How to Write a Law Review Note Worthy of Publication

I.                 Introduction

Very soon, many law students will learn that they have been accepted to serve on one of their school’s law journals. These individuals should be proud of themselves and excited for this résumé-boosting opportunity. However, they should also begin to think about the most important way to capitalize on this opportunity – writing a Note that will be chosen for publication.

This short article seeks to provide incoming law-reviewers with some guidance for writing a Note that is worthy of publication. In this regard, the most pertinent aspects to address are choosing a theme for the Note, writing the Note, and – ultimately – presenting the Note in a manner that makes it worthy of publication.

II.             Choosing a Theme

Perhaps the most important aspect of a Note is its theme. The main consideration for the theme of your Note should first and foremost be your personal interests. It is nearly impossible for an author to disguise a genuine feeling of boredom toward the Note’s topic with a feigned interest and, thus, if you are not thoroughly fascinated with the theme, the Selection Committee will immediately realize this and quickly toss your work in the “No Publish” pile.

While your personal interest in the theme is of utmost importance, there are, however, some practical considerations that should guide your choice as well. A good theme will be something that is current; something that pervades the dialogue in the legal community at the moment. However, keep in mind that your Note will not be judged for publication until the spring after you are accepted onto the law journal and, further, the Notes chosen for publication will not be published until the following fall or spring. Thus, your theme should not only be current, but it should include a degree of permanency such that your Note will not be obsolete by the time it is published.

Finally, most law journals require their Note candidates to undergo a full preemption check before they begin writing their Notes to determine if their theme has already been addressed by another author and, if so, require the candidate to choose a different theme. Not surprisingly, many candidates tend to get stressed over the possibility of preemption due to the sheer volume of research which exists in libraries, legal databases, and on the internet. From personal experience on my journal’s Note Publication Selection Committee, however, preemption was rarely a significant problem when I evaluated student Notes. Unless you are completely plagiarizing or paraphrasing another author’s work or engaging in a very general discussion of a recent and momentous topic, I do not think preemption ever poses a significant problem when your Note goes to the Selection Committee. Even if you choose a theme that has already been addressed by another author, your Note can still be a beneficial addition to the academic dialog of the legal community if you approach the theme from a different angle, limit your analysis to an unusual nuance, and / or offer some new insight to it. However, you should check with your Editor in Chief before relying on this advice.

III.         Writing the Note

While the theme of your Note is of utmost foundational importance in the publication decision process, the substance of your Note must adequately address the theme with a thorough (yet concise), clear, and relevant objective background as well as a thoughtful, well-reasoned, and in-depth subjective analysis.

But first, let’s take a moment to discuss what a law review Note is. A law review Note is an original recommendation of policy for the legal community to consider based on the research and observations of an expert, and that expert is you (so, as previously mentioned, remember to choose a theme that is extremely interesting to you, since you will spend countless hours reading endless pages of research materials with the goal of becoming an expert). After you become an expert, you will write your Note for the purpose of offering an original recommendation of policy for the legal community.

Next, keeping in mind the purpose of a law review Note, the following subsections will discuss the basic breakdown of the components that a Note should contain as a baseline for publication. There are four essential elements to include: 1) the introduction; 2) the objective portion; 3) the subjective portion; and 4) the conclusion.

A.     Writing the Introduction

The introduction to your Note is arguably the most important section as it relates to the Selection Committee. This is your first chance to make a striking impression on the individual judging your Note and, unfortunately, many candidates fail to capitalize on this opportunity by writing a weak, vague, and confusing introduction. In contrast, a good introduction will clearly present the theme of your Note. Then, it will conspicuously and succinctly disclose the conclusion, which should be articulated in your subjective recommendation of policy. Finally, the introduction will pull out the main arguments supporting your subjective recommendation and both summarize and briefly discuss them.

Essentially, the reader should be able to skim the rest of your Note after reading the introduction and have a good understanding of its structure and arguments. This is not Creative Writing 101 or a literature course; thus, do not engage in foreshadowing and do not attempt to leave the reader in suspense after she reads the introduction. Mainly, the introduction should represent about five percent of your whole Note.

B.     Writing the Objective Portion

After preparing the introduction, you should include a wholly objective, “just-the-facts” analysis of your Note’s theme. Unfortunately, this is where many candidates tend to go off the rails.

When writing the objective and subjective portions of your Note, keep in mind the aforementioned purpose of a law review Note: an original recommendation of policy for the legal community. Your objective research is only the preparation that is required to adequately articulate your subjective opinion. And, frankly, your objective research is essentially somebody else’s hard work that you are reproducing in preparation for the true purpose of a law review Note: your subjective recommendation of policy.

Thus, do not, as many candidates do, give the reader a “history lesson” based on an accumulation of material that the reader could have looked up herself. Rather, you should keep the objective portion of your Note to the bare minimum relevant facts that are required to support your subjective recommendation of policy for the legal community. This should represent about 30 percent of your Note.

C.     Writing the Subjective Portion

The subjective portion of your Note, in contrast, is the bulk and the heart of your Note. Here, you are virtually creating pure gold. You are offering some kind of novel opinion, framework, or viewpoint that the legal community has thus far never considered and, thereby, contributing to the creation of knowledge and the progress of society. Compare this purpose to the purpose of the objective portion, where you are just copying somebody else’s creation.

Obviously, since this portion of the Note is your creation, it will require less footnote citations than the objective portion of your Note. However, remember to tie in the objective material with your subjective analysis by extracting all of the relevant facts, thoroughly probing them, and utilizing them to support your argument. This section should represent about 60 percent of your Note.

