Which Journal Should I Join?

Many law schools have more than one journal. Most law schools will tend to have one "official journal" (such as the Yale Law Journal or the Texas Law Review) and any number of "specialized" journals (such as the Yale Law and Policy Review or the Texas International Law Journal). In choosing which journal to join, you should take a careful look at the factors listed above. Some students choose to become members of more than one journal.

Membership on the law school's "official" journal will tend to be more competitive and more prestigious, although this is not always the case. The school's "specialized" journals, as the name implies, will tend to focus on a particular topic or set of topics in legal academia.


Some journals may be associated with a particular political stance, and in some cases, the reputation a journal carries is very strong. Unfortunately, your fellow students, or even prospective employers, may presume that your political orientation aligns with the journal. When you join a journal, make sure that you aren't unwittingly branding yourself with an ideology that you don't share.

THE LAW REVIEW COMPETITION

If you want to become a member of your school's law journal, chances are that you'll experience something called "the writing competition." This painful device, descended from medieval trial-by-torture, is the dominant selection method for most of the "official" law reviews and plays at least some role in the selection process for nearly all journals. Grades, personal statements, and affirmative action also may factor into the selection of new editors.
 

• See What Yale Law School Teaches about How to Approach Your Legal Career That No Other Law School Does for more information about Yale Law School.

WHAT IS THE WRITING COMPETITION?

The "writing competition" means something different at each school. The general idea is to test your writing and/or editing skills by having you compose writing or editing sample in a fairly short amount of time. Your school's writing competition, for instance, might give you a court opinion and ask you to summarize and analyze it, or it might present you with a legal problem and ask you to comment on it. Some journals also might provide you with an already written article or commentary and ask you to edit it, although this practice is less common. The journal may give you anywhere from three days to two weeks, and it's almost certainly going to be an endurance test.

PREPARING FOR THE WRITING COMPETITION

The first year of law school is meant to develop your ability to think like a lawyer. Unfortunately, it tends to do little to help you write like one. The writing competition might be your first major writing project since college. If that's the case, you should try to avoid a cold start.

Most journals are fairly open and honest about their writing competition. They will probably provide you with some (if not a lot of) information about the process. Here are some tips for maximizing your preparedness for the competition:

1. LOOK FOR FREE ADVICE.
   
   At some schools, the law review (or other student organizations) will give you tips on how to take the competition and how to compose a good writing sample. The journal might hold a meeting for interested applicants or may simply put out a memo or e-mail to One-Ls. It is more than acceptable to call the law review well before the competition to ask if, when, and how such information will be made available.
    
2. OBTAIN AND PRACTICE USING PREVIOUS COMPETITIONS.
   
   Try to get a look at some of the competitions from previous years. You might be able to get these from second- or third-year classmates, or from the law journal itself. Again, a phone call to the journal is a good place to start.
    
3. FIND OUT WHAT COUNTS AND WHAT DOESN'T.
   
   The writing competition is meant to test writing and/or editing skills in general, but the specific skills being targeted may vary from journal to journal. It is important to focus on things that actually earn you points and to avoid distractions. For instance, some journals may tell their graders to disregard spelling errors, while others instruct their graders to take off points for such mistakes. What counts is not always intuitive. For instance, the Harvard Law Review, which publishes the Bluebook, does not test blue-booking on its writing competition!
    
4. Go THROUGH A DRY RUN.
   
   This may be very time-consuming, but well worth it. If you can get your hands on a previous year's competition, set a few hours aside to go through a dry run. Don't actually produce a final product unless you have a lot of time on your hands. (Shouldn't you be studying?) But constructing a rough outline of what you would write will give you some insight into what's involved in the process and how fast you'll have to work.
    
5. READ THE LAW REVIEW.
   
   A law journal can have its own writing style. Pick up a copy of the journal you're applying to and thumb through it. Try to get a sense of how formal legal writing tends to be in that journal. Chances are, the graders will reward those who write like they do.
    
6. IMPROVE YOUR WRITING SKILLS.
   
   Improving basic writing skills, even after college, is easier than many people think. For instance, The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White is a very short and insightful guide to English usage. If you have never read it, do so before the competition. You may be surprised how a few simple pieces of advice can help you write more clearly and more persuasively.