Welcome to the Thunderdome: Chief Justice Phil Tonseth Takes the Gavel
Phil Tonseth ‘22
Editor-in-Chief
Before the 1L Activities Fair, I had never heard of the Law Weekly. Sure, I picked up an edition when I attended Admitted Students Weekend, and read about Professor Coughlin’s crusade to get her pet garden toad, Gary, into Paw Review.[1] From not understanding who ANG is, to laughing at the lighthearted jokes about shared miseries, and reading weird, yet accurate, professor quotes, I found the Law Weekly to be a nice break from the mundanity of what I presumed Law School to be. Enter the aforementioned Activities Fair. Persuaded by free Dominos and ‘cool’ kids to hang out with from the fair, I attended my first meeting and became hooked. Mind you, I had zero experience in journalism. Correction, I took journalism as an elective in the seventh-grade, but I’ve already written more words for this article than I did that entire semester. Sorry, Miss Fortney.
While Maria Luévano ’21 got my foot in the door of Slaughter Hall 279, it was now Deposed Editor-in-Chief Eleanor Schmalzl ’20 and her cohort of 3Ls who got me to stay. Enjoying pizza, editing different journalistic pieces, and complaining about my 1L woes, I felt a sense of comfort and belonging. By the time the spring semester arrived, I knew I wanted to be more committed and involved in building the paper.[2] Spending the last year as Production Editor, I did all of the “unsexy” work. All of the funny[3] photo captions? Those were me. All of the random article placements, with weird random Virginia logos throughout? Yup, also me. The random lists of events on the back page? I scoured way too many emails to put that thing together. The work of putting together the puzzle that is the Law Weekly was 50% frustrating, but 100% enjoyable.[4] I was able to channel what I would want to see and read, hoping it would translate to the readers so they would really enjoy the wonderful pieces all of the writers for the Law Weekly had submitted. Then COVID-19 happened.
I’ll be the first to admit it, I told my predecessor, Christina Luk ’21, that I thought we should stop publishing the paper once the school went virtual last spring. Who would want to read about Zoom events, let alone if anyone actually knew how to find the Law Weekly online?[5] Turns out, Christina was correct in saying we should continue, and this past year has been anything if not eventful. From working to find ways to cover all of the now digital events, to bringing stories of old traditions of UVA Law to the current 1Ls who have yet to experience a softball filled Friday at Copeley Field, the Law Weekly became both a time capsule and a sounding board to ensure students felt heard, found a sense of reality, and could break up the monotony of the ongoing quarantine. You bet I was excited by the opportunity to continue this progress as the Editor-in-Chief.
My goals for the next year of the Law Weekly are humble: make people laugh,[6] publish articles that encourage people to both pick up the paper and share the article with someone else who may find it interesting, and detail all of the important aspects of the Law School that may have been overlooked during quarantine. To help me do so, I have an absolutely stellar editorial board and some awesome staff editors who are excited to hop onto Zoom, throw around great article ideas, and write insightful pieces. However, I also realize the Law Weekly has its own selection bias. So I challenge you, as readers, to get involved. Share your funny professor quotes, send me your best ideas for what ANG may be doing or thinking while ANG haplessly wanders North Grounds, or better yet, tell us what you would like us to write about.
Being in a hybrid environment, I understand how disconnected most students feel from UVA Law, especially those upperclassmen who have now seen both sides of the coin. We here at the Law Weekly are working and will continue to work to hopefully fill that gap, but we also need your help to do so. Help us be interactive, remind us of the important events and traditions that we hold so dear at UVA Law, and tell us where we’ve come short.[7] While I never dreamt I would become so involved in journalism (let alone EIC of the Law Weekly) when I received my acceptance here, I’m humbled and very excited to bring this paper to new heights. I appreciate all of our readers and I hope y’all will help make this upcoming year one of the best that UVA Law has seen. Better yet, if you’ve gotten this far, hit me up the next time we see each other on the friendly confines of Copeley Field. I’ll have a cold one waiting for you.
---
pjt5hm@virginia.edu
[1] https://www.lawweekly.org/features/2019/3/20/court-of-petty-appeals-coughlin-v-paw-review
[2] Mind you, this was my only real club at the time. I needed something to do besides play softball.
[3] Humor me, I tried my best.
[4] I’m not a mathematician, I know the numbers make no sense. Sue me.
[5] https://www.lawweekly.org. Try it out for size, it’s a fun read and we’ve archived the past 7 Volumes.
[6] I’m hoping to rival The Onion, here.
[7] My email is always open: pjt5hm@virginia.edu.