Publication Announcement

David Schraub, Sticky Slopes, 101 Cal. L. Rev. __ (forthcoming 2013).

Obviously, this is exceptionally exciting, and particularly so given this early stage of my career. And it represents the culmination of the roller-coaster ride that has characterized the start of my academic career.

I had submitted Sticky Slopes to law reviews last fall, and gotten no bites (though it did reach final review at a very good secondary journal). That was very disappointing, and really shook up my confidence. Following that strike-out, I presented the paper here at the University of Illinois, and the feedback I got sparked a pretty substantial reworking of the paper, both in terms of new content and a new organizational structure. Most of that was done towards the end of last calendar year, and after some final tweaking (and some last minute comments), I sent it out against on President's Day.

From there, it was amazing. I got a couple rejections right off the bat (which always happens), but Friday morning I received my first offer from a stellar journal ranked in the top 20. I was over the moon -- kind of zero-to-hero, all at once. It was a far better placement than I ever dreamed of for my very first article, and, as my people put it, dayenu. But I dutifully sent out expedites, not really expecting anything more to come of it. Instead, I received a slew of positive feedback from some of the very best journals in the business. That turned into two offers from top ten journals, and I accepted California this morning.

It is not the beginning of the end, as they say, but it may well be the end of the beginning. I'm publishing in a great journal which seems very excited about my work. I'm thinking very seriously about going on the academic job market, and of course a placement like this -- well, it doesn't exactly put my destiny in my own hands, but it means I've done all that I could. And just to have that sense of ratification after all this time where this has been the dream, and suddenly it feels real, like it could actually happen -- that feeling is irreplaceable.

See y'all in print!