My Duty as a Gatekeeper in Public Law

I have no illusions about my importance in the field of public law. I am a (relatively!) young person of colo(u)r in a field that has long been and remains today dominated by people who do not look like me. 

But thanks to the good fortune of caring mentors and extraordinary opportunities, I now occupy a gatekeeper role in a few areas in the field. Given my own background, it is clear to me that one of my duties as a gatekeeper in the small universe where I exercise some influence is to help persons from historically underrepresented groups through the gate. Helping includes advising, encouraging, and promoting persons from these groups. 

Here are some of the places where I have helped and will continue to help in public law:

1. As co-editor of the new Oxford Series in Comparative Constitutionalism and the Routledge Series in Comparative Constitutional Change, I advise scholars about how to package and develop their ideas. I also help as a member of the board of the ASCL Studies in Comparative Law series at Cambridge. Please contact me if you have ideas for books.

2. As book reviews editor at the American Journal of Comparative Law, I highlight outstanding books that have not received much attention, whether because their authors are not well-known or because they are not particularly adept at or interested in self-promotion. Please contact me if you have a book that we should consider for review, or if you would like to review a book you think is worth highlighting for the field.

3. As co-editor at I-CONnect, I give a platform to scholars to explore interesting ideas, advance novel arguments, review books, and bring attention to views that may be unconventional or not yet widely disseminated.  Please contact me if you would like to join the conversation at I-CONnect.

I hope other gatekeepers in the field of public law will join me in helping persons from historically underrepresented groups through the gate.

--Richard Albert