The Duke Law Journal is a student-run law review

Law review

A law review is a scholarly journal focusing on legal issues, normally published by an organization of students at a law school or through a bar association...

 published at Duke University School of Law

Duke University School of Law

The Duke University School of Law is the law school and a constituent academic unit of Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, United States. One of Duke's 10 schools and colleges, the School of Law began as the Trinity College School of Law in 1868. In 1924, following the renaming of Trinity...

. The journal publishes general-interest articles and student notes in eight issues each year.

Overview

The Duke Law Journal is currently ranked as the 19th most cited law review, according to the Washington and Lee University School of Law

Washington and Lee University School of Law

The Washington and Lee University School of Law is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia. Facilities are currently on the campus of Washington and Lee University in Sydney Lewis Hall...

's rankings.

History

The journal was established in March 1951 as the Duke Bar Journal and obtained its current title in 1957. In 1969, the journal published its inaugural Administrative Law Symposium issue, a tradition that continues today.

Volume 1 of the Duke Bar Journal had two issues and 259 pages. In 1959, the journal grew to four issues and 649 pages, growing again in 1970 to six issues and 1263 pages. The journal's most recent volume, volume 60, had just over 1900 pages in eight issues.

Staff and selection of membership

The journal selects approximately 40 second-year law students for membership. This selection occurs through Duke Law's casenote competition. At the end of the first year, students interested in joining the journal submit a 14-page paper analyzing an assigned case, which current journal members grade. Of the group that submitted notes, the Duke Law Journal then selects one third of its members from those who have the highest first-year grade point average, one third whose GPA and note score were highest in combination, and the final third based on the remaining highest note scores.

Students who wish to join the Duke Law Journal after the casenote competition (i.e., in their third year) may do so only by writing a note of publishable quality and submitting it through the "note-on" process. The journal has occasionally accepted one or two students per year in this manner.

Symposium

The Duke Law Journal hosts a yearly symposium on administrative law. Past topics have included administrative law in the Bush Administration, reform in the immigration courts, environmental law, and the role of the FCC in regulating the Internet.