Of course, most students want to work at a law firm and gain traditional experience that is going to look good on their resume. Indeed, this is something that is worth doing and highly beneficial. However, there are also extracurricular activities that are available at your university that you can take advantage of. In particular, you can join a law review journal. Let’s take a look at what this is and the benefits you can look forward to.
What is a Law Review Journal?
Most universities will have a law journal that is run by students. This is an extracurricular activity that involves creating a publication each month or every couple of months for others to read. The purpose is to feature articles on complex or popular legal topics. Often, these articles are written by law professors and there is a wide scope for legal analysis and examination.
Some law journals can be specific and only focus on one area of law. For example, this could be criminal or contract law. Normally, this is for the university to choose and it will depend on the knowledge of the professors and the interest of the readers. It is often found that larger law schools have one major law journal that is the most popular. Then they have smaller and specific law review journals to cover different topics.
Law review journals are run differently to other journals out there. Most of the time, law professors will work on their research and create an article. They will then submit it to the law review journal of their choice. This journal will be run by law students of that university. This can be a combination of first, second and third-year students. They are going to act as the editors and have the power to decide what articles are going to get published that month for the journal. In particular, if you are a senior student that is on the board, you can have a lot of authority.
Therefore, law review journals are not only interesting to read, you can learn a lot from them. You can brush up your knowledge on specific topics and learn about them in more detail. This can help with your exams and if you want to become an attorney. However, you can also have the opportunity to join the law school staff of the law journal. This is going to be a fantastic opportunity that will benefit your resume and future law career.
How Do You Join a Law Review Journal?
There are some law review journals that will advertise positions that are available. So, just like any other volunteer or job opportunity, you will submit an application. You should demonstrate why you will be a good asset to the team and the spare time you have available for the duties.
What are the Advantages to Joining a Law Review Journal?
Are you thinking about joining a law review journal at your school? This can be a great thing in the short term and the long term. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages and benefits you can enjoy when you join a journal.
Advantageous for a Clerkship
Securing a clerkship can be very difficult and it is a part of law that is very competitive. Students have to be the best of the best to ensure they make it. Indeed, one thing that a judge is going to love is that you have been a member of a law review journal. This shows you are hardworking and knowledge, as well as prepared to do a lot of critical work.
Looks Great on Your Resume
It does not matter what area of law you are looking to go into, being part of a law review journal looks great. It is hard to gain legal experience when you are at school. But when you take advantage of the opportunities offered at your university, you can improve your resume. Law firms, as well as other employers, are going to be impressed by this experience when you are applying for a job.
An Expert on Legal Citation
Do you find legal citation difficult? When you join a law review journal, you are going to become an expert. This is going to be what a lot of your daily tasks involve. It will be your job to check every single legal citation that is on a journal entry. You have to go through each one and ensure that what the legal expert says it correct and that the source is accurate too. While this can be tedious, it will mean that you learn the rules on legal citation and this is something that will benefit your legal essays you write at university and beyond. It will save a lot of time and effort later on.
Improve Your Knowledge
Of course, let’s not forget that you can learn a lot from working on a law review journal. You will be able to read about new legal topics and expand your knowledge on difficult subjects. This can help you in your exams and for later down the line. You will be first to know about updates and the latest research on a topic. You can use this time to learn since you will have to read all of the submissions to the law journal.
Good for Networking
Joining a law review journal is a good way to network. You can make friends that have similar legal interests to you, as well as make connections for later on. This might help you kickstart your career and help you get your first legal job. We all know that networking is important in the legal industry. You can use this as your opportunity to get ahead and enter the field you want to.
Are There any Disadvantages to Joining a Law Review Journal?
Of course, there are always going to be some downsides to anything you do in life. Indeed, there are some things you need to remember if you are thinking about joining a law review journal. Let’s take a look at them so that you can know what you are getting into and you can weigh up your options.
It Can be Time-Consuming
Everybody knows that studying law at university is hard. You have a lot of assignments, including reading and essays. Before joining a law review journal, you will have to consider whether you are able to handle more work. Being part of the team is not a walk in the park. You are going to have a lot of responsibilities and hours of work to do. Therefore, you have to ensure that you are organized and ready to spend your free time working on the law journal. Think about the responsibilities you have first before joining. Your degree should come first.
Demanding
It is important to remember that working for a law review journal can be very demanding. We are talking about long hours and complicated tasks to do. It will be your responsibility to balance this with your degree workload. If you are someone that cannot deal with a lot of stress, this might not be the job for you. Of course, joining a law review journal can be beneficial. But in the short term, it can be tough. You need to be up for the challenge and know what you are getting yourself in for. From reading through long journal submissions and editing them to checking every single citation that there is, be prepared for hours of work and long nights.
Boring
Let’s be honest; you are not going to enjoy everything related to law. If you are joining a general law review journal, there are going to be lots of topics that do not interest you. But it will be your job to read through and edit them properly. This can be a tedious task and something that you will have to accept. If you are not ready to put in the work and accept that not all research is going to be interesting, this might not be the job for you. In addition, remember that one of your main tasks is going to be checking citations. We all know that this is not a fun task!
