There have been many long, news-inspired conversations in my apartment where I have had a friend point blank ask me: “Why do people think health care is unconstitutional?” or “Is there actually a legal reason why gay people can’t get married?” or “What would have happened if they had captured Hitler alive? How would the law even handle that?” While I try to hem and haw my way through an answer on a legal topic I’m likely unfamiliar with (it’s worse when they ask me about taxes), I think to myself “well, this is why we write JURIST.”

JURIST was the most exciting thing I heard about when I began orientation, because its practices mirrored why I wanted to become a lawyer: law–the central and all-encompassing force that governs humanity regardless of nation, color or creed–should be accessible to every person. No one should have doubt of their rights at any time, even if their rights seem obscure and other worldly. Language should not create the barriers that it already does in the legal world. We, as lawyers, should not merely be the authoritative deciders, but also the explainers, the educators. We should serve the every-person who merely wants to know how to provide for his or her self in this world.

This conviction I have, that all law should be accessible, open and free to the populace, is exemplified through JURIST. We, at JURIST, translate the law that flies in and out of the world of current events for the average person who has never looked up a statute or a constitutional decision in their life. The awareness we create through JURIST serves to inform and educate a populace desperate to understand their legal rights through the haze of media sensationalism and political obfuscation. I went to law school to ensure that every person I come in contact with cannot ignore the world around them simply through a lack of understanding of legal rhetoric. JURIST is one of the most effective tools in the world for combatting ignorance of law. I am proud to write and edit for it.

Julia Zebley
Editorial Coordinator and Senior Editor