Editor's Corner: Preparation, Procrastination, Production, and Perfection

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1111/ablj.12057
• Date: 01 December 2015
• Published date: 01 December 2015
• Author: Robert W. Emerson

Editor’s Corner: Preparation, Procrastination,

Production, and Perfection

The phrasing may be clich

e—what an editor normally would strike

from any other writing without a moment’s hesitation. Still, it really

has been an honor—a wonderful privilege—to work on the editorial

board of this journal, including especially my time as editor in chief.

Over the years, there have been thousands of submissions, hundreds

of full reviews, and dozens of edited articles. At the heart of the pro-

cess are, in order, preparation, perhaps procrastination, and then pro-

duction. Throughout it all, imperfection, while unwelcome, is to be

expected.

PREPARATION

Consider what it means to plan. In law school, we learn to make obser-

vations, to reason by analogy, to attack the unsupported or tenuous

position, and to construct impregnable or at least highly defensible con-

clusions.

1

Often the classroom carnage in the first days of Socratic joust-

ing leaves students dumbfounded. Also, whether daring or merely

dutiful, the law school neophytes’ oratorical debuts in point of fact con-

vey but a singular message: inspiration is nice, but perspiration is essen-

tial.

2

In law, as in most fields, it pays to prepare. In court or in the

1

For examples of judicial and lawyerly processes related to legal proceedings in the United

States and key European legal systems such as Germany and France, see Robert W. Emer-

son, Judges as Guardian Angels: The German Practice of Hints and Feedback,48V

ANDERBILT J.

TRANSNATI’LL. 709 (2015); Robert W. Emerson, The Neutral Factfinder as a Pathway to Legal

Reforms: Examples from Franchising,10V

A.L.BUS.REV. ___ (2015).

2

See Robert W. Emerson, Editor’s Corner: The Business Law Team Brand,52AM.BUS.L.J.v,vi

(Fall 2015) (noting that the job of the journal’s editors is to attract thinkers and doers to carry

on the work).

v

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