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Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review
Filed under ArticlesMar 23
Product Description
Designed to help law students write and publish articles, this text provides detailed instructions for every aspect of the law school writing, research, and publication process. Topics covered include law review articles and student notes, seminar term papers, how to shift from research to writing, cite-checking others work, publishing, and publicizing written works. With supporting documents available on http://volokh.com/writing, the book helps law students and ev… More >>
5 Responses to “Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, Seminar Papers, and Getting on Law Review”
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The big dirty little secret about law journals is that the articles in most of them — including the most prestigious law journals — are not peer-reviewed or faculty-reviewed but are merely student-reviewed! And the law journals with only student review of the articles are not just educational exercises for the students — the Harvard Law Review alone was cited 4410 times (!) by federal courts alone in the decade 1970-79 alone (though the frequency of law journal citation by the courts has declined sharply). More details are in this article in my blog:
http://im-from-missouri.blogspot.com/2008/05/judge-jones-hypocritical-about-peer.html
No amount of advice on legal writing can compensate for the lack of “peer” review of articles in law journals. By “peer,” I mean any expert on the subject of the paper — the expert does not even have to be a legal professional. IMO the term should be “expert review” instead of “peer review.”
I made up this limerick about Judge Jones and his Kitzmiller v. Dover decision, which was not “peer-reviewed” because it was not appealed:
Judge Jones once said that peer review
is needed to show that something’s true.
But that’s OK,
he didn’t say,
his Dover ruling was peer-reviewed too.I am giving this book a big fat single star because it apparently does not recognize the lack of peer (expert) review as a serious shortcoming of typical law journals.
Rating: 1 / 5 -
Mike said on March 24th, 2010 at 1:02 am
The book did a tremendous job preparing me to write seminar papers and work on law review journals. It also was a great guide for writing my student note. I recommend it to all law students!
-Harvard 2L
Rating: 5 / 5 -
Just like the title, this book is a great guide to “Academic Legal Writing.” Step by step, the author takes you through the process of writing a publishable legal article. Every aspect is covered: from how to form a thesis to how to publicize and publish your finished product. Every law review student should read this book while writing his or her student Note.
Rating: 5 / 5 -
I highly recommend Professor Volokh’s new book, Academic Legal Writing: Law Review Articles, Student Notes, and Seminar Papers.
As the title suggests, it focuses primarily on legal writing, especially for aspiring and current law school students. However, anyone who wants to improve his/her writing and critical thinking skills should read this book. The book–which is only 189 pages–abounds in smart advice on how to write better and avoid common errors such as wordiness, unduly harsh criticism, overly technical language, etc.
Speaking as someone who starts law school in a month and a half, I am glad I read this book. It gave me a nice view about what type of writing is expected in law school. And unlike some academic books, it is affordable and highly readable.
Volokh addresses every possible question that a pre-law student could have about academic legal writing–how to choose a topic, how to test its claim or hypothesis, how to research it, how to use evidence (i.e., cases, law review articles, statistics, surveys, etc) correctly, and how even to publish and market your work.
To take one example: Volokh advises that in the process of conducting research always check the original source. In other words, do not simply assume that a secondary source will correctly represent the original article or case. For example, even the most revered Courts (such as the Supreme Court of the United States) sometimes misstate facts, arguments, and holdings in cases.
I can personally attest to the soundness of this advice. I once cited an article by a political science professor of mine in a paper I wrote for him. I relied on a secondary source to summarize his main thesis. When my professor graded the paper, he circled in red ink the citation of his work and wrote, This is not the argument I made. Did you bother to read the article?
Again, this is a great book for anyone considering law school. It should be on every pre-law student’s must-read list.
Rating: 5 / 5
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My law review assigned as required reading an essay that Professor Volokh later expanded on when he published this book. I benefited greatly by reading the essay as a law student, and I have again benefited by reading the book (first edition) as an attorney publishing in law reviews. The writing advice is superb, but what might get missed are helpful hints on how to publish in law reviews beyond your own, and how to publicize yourself afterward. All in all, it is a fantastic A-Z on how to engage in legal scholarship and make a name in doing so.
Rating: 5 / 5
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