Washington University School of Law - Student Publications

Student Publications

The Washington University School of Law has four student-run publications. After the completion of their first year, students are encouraged to participate in a "write-on" competition. This competition has generally entailed writing a case comment. Based upon the quality of a student's case comment, a student may be invited to join the publication of their choice.
Second-year students participating in one of the three Washington University School of Law student-run publications are considered "associate" or "staff" editors. In addition to their editing responsibilities (which generally consist of "shelf-checks"), these students are required to write a "note." Based upon the quality of their writing, students may be asked to publish their note in the publication in which they belong. Rising third-year law students are encouraged to apply for an editorial position within their publication. These board positions range from lower-level editing positions to the editor-in-chief position.

• Washington University Law Review began as the St. Louis Law Review in 1915 and was re-titled the Washington University Law Quarterly in 1936. The Law Review is a student-run academic journal that publishes six issues per year. The staff selects and edits articles from legal scholars, practitioners, and students, and welcomes submissions on any legal topic. In addition to the printed publications, Law Review maintains an online supplement entitled Slip Opinions featuring original commentary and debate by members of the legal academy, bench, and bar.

• Washington University Global Studies Law Review is a student-edited international legal journal dedicated to publishing articles by international, foreign, and comparative law scholars. Global publishes quarterly. Global's publications present articles, book reviews, essays, and notes from academics, practitioners, and students, respectively. Global occasionally publishes articles in conjunction with symposia from the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, such as the famous The Judgment at Nuremberg, which included articles by the President of the International Criminal Court Hon. Philippe Kirsch, Leila Nadya Sadat, and Sen. Chris Dodd . Global has published articles from practitioners and law professors from various countries including Brazil, the Netherlands, India, Finland, Myanmar, and Australia. In addition to publishing, since 2007 the staff of Global has worked to create an International Citation Manual in order to provide the most accurate citations for international sources. Still a work in progress, Global has compiled citation formats for more than sixty countries.

• Washington University Journal of Law and Policy originated in 1968 as the Urban Law Annual and focused entirely on issues surrounding land use, urban development, and other legal concerns of urban communities. The scope broadened in 1983 when the Journal expanded (and became the Journal of Urban and Contemporary Law) to encompass a broad range of topics. In 1999, the Journal once again broadened its scope to become the Washington University Journal of Law & Policy. The Journal generates a symposium-based publication that brings together communities of scholars, to emphasize existing and emerging visions of the law in relation to interdisciplinary and multicultural perspectives, the implications of technology, and the consequences of economic globalization for the purpose of influencing law and social policy. Each year, the Journal publishes an "Access to Justice" volume. This volume is a compilation of essays from the Washington University School of Law’s "Access to Justice" speaker series, one goal of which is to encourage and challenge audiences to use their legal education for the ultimate betterment of our society. Additionally, the Journal collaborates with faculty members to publish symposia along a broad spectrum of contemporary topics.

• Washington University Jurisprudence Review was formed in 2008 and is the only student-edited, in-print journal of law and philosophy in America. The purpose of the Review is to promote academic discussion and scholarship at the nexus between law and philosophy. It also seeks to broaden and deepen the law school experience by fostering critical analysis of the suppositions and theories that underlie the law school curriculum. To further these purposes, the Review publishes scholar- and practitioner-authored articles, as well as student-authored notes.