University of Pennsylvania Law Review

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest such journal in the United States, having published continuously since 1852. Until 1907, the journal was known as the American Law Register. Volume 154 is being published during the 2005-06 academic year. Six issues are published each volume, with the last issue reprinting papers from a symposium held by the Law Review each year.

It is one of the four law reviews responsible for publication of the Bluebook.

Positions on the Law Review are filled based in part on students' grades during first year of law school and in part on students' performance during a writing competition conducted at the end of each school year. The writing competition has two major parts: an editing portion and a writing portion. During the editing portion, contestants are required to correct a sample portion of a fake law review article prepared by the current Law Review board. Contestants have at their disposal a copy of the Bluebook and a packet of source materials provided by the Law Review. During the writing portion, contestants are required to create a cohesive, thesis-driven essay using only a set of sources provided by the Law Review. The sources cover a variety of topics, and the essay does not need to be law-related. Each year the Law Review takes approximately 50 new members from the rising second-year class. The Law Review is managed by a board of 17 members chosen from the rising 3L class in February of each year.

The Law Review is one of four major scholarly journals at the University of Pennsylvania Law School.