Community practices

For a definitive code of conduct, refer to Suffolk Law School’s Nondiscrimination Policy and Grievance Procedures. Here, we’ll describe the community we are trying to build.

The Document Assembly Line is a community of people who support access to justice. We’re here to learn and support each other to have a meaningful impact in the collective pursuit of our goals.

We think this one neat trick will help you get the most out of the community: engage! We’ve found that passive participation usually doesn’t get folks as far as active engagement. Quiet readers are welcome here too, of course.

We also encourage everyone to follow these guidelines:

Share and learn. Bring your life experiences and approach others with curiosity about theirs. Learning to identify our assumptions and blind spots can broaden our impact.

Uplift each other. Promote others and yourself. Bring each other’s achievements and contributions to light (with consent). We go further together.

Make and share mistakes. Bring your mistakes out into the sunshine too. Help us learn something new and show others that mistakes are part of the process. Also, sometimes your “mistake” is a lesson we didn’t realize we needed. It may reveal a bug we need to fix in our process or in our code!

Ask for help! If you have a question, others probably do too! Asking questions is a good way to learn and teach. Make room for others to ask basic questions and support their learning journey.

Step up/step back. If you have already had a chance to speak, ensure that others get that same chance.

It’s normal to say no. The intersections of things we are good at, can do, and want to do are complex and change over time. We want everyone to stay healthy for this work. Listen for and communicate about your boundaries and limitations. Listen for, ask about, and accept the boundaries and limitations of others.

Prefer public channels. Our goal is sharing knowledge to build community, so conversations should default in public channels where we can all benefit from what you share. It’s OK to message someone privately, but generally you should ask publicly first. Keep private messages focused on our work.

Follow the Platinum Rule. Treat others the way they want to be treated. If you don’t know how they want to be treated, ask—or take a step back.

Seek repair. We all miss the mark sometimes. Be kind when you give feedback and be open to receiving it. If you find you may have harmed others, acknowledge it, apologize, make it right if you can, and commit to learn and improve.

Reach out for support. If you are concerned about yourself or someone in our community, or if you are looking for some personal clarification or guidance, please do reach out to an organizer or staff member.

If you encounter a violation of Suffolk’s code of conduct, report issues directly to staff or as outlined in Suffolk’s grievance procedures. There are confidential reporting resources available as described in the policy above.