What is the difference between a law journal and a law review?

Asked by: Elvie Jenkins  |  Last update: November 24, 2025
Score: 5/5 (20 votes)

A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provide a scholarly analysis of emerging legal concepts from various topics.

Is law review the same as law journal?

Law reviews (or journals; the terms can be used interchangeably) are the legal profession's academic journals. They are the equivalent of medical or psychological journals for those respective fields, with a ranking system that is similar.

What is the purpose of the law journal?

The primary purpose of the Journal is to foster a rich interchange of ideas and information about legal education and related matters, including but not limited to the legal profession, legal theory, and legal scholarship.

Is Harvard Law Review a journal?

Founded in 1887, the Harvard Law Review is a student-run journal of legal scholarship. The Review is independent from the Harvard Law School and a board of student editors selected through an anonymous annual writing competition make all editorial decisions.

What is in a law review?

First, what is law review? Law review is an academic journal that publishes articles by professors and other scholars in a variety of legal practices. It is published by students at most law schools, who are responsible for writing notes (shorter academic articles), editing, and checking citations.

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Are law journals worth it?

While participating in a law journal is by no means required, many lawyers consider this extracurricular experience to be a highlight of their law school experience.

What is the purpose of the legal review?

The purpose of the legal document review process is to find, organize, and analyze all relevant documents related to a legal case. This process supports legal strategy by making sure that information is credible, digestible, and easily retrievable to avoid potential legal issues.

How prestigious is law review?

Membership on the law review staff is highly sought after by some law students, as it often has a significant impact on their subsequent careers as attorneys. Many U.S. federal judges and partners at the most prestigious law firms were members or editors of their school's law review.

Is Westlaw a journal?

Westlaw Journal Intellectual Property keeps corporations, attorneys and individuals updated on the latest developments in IP law. In addition to federal litigation, the journal covers administration decisions by the branches of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and legislative developments.

Are law reviews credible?

In some cases, law reviews that use peer-review may have articles edited by practitioners or legal professionals, but this information is not always clearly provided by the publication. However, law reviews are considered secondary scholarship because the articles are providing analyses and commentary on legal issues.

How hard is it to make a law review?

There's a lot of editing that goes into a law review. It is a fairly big time commitment. Schools have moved to a system where there's often some kind of writing competition that typically takes place at the very end of the first year of law school, and people are selected on the basis of their performance.

Does every law school have a law review?

Most law schools have at least one law review or journal, and some house several different legal publications. While law reviews tend to have a broader focus, other law school journals tend to focus on specific areas of law, such as bankruptcy, international law, or intellectual property.

What is the main purpose of journal?

A personal journal is to record and reflect on events in a person's life over time. A published journal is devoted to reporting news and events. Some are specialized publications devoted to scientific, medical, professional, or trade interests. A business journal is used to record business transactions as they occur.

Is it a big deal to be on law review?

Gaining membership of this journal, with its attached prestige, is held in high regard throughout the discipline, from private practice to public interest. Articles are written by legal academics, professors, judges or practicing lawyers, with a dizzying array of experience and expertise.

Can students publish in law review?

The most frequent publishers of student work are law reviews and journals. Submission requirements vary considerably, but there are a variety of resources that can assist you to allow the best possible opportunity for publication.

Are law review articles binding?

Secondary sources include the following: Treatises • Dictionaries • Legal Encyclopedias like AmJur 2d and CJS • ALR • Restatements • Law Review Articles 2 Page 3 There are several secondary sources to use when you don't know anything about the topic: Secondary sources are never binding on a court.

Is law journal the same as law review?

Law journals typically publish legal scholarship around a particular subject, while a law review is a general-subject journal and publishes legal articles of all kinds.

Do lawyers use Westlaw?

Westlaw is an online legal research service and proprietary database for lawyers and legal professionals available in over 60 countries.

How many hours per week is law review?

There's no way around it: law school is arduous and stressful, even without law review. An average law student can expect to spend around 40 hours a week preparing for and attending class, and the average law review member can expect to add another 20 hours a week on top of that.

How do you get selected for law review?

No students are invited to join the Law Review based on grades alone. All students must do well on the Write-on to be selected. The Write-on begins on the Monday after the end of spring semester final examinations and ends seven days later on the following Monday.

What is a flagship law journal?

Student-Edited Journals

Law schools typically have a general-interest (or "flagship") law review (e.g., Washington Law Review, Seattle University Law Review, Gonzaga Law Review) that publishes articles on a wide range of topics.

What are the different types of legal review?

The standards are de novo review, clearly erroneous review (not for agency decisions), reasonableness review, arbitrary-and-capricious review, abuse-of-discretion review, and no review.

Why is law review good?

Refine your legal research & writing skills.

Being part of a law review provides you with the chance to vastly improve your legal research, writing, and editing skills, all while still in law school.

What is the point of attorney review?

Common issues that can occur during attorney review are when a defect in title is discovered, an encumbrance is brought to light, or the financing for the property has fallen through. The benefit of attorney review is that it allows for the attorney for either transacting party to cancel the contract.