Dear reader,
About three and a half years ago, a schoolmate from my constitutional law class messaged me about ‘an idea for a little project’ that she wanted to embark on to make law school ‘a more encouraging, family-like place’. Like many other law students, I had experienced moments of weariness and self-doubt, moments where I found myself wondering what in the world I was doing in law school. Intrigued by the potential of a ground-up initiative that would uplift the legal community, I offered to help with the project, admittedly not fully knowing what I was getting myself into.
Three and a half years on, this little project is still humming along.
The last two years have been a time of transition for us. In our 2018 editorial, we welcomed on board three additions to the team – Cara, Charlotte and Yee Shing – who joined us for a season and brought us stories about well-being and life in academia. We thank them for their contributions during their time with us. 2018 was also when all of us graduated and transitioned from law school to #adulting, and began to experience the realities of working life that we often read about in the Letters we publish. Looking back, perhaps we shouldn’t have been surprised by all the changes in our lives. The tides are never still for long, and transitions can be just as empowering as they are challenging.
We previously mentioned our hope to bring you offline content in the form of a book. It’s an idea that we toyed with for a long time. In 2019, we began work on our Book Project by bringing on board a team of volunteers to help produce and develop it. Core team members Cindy, Ephraim, Jessica, Joshua, Nisha, and Sheryl have been invaluable in pulling our dreams from the clouds and making our hope a reality. We also warmly welcome our editorial volunteers Azfer, Chara, Candice, Divyya, Kian Peng, Leon, Pallavi, Sophia, Timothy, Tomoe, and Yuan Bing. Together, we’re targeting to launch our book in the second half of the year. Keep a lookout for the series of teaser vids featuring some of our Letter-writers. In the meantime, subscribe to our mailing list and like our Facebook page so that you’ll be the first to know when pre-orders open.
Amidst the excitement and uncertainty that change brings, we would like to take a moment to thank two important groups of people. First, to our contributors – thank you for your openness and vulnerability in sharing these stories which continue to uplift. Secondly, we have to thank you, dear reader. The one constant that keeps us going is knowing that you have found something relevant and inspiring in these stories.
Here’s to the decade ahead,
Amelia Chew
Co-Founder, Letters of the Law