This column contains excerpts from Professor Gionfriddo’s address at the 2000 LWI Conference.

Several months ago, a Touro colleague and I were talking about ourselves as writers and about our writing—published and unpublished. My colleague expressed interest in reading some of my work; I took this as a compliment. “Fine,” I said. “And I’d like to read some of your work, too.” There was no problem—until I tried to select some of my already published fiction and creative nonfiction to share. What was good enough? Serious enough? Interesting enough? What would my colleague, a distinguished author of scholarly books, think about my work?

At the opening session of this summer’s Legal Writing Institute Conference at Seattle University, LWI President Jane Kent Gionfriddo asked people attending their first conference to stand and be recognized. I and (what seemed like) a majority of those in the auditorium rose from our seats. Looking into the sea of faces, I began to wonder: all of us newcomers had become LWI members gratis by dint of becoming legal writing teachers, but had we really joined the club?