Law Review is already killing me, and it hasn't even started

August 22, 2009 6:18 AM

Please help me find a law review topic, hopefully pertaining to Oklahoma.

I am tearing my hair out here. I just joined Law Review (it's my 2L year), and we have to have a topic for our note or comment set soon. The deadline is in two weeks.

I've always been bad at picking topics for papers, and creative stuff like that. I joined Law Review because I thought I'd enjoy the editing aspect more, and obviously because of its reputation as a resume-booster. Now I'm seriously regretting this decision because I can't think of anything to write about.

I've checked all the Law Bulletins and Highlights stuff on Westlaw, like the editors mentioned, and I've done many a google search on "Choosing a Law Review topic," but I'm still lost. I read stuff about new cases and circuit splits but I don't know how I'm supposed to formulate a paper out of that; I just can't seem to figure out how to make a case into a thesis.

Even though a comment is longer (40 pages vs. 20 pages for a note), it might be marginally easier to find a topic for one, since it's based on an area of law rather than a specific case. Too bad I still can't come up with any ideas. I thought of something related to the use of chemical restraints in nursing homes (something I researched this summer at an elder law firm), but it was written about by a prof in another law review 5 years ago, and quite thoroughly.

Other ideas I had were related to regulation of whole body donation non-profit companies like MedCure (but I don't know what laws that would really involve, or any cases) or something about adapting Oklahoma's new transfer on death deeds for real estate to also apply to personal property like cars (my boss this summer said you could use them for cars in MO).

I can't think of anything else, really, and I never really talked to any of my professors last year, so I feel uncomfortable asking for help. I also don't know any of my profs this semester, so same problem.

Please help me if you can, by giving any sort of advice or suggestions for Oklahoma-y topics. Thanks!

posted by mesha steele to education (13 comments total)

Oh, I read the past thread tagged with law review, but it's a few years old, and I was really hoping for more specific topic suggestions if possible. I feel like I've checked most of those resources out already.
posted by mesha steele at 6:20 AM on August 22

I don't know anything about Oklahoma, but I do have a suggestion.

Even if you didn't really have a relationship with a prof last year, find one and develop that relationship. This is a great opportunity to do that. It will be invaluable when you're applying for jobs.
posted by miss tea at 6:35 AM on August 22

(but I don't know what laws that would really involve, or any cases)

Go to Westlaw, punch in your search terms, click "Get me Started". Seriously. You don't need to know anything about an area of law you ultimately write about provided that you learn it during your research and always take care to state the current law accurately.

Write down a list of things you might be interested in and commit an hour this week to reading more about each.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 7:45 AM on August 22

Oklahoma still has some pretty ridiculous "blue laws"; you might want to do something on the prohibitionist roots of their alcohol laws.
posted by aquafortis at 8:26 AM on August 22

You can just write about "policy" and toss in a few legal ideas here and there. It works! Or write about different proposed legal reforms and why they're all bad ideas, but your idea is a good one.
posted by yesno at 8:37 AM on August 22

This advice is more apt for a comment rather than a note. One way to go would be to just read the news every day. Since you would like the topic to be related to OK, check out some local papers or blogs. If you see a recurring topic, see if you can find a legal angle and write about it.

When I was looking for my comment topic, I asked the green for topic suggestions, took the ones I got and started checking the NY Times, BBC and WSJ every day to see how often they popped up. It happened to be in the middle of the rash of Somali pirate attacks, so I picked that as a general topic. Then, I just listed all the legal aspects of that situation that were apparent to me and picked the one that seemed most interesting. Hopefully this approach will work for you.

Good luck on law review! I'll be doing orientation for our 2Ls next week, and this is exactly the advice I'm going to give them re picking a topic.
posted by ailouros08 at 8:47 AM on August 22

I've got a few ideas:

Idea one

1. Google "Oklahoma Appellate Lawyer", make a list of twenty of them that have e-mail addresses listed.

2. E-mail all twenty (with personal message for each, not a mass-mailing), telling them you need a note topic and you wonder whether any of them can point you to an unresolved issue in Oklahoma law that might make a good topic.

3. You will probably get at least a few suggestions. Review them, do a little research on your own, and pick one to write about.

Idea two

1. Buy a student membership ($30) to the Oklahoma Association for Justice (the plaintiffs' trial lawyer association).

2. They have a listserv for members. Post a message on the listserv asking for suggestions for interesting note topics. I'm on one of those listservs (not in Oklahoma) and they are very active.

3. There will be a number of good suggestions. Review them, do a little research on your own, and pick one to write about.

Idea three

Contact the board members of the Oklahoma Indigent Defense System. The fact that they are board members means they are almost certainly well versed in current legal isues regarding indigent defense. Ask them for suggestions of a note topic.
posted by jayder at 9:23 AM on August 22

If you're interested in writing up something on the recent ruling on the ultrasound/abortion law that was struck down, MeFi mail me, I've got tons of stuff for you.
posted by allen.spaulding at 11:05 AM on August 22

This research guide, from the wonderful librarians at the University of Washington law library is a great place to start, full of resources for finding topics: http://lib.law.washington.edu/ref/lawrev.html

Read through some of this, start browsing through some law blogs in your area of interest. Do not be afraid to ask to meet with a professor to talk, but I'd wait until you have at least a kernel of an idea. It could be the start of a great connection. And, talk with one of the reference librarians at your law library, I love helping students out with stuff like this.
posted by LolaCola at 11:19 AM on August 22

Eugene Volokh has a very good book on writing law review articles. I believe the title starts "Academic Legal Writing." Get it.
posted by paultopia at 1:20 PM on August 22

+1 for paultopia's recommendation of Academic Legal Writing. This is the best twenty-five bucks you'll spend in law school.
posted by tellumo at 4:18 PM on August 22

Read the past few years of law reviews in OK and choose a past article to disagree with. Instant topic!
posted by lockestockbarrel at 5:02 PM on August 22

Not sure if this is helpful, but perhaps something related to Native American law?
posted by metametababe at 9:10 AM on October 3