Law Review Submission

Law Review Submission

In her 1969 book, On Death and Dying, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross classified the five stages of grief that a terminally ill patient goes through: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally acceptance. In an article recently posted on the Social Science Research Network, Brannon P. Denning and Miriam A. Cherry argue that Kübler-Ross’s framework for understanding dying can also explain the process of submitting an article for publication in a law review.

In a series of scenes, the authors recount the inner dialogue of a fictional professor, Patrick Denton, who has submitted an article for publication. Initially, Denton denies that silence from the law reviews he’s sent his article means anything at all. But as reality sets in, Denton grows angry with a process he can’t control.

From anger, a dying person’s emotions will often give way to what Kübler-Ross described as “magical thinking”; a momentary emotional crest from which a person, struggling for control, feels empowered to negotiate a way out of his fate. This is the bargaining stage and it’s in this moment of delusion, say Denning and Cherry, that academics think they can somehow broker a deal with law reviews that are, as a group, about as interested in negotiating as the Grim Reaper is.

Near the paper’s conclusion, after a dismal round of replies from law reviews, Denton plunges into a depression. His lone acceptance notice, from a lackluster law review, forces him to question his place in the academy. The scene ends with the demoralized professor craving booze. The authors close the piece by offering their version of the popular “Serenity Prayer,” recited by adherents to Alcoholics Anonymous, who seek grace and understanding through accepting that which they cannot change.

Denning and Cherry, who teach at the Cumberland School of Law at Samford University, received no offers for publication when they shopped their paper. When reached by Elsewhere, the authors acknowledged the irony of the situation, then suggested a deal for publication of the article in Legal Affairs. It wasn’t clear whether the overture was a sign that they’d accepted their fate or hoped to bargain their way out of it.


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