The Yale 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...

 affiliated with the Yale Law School

Yale Law School

Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight 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...

s published by students at Yale Law School

Yale Law School

Yale Law School, or YLS, is the law school of Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Established in 1824, it offers the J.D., LL.M., J.S.D. and M.S.L. degrees in law. It also hosts visiting scholars, visiting researchers and a number of legal research centers...

. The journal is one of the most cited legal publications in the nation and usually generates the highest number of citations per published article.

The journal, which is published eight times per year, contains articles, features, and book reviews by professional legal scholars as well as student-written notes and comments. It is edited entirely by students. The journal has an online companion, The Pocket Part, which features op-ed length versions of journal articles and responses from practitioners, policymakers, and scholars. In 2009, the journal announced that The Pocket Part would be integrated into a new online platform, The Yale Law Journal Online.

The Yale Law Journal, in conjunction with the Harvard Law Review

Harvard Law Review

The Harvard Law Review is a journal of legal scholarship published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School.-Overview:According to the 2008 Journal Citation Reports, the Review is the most cited law review and has the second-highest impact factor in the category "law" after the...

, the Columbia Law Review

Columbia Law Review

The Columbia Law Review is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. In addition to articles, the journal regularly publishes scholarly essays and student notes. It was founded in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who served as the review's first...

, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review

University of Pennsylvania Law Review

The University of Pennsylvania Law Review is a law review focusing on legal issues, published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law journal in the United States, having been published continuously since 1852...

, publishes the Bluebook

Bluebook

The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, a style guide, prescribes the most widely used legal citation system in the United States. The Bluebook is compiled by the Harvard Law Review Association, the Columbia Law Review, the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, and the Yale Law Journal....

: A Uniform System of Citation, the most widely followed authority for legal citation

Legal citation

Legal citation is the practice of crediting and referring to authoritative documents and sources. The most common sources of authority cited are court decisions , statutes, regulations, government documents, treaties, and scholarly writing....

 formats in the United States.

Notable alumni

Past editors of the Yale Law Journal include prominent law professors (Akhil Amar

Akhil Reed Amar

Akhil Reed Amar is an American legal scholar, an expert on constitutional law and criminal procedure. Having been the Southmayd Professor of Law at Yale Law School, he was named the Sterling Professor of Law there in 2008...

, Ian Ayres

Ian Ayres

Ian Ayres is an American academic who is the William K. Townsend Professor at the Yale Law School and a Professor at the Yale School of Management.-Biography:...

, Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter

Stephen L. Carter is an American law professor, legal- and social-policy writer, columnist, and best-selling novelist.-Education:...

, Alan Dershowitz

Alan Dershowitz

Alan Morton Dershowitz is an American lawyer, jurist, and political commentator. He has spent most of his career at Harvard Law School where in 1967, at the age of 28, he became the youngest full professor of law in its history...

, John Hart Ely

John Hart Ely

John Hart Ely is one of the most widely-cited legal scholars in United States history, ranking just after Richard Posner, Ronald Dworkin, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., according to a 2000 study in the University of Chicago's Journal of Legal Studies.-Biography:Born in New York City, John Hart...

, Dawn Johnsen

Dawn Johnsen

Dawn Elizabeth Johnsen is an American lawyer and professor of Constitutional law, who is currently on the faculty at Maurer School of Law at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana...

, Randall Kennedy

Randall Kennedy

Randall L. Kennedy is an American Law professor and author at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is the Michael R. Klein Professor of Law and focuses his research on the intersection of racial conflict and legal institutions in American life...

, Kris Kobach

Kris Kobach

Kris W. Kobach is the Secretary of State of Kansas. He is also currently of counsel with the Immigration Law Reform Institute in Washington, D.C....

, Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein

Joseph Goldstein is one of the first American vipassana teachers , co-founder of the Insight Meditation Society with Jack Kornfield and Sharon Salzberg, contemporary author of numerous popular books on Buddhism , resident guiding teacher at IMS, and leader of retreats worldwide on insight and...

, and John Yoo

John Yoo

John Choon Yoo is an American attorney, law professor, and author. As a former official in the United States Department of Justice during the George W...

), the deans of Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School

Harvard Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, it is the oldest continually-operating law school in the United States and is home to the largest academic law library in the world. The school is routinely ranked by the U.S...

 (Martha Minow

Martha Minow

Martha Louise Minow is the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law and the Dean of Harvard Law School. She teaches civil procedure, constitutional law, family law, international criminal justice, jurisprudence, law and education, nonprofit organizations, and the public law workshop...

), Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School

Columbia Law School, founded in 1858, is one of the oldest and most prestigious law schools in the United States. A member of the Ivy League, Columbia Law School is one of the professional graduate schools of Columbia University in New York City. It offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in...

