A clearinghouse for worthwhile professional discussions.

• Author: Dodd, Cheryle M.

The honor was mine to be on the Bar Journal staff when it celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1977 and a greater honor to see it turn 75. Because the magazine and the Bar News have been significant parts of my life for the last three decades, it is sometimes difficult not to consider them siblings to my daughter.

J.C. Cooper, Jr., of Jacksonville, our first editor, voiced the mission of the Journal when he described this new publication as a "clearinghouse for worthwhile professional discussions, which will assist both the Bar and the court."

Your colleagues on the editorial board have taken Mr. Cooper's vision seriously as they have sought to provide analysis and opinion of the law. They devote many hours reviewing hundreds of manuscripts that are submitted for consideration during a year.

Additionally, these boards have felt a responsibility to explore legal practice issues: minorities in the law, specialization, lawyer overpopulation, technology, solo practice, pro bono, addiction, and ethics.

Special issues on children can be found frequently in Journal indexes as we always want to give attention to our most vulnerable clients.

Authors are the second group of people who share Mr. Cooper's vision for the Journal. Over the years, thousands of Bar members have recognized the need for interpretation, commentary, and examination of some legal issue and have "put pen to paper" to share their research and evaluation with fellow readers. In the excerpts from Journal articles that begin...