Associate Editing

I have my first assignment as an "associate editor" of the Law Review, and not a minute too soon. There have been no school-related tests or deadlines in two weeks, and the lack of stress has been causing me anxiety.
I was a little taken aback when I learned that I am going to be (among other things) evaluating other students' cite checks. This repeats a pattern I have already experienced a couple of times in law school: one day you're learning a new skill, the next day you're presented as an expert. It's hard not to feel like a bit of a fraud when I'm judging someone else's performance at something I've done all of four or five times.

Even Cheap Law Schools Cost Plenty

To remain a Law Review member in good standing, I have to spend one or two semesters working for the editorial board. It doesn't pay, but I do get course credit.

So today I paid the bill for my summer classes, and they charged me for my Law Review credit! That is, it's costing me just as much to work for a student-run organization as it does to receive classroom instruction. Man, that is low.

Peer Reviewed and Peer Approved

I just got the email notification that my law review paper passed muster. Thank goodness. I like legal writing well enough, but if I had been asked to rewrite this paper I might have stuck a pencil through my hand.

The upshot is, I can now call myself a law review "member," as opposed to an "apprentice." That makes it sound as if I've joined the Freemasons or something. Decisions about which papers will be published are probably still weeks away.

Final Draft

The final draft of my law review paper is due tomorrow. I turned mine in a couple of days ago, as did most of the classmates I've talked to. We were required to turn in so many outlines, research materials, and drafts over the last eight months (the schedule has nine deadlines on it) that there was little chance of anyone being behind at this stage. As I was running off the four paper copies I was required to turn in, I spotted a typo. I chalked it up to wabi-sabi and let it go. The editors need something to do.
Now, we wait. The editorial staff will grade each paper and either pass it or demand a rewrite. If my paper passes, I get the all-important advanced writing credit required for graduation and my paper gets thrown on the slush pile to be considered for publication next year.

Law Review Milestone

The second draft of my law review paper is back from the editor. There are only a few minor changes, so this project is almost behind me. I've been lucky. I think some of my classmates picked such hot topics that they're having to do major rewrites as the law evolves. From here on out, my law review duties will consist mostly of light editing on other people's work.

Nothing Left But Final Exams

After a flurry of writing over Thanksgiving break, plus a 24-hour extension on the deadline, I turned in the first draft of my law review paper yesterday. Even after considerable last-minute padding, the draft is two pages short of the minimum length (40 pages, triple spaced). Hopefully my editor will have some suggestions on how to beef it up.

Yesterday was also the last day of classes. My first exam is one week from today. Between law review and moot court, I more or less ignored my other classes all semester. I am so dead.

Cite Checking

I finally got a cite-checking assignment from my law review overlords. It's a 25-page chunk of a student-written paper. I spent about six hours of my Saturday on it, and I figure I have another three hours of work to do.

I've been dreading this assignment all semester, but it has turned out to be rather soothing. It's work that I'm good at, and in any case it's not for a grade. That adds up to a sense of certainty and accomplishment that is hard to come by in law school.

Damocles

I've been complaining a lot about assignments and deadlines, but it occurs to me that one shoe still hasn't dropped: I have yet to get a citation checking assignment from my law review overlords. Many of my fellow law review apprentices got assignments way back at the beginning of the semester, but a few of us are still waiting for our numbers to come up. Surely the editorial board wouldn't ask us to take on a cite check now, while the paper-writing deadlines are coming hot and heavy. Would it?

Starting Research

I have two monster papers to write this semester (10,000-15,000 words each), and I'm in the early stages of research for both. In my experience, legal research (probably any research) goes like this: First, you're frustrated because it seems like there is no relevant information out there. Search after fruitless search turns up nothing. Then, you come across the one perfect document that cites to a dozen relevant sources on the subject. Those sources cite to a dozen sources each, and from that point on you're frustrated because there isn't enough time in the world to read all the relevant information.

For now, I'm in the first stage of both of my projects: pulling my hair out trying to find just one document directly on point. With any luck, by the end of next week I'll reach the tipping point with at least one of the projects.

Law Review Topic is Set in Stone

The editors of the law review blessed my proposal, so I am committed to spending the next nine months writing a paper on the topic I submitted. The folks who grade the papers aren't supposed to know who is writing about what, so I won't describe my topic in this public forum. Here is a link to some general information about it for anyone who's interested. I'll be the first to admit that it's a little dry, but that just makes it less likely that I'll be beaten to publication by someone else writing on the same topic.

Death by Citation Check

Based on my experience in my legal editing class, the law review workload might kill me. Since the legal profession has a mania for citing to precedent, the main duty of law review apprentices is double-checking the footnotes of papers submitted for publication. Besides going to the author's sources to verify the content, that means ensuring that the citations are in proper format. "Proper format" means in compliance with 150 pages of rules like

When citing an entire decision, and not a pinpoint therein, in short form, you must include the shorter version of the case name, the volume number, reporter designation, and first page; but do NOT include a jurisdiction/date parenthetical.

Let me make clear that when I say 150 pages of rules, I am excluding the 190 pages of tables and appendices in the citation rulebook. I spent the better part of my day grinding through the first six pages of a twenty-two page cite-check assignment.

Topical, But Not Too Topical

I'm all a-dither about finding a topic for my law review note. This paper will be a year-long project, and I have about two weeks to pick a topic. The trick is to find an issue that is 1) unlikely to be resolved in the next year (i.e., cases pending before the Supreme Court are out), 2) topical enough to merit publication (freak show jurisprudence probably would not make the cut), and 3) not so topical that other people have already written about it ad nauseam (anything to do with Guantanamo detainees? Fuhgeddaboutit). If you can think of a contested point of law that deserves a twenty-plus page treatment, please feel free to drop me a line or post a comment.

For those keeping score, this is the one-hundredth post to this blog.

A New Year Brings New Swag

Here is the stuff I picked up at my law review orientation meeting. There was free food, too, but it was that old standby, pizza. I had hoped that our lofty position on the law review would merit caviar and bonbons. Not to worry, though. This meager pile of giveaways is nothing compared to the shower of goodies that will rain down in September when vendors are trying to impress the new students.

A Full Schedule

Since I don't have a clerkship lined up, I deliberately piled on the extracurricular activities in the fall. The rocks and pebbles that will eventually become an avalanche of obligations are starting to appear on my calendar. I was accepted onto the law review, so that will mean a series of orientation meetings starting later this week. I've also signed up to serve as a mentor to incoming 1L students, so I'll be going to their orientation in mid-August. My schedule-juggling skills will get a real test when classes start.

All Done

I just submitted my law review application materials, four hours before the deadline. It wasn't my best work, but just having it in the can is a real load off my mind and my schedule. Ironically, today was also my last day for a few weeks at my on-again, off-again summer job. I don't know what I'll do with all the free time. It's feast or famine.

Something's Got to Give

The sixty-hour weeks caught up with me quickly. I have a vicious cold and spent most of today in bed. This is bad because this weekend is the only free time I have to write the ten-page case note (the law school equivalent of a book report) that will be my application to the law review staff.

Law review is one of the quintessential law school experiences. Every decent law school puts out a journal that is edited and partly written by students. Service on the law review is a flashy resume item, and admission to the staff is competitive. Right now it looks like my application is going to be pretty weak.