 (David Schizer

David Schizer

David M. Schizer was named the fourteenth Dean of Columbia Law School in 2004. He was appointed dean at the age of 35, making him the youngest dean in the school's history and one of the youngest deans of a top law school.One of the nation's leading experts in tax law, Schizer worked at Davis Polk...

), Michigan Law School

University of Michigan Law School

The University of Michigan Law School is the law school of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor. Founded in 1859, the school has an enrollment of about 1,200 students, most of whom are seeking Juris Doctor or Master of Laws degrees, although the school also offers a Doctor of Juridical...

 (Evan Caminker

Evan Caminker

Evan H. Caminker is Dean of the University of Michigan Law School. He succeeded Jeffrey S. Lehman, who resigned to become president of Cornell University...

), New York University School of Law

New York University School of Law

The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....

 (Richard Revesz

Richard Revesz

Richard L. "Ricky" Revesz is a law professor and the current dean of the New York University School of Law. He is one of the nation's leading experts on environmental and regulatory law and policy....

), Georgetown Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center

Georgetown University Law Center is the law school of Georgetown University, located in Washington, D.C.. Established in 1870, the Law Center offers J.D., LL.M., and S.J.D. degrees in law...

 (T. Alexander Aleinikoff

T. Alexander Aleinikoff

T. Alexander Aleinikoff is a law professor and dean at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He is currently on leave to be the Deputy High Commissioner in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva, Switzerland.- Background :Aleinikoff received a...

) and Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School

Stanford Law School is a graduate school at Stanford University located in the area known as the Silicon Valley, near Palo Alto, California in the United States. The Law School was established in 1893 when former President Benjamin Harrison joined the faculty as the first professor of law...

 (Bayless Manning

Bayless Manning

Bayless A. Manning was an American lawyer, law professor, writer and expert of corporate law. He served as the dean of Stanford Law School from 1964 to 1971...

), political figures (journalists Michael Barone

Michael Barone (pundit)

Michael Barone is a conservative American political analyst, pundit and journalist. He is best known for being the principal author of The Almanac of American Politics, a reference work concerning US governors and federal politicians, and published biennially by National Journal...

 and Jeff Greenfield

Jeff Greenfield

Jeff Greenfield is an American television journalist and author.-Biography:He was born in New York City to parents Benjamin and Helen. He grew up in Manhattan and graduated from the Bronx High School of Science in 1960. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in...

, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich

Robert Reich

Robert Bernard Reich is an American political economist, professor, author, and political commentator. He served in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter and was Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997....

, Senator Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter

Arlen Specter is a former United States Senator from Pennsylvania. Specter is a Democrat, but was a Republican from 1965 until switching to the Democratic Party in 2009...

, Senator Michael Bennet

Michael Bennet

Michael Farrand Bennet is an American businessman, lawyer, and politician. He is currently the junior United States Senator from Colorado, and a member of the Democratic Party...

, Senator Richard Blumenthal

Richard Blumenthal

Richard Blumenthal is the junior United States Senator from Connecticut and a member of the Democratic Party. Previously, he served as Attorney General of Connecticut....

), Supreme Court

Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest court in the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all state and federal courts, and original jurisdiction over a small range of cases...

 justice

Justice

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...

s (Abe Fortas

Abe Fortas

Abraham Fortas was a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice from 1965 to 1969. Originally from Tennessee, Fortas became a law professor at Yale, and subsequently advised the Securities and Exchange Commission. He then worked at the Interior Department under Franklin D...

, Samuel Alito

Samuel Alito

Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....

, Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. Sotomayor is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice....

), and other judges (Guido Calabresi, Robert Katzmann

Robert Katzmann

Robert Allen Katzmann is a United States Circuit Judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.-Biography:...

, Brett Kavanaugh

Brett Kavanaugh

Brett Michael Kavanaugh is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. He formerly was Staff Secretary in the Executive Office of the President of the United States under President George W...

, Sidney Stein

Sidney H. Stein

Sidney H. Stein is a United States federal judge. He assumed senior status on September 1, 2010.Born in Passaic, New Jersey, Stein was a New York Army National Guard from 1969 to 1975. He received an A.B. from Princeton University in 1967 and attended the New York University Graduate School of...

).

Admissions

The journal holds a two-part admissions competition each spring, consisting of a "bluebooking exam" followed by a traditional writing competition. The general membership of the Journal determines the size of each incoming class of editors. Students may also join the staff if they publish a note in the journal. Due to the relatively small size of Yale Law School, a higher percentage of the student body is a member of the journal than at other top-tier law schools.

Notable articles

Some of journal's most cited articles include:
Both Samuel Alito

Samuel Alito

Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....

 and Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Maria Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, serving since August 2009. Sotomayor is the Court's 111th justice, its first Hispanic justice, and its third female justice....

published Notes with the Journal, which were scrutinized during their nomination processes to the Supreme Court of the United States.