Law review

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A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school. The term is also used to describe the extracurricular activity of publishing the journal. Law review and moot court are the two most significant activities of this nature in which law students can engage.

Law review as an academic journal

The primary function of a law review is to provide a vehicle for academic publishing in the field of law. The vast majority of law review articles are written by law professors, although it is not uncommon to find articles written by judges and legal practitioners as well. Many law reviews also publish shorter articles written by law students, normally called "notes" and "comments."The traditional distinction between "notes" and "comments" is that a note (sometimes called a "case note") is an analysis of the holding in a specific court case, while a comment is focused on either legislation or on a more general legal theory or principle. Law review articles serve an important purpose in that they express the ideas of legal experts with regard to the direction the law should take in certain areas. Such writings have proven influential in the development of the law, and have frequently been cited as persuasive authority by the United States Supreme Court and other courts throughout the United States.

Almost every American law school publishes at least one law review, but most law schools have several. Generally, one law review at each school, sometimes referred to as the law school's "main" or "flagship journal", publishes articles dealing with all areas of law. This journal is normally named after the law school (e.g., the Stanford Law Review, or the Wisconsin Law Review). Other journals publish only articles that focus on a specific area of law, such as international law, environmental law, or human rights (e.g., the Cornell International Law Journal or the North Carolina Journal of Law and Technology). These are often referred to as "specialty law journals".

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review is the oldest law review, having published continuously since 1852. Also among the oldest and most storied law review publications are the Harvard Law Review, begun in 1887, the Columbia Law Review, successor to the Columbia Jurist, which had begun in 1885, and the Michigan Law Review, begun in 1902. As law professor Erwin N. Griswold wrote of the Harvard Law Review: "Some people are concerned that a major legal periodical in the United States is edited and managed by students. It is an unusual situation, but it started that way, and it developed mightily from its own strength."Erwin N. Griswold, [The Harvard Law Review - Glimpses of Its History as Seen by an Aficionado] (1987).

Online legal research providers such as Westlaw and LexisNexis give users access to the complete text of most law reviews published beginning from the late 1980s. Another such service, Heinonline, provides actual scans of the pages of law reviews going back to the 1850s. In 1995, the Richmond Journal of Law & Technology, or [JOLT], became the first law review available exclusively on the Internet.

Law review as an activity

Membership on the law review staff is highly sought after by law students, as it often has a significant impact on their subsequent careers as attorneys. Many federal judges and partners at the most prestigious law firms were members or editors of their school's law review. There are a number of reasons why law review membership is desired--many see the intense writing, research and editing experience as invaluable to the student's development as an attorney; others see the selection process as helping differentiate the best and the brightest from an already strong group of law students. At schools with more than one law review, membership on the main or flagship journal is normally considered more prestigious than membership on a specialty law journal. In any case, law review membership is a valuable credential when searching out employment after law school.

The paths to membership vary from law school to law school, but generally contain a few of the same basic elements. Most law reviews select members after their first year of studies either through a writing competition (often referred to as "writing on" to the law review), their first-year grades (referred to as "grading on" to the law review) or some combination thereof. A number of schools will also grant membership to students who independently submit a publishable article. The write-on competition usually requires applicants to compose a written analysis of a specific legal topic, often a recent Supreme Court decision. The written submissions are often of a set length, and applicants are sometimes provided with some or all of the background research. Submissions normally are graded blindly, with submissions identified only by a number which the graders will not be able to connect to a particular applicant. A student who has been selected for law review membership is said to have "made the law review."

A law review's membership is normally divided into staff members and editors. On most law reviews, all 2Ls (second-year students) are staff members while some or all 3Ls (third-year students) serve as editors. 3Ls also typically fill the senior editorial staff positions, including Senior Articles Editor, Senior Note & Comment Editor, Senior Managing Editor, and, the most prestigious of all, Editor-in-Chief of the law review. Upon graduation, the Editor-in-Chief of the Law Review can expect to be highly recruited by the most prestigious law firms. As members, students are normally expected to write a note or comment of publishable quality (although it need not actually be published), and to edit and cite-check the articles that are being published by the law review. The editorial staff is normally responsible for reviewing and selecting the articles for publication, managing the editing process, and assisting members in writing their notes and comments. Depending on the law school, students may receive academic credit for their work on the law review, although some journals are entirely extracurricular.

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