The UCLA Law Review was founded in December 1953, a few years after the founding of the Law School at UCLA in 1949.
The UCLA Law Review is published six times a year by the students of the UCLA School of Law and the Regents of the University of California. The Law Review is a completely student-run organization and all management, editorial, and publication control is vested in its members. The Law Review strives to publish articles of the highest academic quality, while also appealing to the general interests of practicing attorneys, legal scholars, law students, judges, and legislators.
Membership on the Law Review is decided on the basis of a Write-on competition that first year students complete over their spring break. Success leads to a year of service as a member of the Law Review’s staff. The editorial board of the Law Review is then selected from the staff based on their diligence, attention to detail, demonstrated leadership abilities, and service to the Law Review during their staff year.
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What is Law Review?
The UCLA Law Review is a student-run journal that publishes cutting-edge legal scholarship. Short of actually printing the journal onto paper, students run the entire process-including selecting both student and faculty articles for publication, editing the articles, and formatting the journal. The Law Review also sponsors an annual Symposium at the Law School, at which leading scholars convene to discuss current issues in a specific area of law. The Law Review offers a distinct opportunity for law students to become directly involved with and influence legal scholarship. By contributing to the journal and critiquing the work of professors and current students, members assume an important role in guiding legal discourse. Members also gain valuable experience in editing, critical analysis, and substantive writing skills.
What does Law Review membership entail?
Membership on the Law Review requires a two-year time commitment. The primary responsibility of first-year staff members is to cite check footnotes. This involves verifying that sources accurately support the author’s stated proposition, as well as editing footnotes for grammar, style, and proper Bluebook form. During their first year on Law Review, members are also required to write a comment of between twenty-five and seventy pages. This is done during the first semester of the second year of law school. Members write their comments with the support of a faculty advisor and receive course credit (usually 2 to 4 units) for their work. The subject matter of the comment is open; students may write about any area of the law that they find particularly compelling. Comment writing gives students a chance to get published in either the UCLA Law Review or other legal journals.
During their second year on Law Review (their third year in law school), all members must apply for a position on the Law Review Board, giving them a number of different options as to their responsibilities. The Articles Department selects articles for publication; the Managing Editors oversee the cite checking work done by the staff members; the Senior Editors provide substantive logical, grammatical, and stylistic edits on the pieces that have been selected for publication; the Executive Editors physically format the journal; the Comments Department selects student comments for publication and creates the Write-on Competition; and the Symposium Editors organize the annual Symposium. The new Board is selected in February of each year. Top
Why would I want to be on Law Review?
Law Review is a great opportunity to take part in an academic tradition that is important both to the UCLA School of Law and to the legal community at large. Students get the chance to work closely with faculty and the administration, offering insight into the academic process and allowing students to get to know the faculty more personally. Additionally, Law Review allows you to meet and work closely with students both in your own class and in the class ahead of you. For these reasons, many students find membership on the Law Review to be a fun and extremely rewarding extracurricular activity.
Being on Law Review is also an excellent learning experience. Writing a comment will provide you with expertise in a specific area of law. It will also provide you with a unique opportunity to interact with a faculty member of your choice, and will help you hone your editorial and analytical skills. Also, having a Comment published is an outstanding academic achievement, particularly for those who would like to clerk for a judge or are interested in academia.
In addition, being on Law Review has great résumé value. Employers like to see that a student has made Law Review because membership demonstrates strong writing skills, attention to detail, and work ethic. Résumé value, however, is only a small part of the rewarding experience that membership provides.
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