D.    Writing the Conclusion

Finally, the conclusion is admittedly the least important part of your Note because, frankly, by the time the Selection Committee has reached the conclusion, it has probably already decided whether or not your Note belongs in the “Publish” or “No Publish” pile. Nonetheless, a strong conclusion is still necessary for a good Note.

Remember the grade school formula for writing papers and giving presentations? While I’m sure variations exist, my recollection is this: “First, tell the audience what you are going to tell them. Then, tell them. Lastly, tell them what you told them.” The basic rule applies even in the sophisticated realm of law review. Your introduction clearly announced the theme as well as your subjective opinion and the reasoning supporting it. The objective and subjective portions thoroughly probed and analyzed your recommendation of policy and the facts supporting it. And the conclusion will offer a recap of the Note by essentially rewording your introduction. Thus, like the introduction, your conclusion should represent about five percent of your Note.

In the end, remember that you are the expert, not the Selection Committee. And, further, the individual on the Committee evaluating your Note is a law student just like you and, most likely, has little (if any) specialized knowledge in your theme. Thus, take the reader by the hand, make your arguments as simple and understandable as possible, and do not be too discouraged by redundancy as it can help to solidify the substance of your Note in the reader’s mind.

IV.          Presenting a Note Worthy of Publication

While the substance of your Note and the balance of the four aforementioned elements that comprise it are the most important aspects of producing a Note worthy of publication, there are a few hints and “dirty tricks” that I as a former member of a Note Publication Selection Committee can offer.

A.     Focus on First Impressions

To begin, understand that first impressions are important. Thus, before you begin writing, take some time to glance through some law journals and law review articles. You will doubtless notice a few things.

First, there is usually a catchy title that both captivates the reader and encapsulates the whole heart of the piece. Next, there is also usually a relevant quote of some meaningful significance that further solidifies the heart of the Note.

Finally, there is usually a footnote after the author’s name that offers some background information on her. When it comes to the publication decision of your Note, now is not the time to be modest. Thus, if you have any special background that contributes to your interest in your Note’s theme, or if you worked closely with a prestigious faculty member who specializes in the topic, be sure to include that information and / or express appreciation to the professor who helped you. “Name-dropping” is not always bad.

B.     Focus on Organization

Next, treat the organization of your Note with the utmost sincerity. After the reader reads your introduction, she should be able to flip through your Note and – based solely on the organization and the text of the headings and subheadings – have a complete understanding of what your Note is saying and why it is important. That is, the use of one-word headings and subheadings should be extremely rare. Rather, a heading / subheading should clearly encapsulate the heart of the section of the Note that it represents in one succinct sentence.

Finally, absolutely do not submit a Note without a table of contents. This will help the reader to quickly digest the overarching structure of your Note but, most importantly, if the organization of the table of contents does not appear completely logical and cogent to you, you can assume that your whole Note will be indecipherable to the Selection Committee.

C.     Focus on Research

In the end, your Note as a finished product must clearly display two important concepts: first, that you are an expert in your Note’s theme; and second, that your expert opinion is sound and worthy of consideration by the legal community.

The manner in which these two concepts are met in a law review Note is largely dependent upon the research which the author undertook in preparing for and writing the Note. Thus, after reading the text of your Note, the individual on the Selection Committee reviewing your Note will likely conduct an independent examination of the footnotes to determine whether or not you appear to be an expert in your Note’s theme and whether or not you engaged in a meaningful analysis of your subjective opinion and the objective facts supporting it.

Thus, be mindful of the sources that you cite to support your assertions. An expert on international law, for example, will probably not cite to Yahoo! News, About.com, Wikipedia or similar kinds of “cursory” sources very often. Rather, he will probably cite mostly to, for example, documents from the UN or other international bodies, treaties, cases before the ICJ, or even domestic law regulating international relations  as well as books, treatises, and law review Articles from recognized experts in the field. To be sure, sources such as online news websites serve a beneficial purpose and help to increase access to information in short, readily available formats, but they generally do not contain the depth of analysis that is required when researching a complex issue for a law review Note. Thus, beware the temptation to Google your assertions and cite to whatever website appears first in the search results.

Next, show your reader that you engaged in a meaningful analysis when you wrote your Note. For example, when your Note touches on a topic that is relevant but not entirely important, consider offering an expanded explanation of the topic in a footnote. Further, when you make an assertion in your Note for which there is an equally valid counterargument, consider citing to a source supporting that counterargument and include a parenthetical explaining it.    

V.              Final Notes and “Dirty tricks”

Finally, there are a few ugly realities of the Note publication selection process that will help you to maximize your time spent on becoming an expert in your Note’s theme and, ultimately, writing a Note worthy of publication.

First, throw your Bluebook out the window, you won’t need it when writing your Note. But you will need it when you do your editing assignments and source checking, so don’t really throw it out the window (or go get it if you did). If your Note is selected for publication, the law review victims to follow in your footsteps next year will take care of getting your sources in compliance with the Bluebook. Thus, the Selection Committee will probably not place much emphasis on that aspect of your Note though, doubtless, no one will ever tell you that. The only situation where Bluebook compliance would matter is if two or more Notes were competing for the last publication slots. But if you maximize your time by adhering to the foregoing advice, you shouldn’t have to worry about competing for the last publication slot.

Next and relatedly, throw your Chicago Manual of Style out the window (not really). Again, as long as the grammar, style, and punctuation of your Note are minimally comprehensible, English major level writing is not necessary. Since next year’s law review victims will be editing your Note, the Selection Committee will probably not give much weight to this aspect of the candidates’ Notes – except, perhaps, in the aforementioned example of bottom-of-the-barrel Notes competing for the final publication slot(s).