Law review topics

September 13, 2005 1:18 PM

MeFi Lawyers: How did you figure out what to write your law review articles about?

I am not looking for topic suggestions, just general ideas on how to figure out a topic that can fill 30+ pages. I am a 2L, and don't really know what I want to do after I graduate. I am limited to business-related topics (not much of a limitation, really) and am having a horrible time figuring out possible ideas. I want to decide on at least a broad topic before hooking up with an advisor - they aren't very interested in helping until you have some kind of general idea what to write about.

I've already read recent articles from major business magizines, recent court decisions on Westlaw, etc., but I feel like I'm floundering without much direction. Any tips? The editors are fairly useless for advice, and I've got that awful feeling that everyone else knows what they are doing except me.

posted by gatorae to education (6 comments total)

(1) Read some of the business law blogs, like Bainbridge, Conglomerate, Ideoblog, or the 10b-5 Daily, to get an about some of the current issues. Hints: recent Disney decision, Reg. FD, SLUSA discovery stay, mutual fund regulation. There are, of course, lots more.

(2) What do you want to write about? There are very few areas of the law where all of the important questions are settled. Think of an aspect of business law that interests you, and find out what some of the current questions in that area are.

(3) If all else fails: circuit /s split.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 1:42 PM on September 13, 2005

cheap plug for MefiLawyers, our discussion list

First of all, nobody else knows what they are doing. Trust me.

The best advice I got as a 2L was to choose a state, rather than federal, topic. There are only so many circuit splits out there, but there are vast untouched areas of state law. Especially in the area of business or corporate law, you'll have a lot of topics to choose from where there is disagreement among the state courts of last resort. You'll also be able to write more comprehensively (and produce a longer article) since there will be 20-30 data points out there rather than 7-10.

Don't worry about page minimums. You'll always have more to say about a subject than can fit in a student note. Keep in mind that you'll need to introduce background, theoretical principles, etc. to an audience unfamiliar with your topic. This can easily fill up half of the article with the remainder going to your discussions of leading authority and analysis.

Read law review articles - lots of em - and student notes that have been published in order to get a handle on the general structure.

As a student, nobody cares what your opinions are on a leading case or hot topic. Your contributions are most valuable in the form of grunt work - analyzing, synthesizing, and categorizing disparate treatments of an area of law.

While this may not help you if you are limited to business topics, try to find something interesting but obscure. This will reduce your risk of preemption while maximizing your chance of getting published.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 1:49 PM on September 13, 2005

Your editors will be fairly useless for advice--they're just other students, after all. Professors, on the other hand, should not be generally useless--that's their job (I say this because it's my job). If you have a general area of law (more specific than "business"), ask the advisor (or any professor you've had who you developed a relationship with) for an appointment to toss around a few ideas. If you're really not comfortable doing that until you have a much more definite topic, you'll have to do some initial research and some outlining to see if your topic is viable.

Think about what issues were tagged "unresolved" in a class discussion or a case book, think about how you would resolve them and then see if you can find authorities to help you make your case.

Pick one of those unresolved issues. Now, do your pre-emption check, then gather your 5-6 primary sources (the Statute/Case/ in question, pertinent cases covering that statute/case and/or similar prior statutes/cases, articles commeting on same) and then you'd outline your argument, plugging in facts and counter-arguments from your sources in a short-hand manner. Note which parts will need more support. From this outline, with sources in the right place, you'll be able to tell how many pages you're filling up. You'll also be able to tell which of your contentions you can't support or which require more research than you currently have. (Volokh's "Choosing a Claim" from his Academic Legal Writing is very useful; actually the whole book is handy for reminding you what you already know about legal writing and shifting that to the academic article, rather than the practical document).

Also, state-specific issues are viewed less favorably by law reviews other than the one you're a member of, and the more prestigious the journal, the less interest in publishing state-specific articles. If you're really hoping to get the note published, be aware that other journals will be less interested in your article unless you scout similar issues in other states to broaden the topic to encompass the widest possible audience.
posted by crush-onastick at 1:57 PM on September 13, 2005

I would go about it a little differently -- find out exactly what your favorite/coolest/best-repuation holding prof is researching, and write something closely related so you have the best chance of getting lots of good feedback from him or her and perhaps a good letter of recommendation down the line.

If your goal is publication at all costs, however, the Volokh book is helpful. And I agree with both Saucy Intruder and Crush that a state law issue might be more rewarding (after all, most of business law is state law...) but less likely to get published.

Oh, and don't worry -- everyone is equally clueless! Try to have fun with it.
posted by footnote at 9:29 PM on September 13, 2005

Just to clarify, state law issues only hurt your chances of publication if they are focused only on the state about which you are writing. State law issues in general (comparing decisions by state courts across the country) are less likely to have been dealt with before and thus are highly publishable.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 10:26 AM on September 14, 2005

Just for posterity, I want to say thank you so much to each of you who responded. I wrote my article comparing the laws of several states, and my article was chosen for publication. :)
posted by gatorae at 9:12 AM on April 20, 2006