The Ideal Collaborative Partner: A Tribute to Jana Singer

Jane C. Murphy

Collaboration has been defined as a “pervasive, long-term relationship in which participants recognize common goals and objectives, share more tasks, and participate in extensive planning and implementation.” I feel most fortunate to have had a collaborative partnership with Jana Singer for almost three decades. I am fortunate because such relationships are uncommon among legal scholars, given the “individualistic culture” of law schools and law professors. Even more unusual, I found in Jana a scholarly partner with all the qualities of the ideal collaborator: strong intellect, enthusiasm, curiosity, generosity, and humility. Since the early days of our academic careers, Jana and I have shared ideas about family law that have informed our teaching, scholarship, and service. This collaboration has led to co-authoring law review articles, blog posts and, most importantly, two books. In this Essay, I will focus on our scholarly collaboration and explore the connections between that scholarship and Jana’s significant public service that has improved family law practice on both a local and national level.