research Editor position has two important components, which consist of developing and running the source hunts and assisting associate and senior editors with finding and retrieving sources.

The Research Editor serves as the Journal’s liaison with the libraries, and helps the Associate Editors acquire hard-to-find sources.  The Research Editor is the Journal’s primary resource for all Inter-Library Loan (“ILL”) requests. Accordingly, the Research Editor will need to have organization skills, as they will need to keep track of all sources requested via ILL.  This includes managing the ILL web system and tracking down all ILL requests. Coordinating this effort will require your attendance at a short research training session, where you will become familiar with Biddle’s First Search/World Cat database.  In addition to ILL requests, you will facilitate source hunts and interact with the Articles and Executive Editors regarding the location of requested sources.  The Research Editor will manage the record and timely return of sources to other libraries, With the Journal’s emphasis on electronic source hunting, a good Research Editor should have a particular knack at finding PDF copies of obscure materials on the web.  The knowledge of Penn’s vast library sources outside of Biddle is a plus for any applicant, although not a requirement.  The outgoing Research Editor will assist in teaching such resources.   If you like to track things down and find things, but are not so interested in doing any more editing, this is the job for you.

The research aspects of the Journal are extremely important.  It is one of the most important positions for the Journal’s success.  This is an ideal position for someone who likes to work behind the scenes.