Law Review
Northwestern Law

Northwestern University Law Review : Prospective Members

Prospective Members

The Northwestern University Law Review seeks highly motivated individuals who have demonstrated academic excellence and outstanding legal writing ability.

The Law Review selects its members through two separate competitions, one held in the spring, and the other held in the fall.  The spring writing competition, which takes place after first-year spring examinations, is the primary method of selection.  We offer membership to 26 students evaluated equally on first-year grades and on the quality of their writing competition entries.   An additional 10 offers are extended to students based solely on their writing competition, as long as they are within the top two-thirds of student GPAs in the writing competition.  The fall write-on competition takes place during the fall of the second year and is open only to transfer students.  The journal extends approximately 4-6 offers per year to participants in this competition.

Students who accept offers for membership on the Law Review become staff members for the duration of their second year.  In the spring of their second year, staff members become associate editors or are elected to positions on the editorial board.  The responsibilities of second-year Law Review staff members include source and citation checking, substantive evaluation of articles accepted for publication, editing and proofreading manuscripts, performing first-read evaluations of manuscripts submitted for publication, and any clerical tasks that may be necessary.  Law Review staff members are also expected to produce a written work of publishable quality, which may be submitted for publication in the spring of the student's second year.  If a student article is selected for publication, it will typically be published in an issue of Law Review during the student's third year. See examples below of recent student articles published in the Law Review.

Transfer students interested in the 2008 fall write-on competition must attend a mandatory orientation session, which will be held in late August.  Details will be posted on Esqwire and sent to all eligible candidates via e-mail.  Write-on candidates are expected to perform all of the duties of staff members, including the production of a written work of publishable quality, completion of source and citation checking assignments, and the completion of other editorial assignments during weekly office hours.  Write-on candidates are evaluated on the basis of their written submissions and the quality of their work for the Law Review.  Further information regarding the write-on process will be available at the August orientation meeting.

For further information about Law Review membership, please contact Matthew S. Gaudette or Shannon D. Kung.

To obtain the Spring 2008 writing competition packet, please click here.

Sample Student Articles

COMMENT:  SUBSTANTIAL SIMILARITY AND ARCHITECTURAL WORKS:  FILTERING OUT "TOTAL CONCEPT AND FEEL"
By Daniel Su

COMMENT:  COMPENSATION FOR THE FRUIT OF THE FUND'S USE: THE TAKINGS CLAUSE AND TAX REFUNDS
By Jeremy R. Polk

COMMENT:  THE CONSTITUTIONAL FATE OF MANDATORY REPORTING STATUTES AND THE CLERGY-COMMUNICANT PRIVILEGE IN A POST-SMITH WORLD
By Christopher R. Pudelski

COMMENT:  AM I MY MOTHER'S KEEPER?  THE CASE AGAINST THE USE OF JUVENILE ARREST RECORDS IN ONE-STRIKE PUBLIC HOUSING EVICTIONS
By Renai S. Rodney