A hundred times. That’s how many times editors have sat to write an introductory page for Dispute Resolution Magazine. And that’s remarkable. Of course, no one person has been involved in the creation of all one hundred issues of Dispute Resolution Magazine. It has taken a professional village—and what an incredible village it is! Perhaps few people have actually read all one hundred issues. But “we” collectively have been doing this together for more than two decades. This is a moment to celebrate and to look forward.
Nearly one hundred people from our field’s past, present, and future join us in these pages to share their perspectives on the magazine, the Section, and our field’s evolving practices. We asked many of the field’s luminaries six organizing questions:
You will see in the following pages that these questions prompted a beautiful, thoughtful, and diverse set of perspectives. We hope that you will be intrigued, outraged, entertained, educated, and inspired by the range of views reflecting our practice’s breadth.
To supplement these organizing questions, we have also aimed to provide additional perspectives on the years since the first issue of Dispute Resolution Magazine. We include some of the popular cartoons from the magazine’s captioning contests, with much appreciation to John Barkai for sharing his talent over the years. We provide a snapshot of life in 1994. We honor our Section’s accomplished award winners.
We review the popular On Professional Practice column and highlight some key legal developments. We describe the evolution of the Section on Dispute Resolution. And we reflect on those members of the magazine’s editorial board we have lost.
In this letter, we also want to note that this is Andrea’s last letter as cochair of the editorial board, a position she has held for more than six years. Andrea says she has loved it. And the rest of us are having a hard time imagining the editorial board without her. Andrea will be replaced by the multitalented Sharon Press, who has stewarded the popular and insightful On Professional Practice column for many years.
We could have—and perhaps should have—dedicated this issue to our dispute resolution colleague Gina Brown. Gina worked with the Section for more than twenty years, guiding not only this magazine, but also conferences, competitions, and countless connections between practitioners, scholars, and students. This is the first issue in twenty-one years completed without Gina’s guiding hand. We have wonderful new colleagues working with us, including Jennifer Michel, Mary Dunnewold, and Faryn Thomas. And we miss Gina and wish her the best in her new career.
Finally, and most importantly, we want to thank YOU—our readers, contributors, editors, and Section members—for being part of this wonderful community. Many of you noted in your submissions to this issue how crucial this community has been in your career development. We couldn’t agree more. Count our voices as two more who are eager and optimistic about the next twenty-five years and next one hundred issues. Congratulations. Thank you.
And onward!
