July 30, 2005

Dear Pac Rim members:

Welcome to the Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal. Pac Rim is unique. We are one of the few exclusively student-run law journals in the country. We are also one of the few journals that allow second-year students to choose their own topic with the presumption that each student will publish. As Executive Comments Editors, we have a special role in ensuring that you have every opportunity to complete a publishable Comment.

We want your experience with the Editing and Comments Department of the Journal to be both successful and worthwhile. Although writing a publishable Comment is a daunting task, we are satisfied that it can be less intimidating, less confusing, and more enjoyable if you utilize the materials that we have provided for you and consult with us on a regular basis regarding your progress.

We expect writers and editors to display a high level of professionalism. Accordingly, deadlines are mandatory. While every Comment that is published in the Journal is unique, they still share certain substantive, structural, and technical criteria that are inflexible standards for quality legal writing. While no exhaustive list of required elements exists, we ask you to read a few Comments from past editions of the Journal to familiarize yourself with the look and feel of a Pac Rim Comment.

As a starting point for this journey, we ask that you begin familiarizing yourself with the entire editing process by reading the document entitled “Life of a Pac Rim Comment.”

More than anything, we want to be a valuable resource for you. Please come to us at any time during the editing process if you have any concerns whatsoever. Coming to us early and often will save time for everyone in the end. Last of all, we wish to reiterate that writing your Comment will satisfy your analytic requirement, for which you will receive 3 credits. Good luck! We look forward to working with each and every one of you.

Sincerely,

Alyssa Vegter, Simon Fisherow, & Courtney Mertes

Executive Comments Editors

Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal