Preparing for Law Review Competition ?

[one4theteam]

Is there such a thing?  I know its three months down the road.  But what's a comment or a note? 

And should I be doing anything now?

[nealric]

Go on lexis and read a couple notes from your law review to get an idea what they are looking for. At least here, you are not allowed to look at them once the competition has started.

Other than that, just hone your bluebooking skills and work hard during the competition. Not much else you can do.

[LULAW1982]

I agree with the previous poster.  I would grab of copy of your school's LR publication and read a Note.  I did that and it paid off for me b/c I made it.  I HIGHLY recommend reading at least one Note.  When you read it, make an outline of the Note's structure. 

[jacy85]

Eugene Volokh wrote a book called Academic Legal Writing.  I didn't use it, but a friend read it who made journal too.  She said she found it very helpful.  I've also heard other people on here say they thought it was very useful for everything from the write-on competition to actually choosing a note/comment topic after they made journal, etc.

[uh huh.]

Definitely read a note from your own school's journal, paying attention to the different types of sources and how they cite them. I also read the Bluebook cover to cover, flagging any citation forms that never would have occurred to me or that I thought were interesting. That came in real handy during the competition, since competition writers went out of their way to use some weird sources. I would not have graded onto LR, but I think my citations got me on anyway.

[Terrible Ivan]

re: Bluebook prep--

I took LegalApp's advice last year and treated the bluebook as a 'final exam' during the study period. If your school places heavy emphasis on an edit portion, this is good advice. It has also helped me immensely in writing and editing in lots of other matters (esp. my summer job).

Ivan

[SEC_2L]

Wow, I guess I am a confused 1L!

Can someone explain to me how the write-on comp usually works? I thought that everyone just sort of wrote a brief/memo on a common topic and the best ones were chosen. That isn't even from any information I was actually given, I guess I just assumed that.

Can someone explain!?

re: Bluebook prep--

I took LegalApp's advice last year and treated the bluebook as a 'final exam' during the study period. If your school places heavy emphasis on an edit portion, this is good advice. It has also helped me immensely in writing and editing in lots of other matters (esp. my summer job).

Ivan

[SASS]

The write on comp is not that bad. You probably will have to come up with you own thesis from the materials given to you so everyone will write something different, just like a note. Definitely brush up on blue book. Read it, tab it, learn how to use it in general.  If you do make it onto law review, you will be using it all the time so it is rather important to the L. Rev. that you can do this well.

[Majmun]

Wow, I guess I am a confused 1L!

Can someone explain to me how the write-on comp usually works? I thought that everyone just sort of wrote a brief/memo on a common topic and the best ones were chosen. That isn't even from any information I was actually given, I guess I just assumed that.

Can someone explain!?

It varies school to school, some have a blue booking component, some don't.  Some don't even have you write a memo/brief per se.  Best advise is to ask some one at your school what the process entails.

[lawmama09]

Wow, I guess I am a confused 1L!

Can someone explain to me how the write-on comp usually works? I thought that everyone just sort of wrote a brief/memo on a common topic and the best ones were chosen. That isn't even from any information I was actually given, I guess I just assumed that.

Can someone explain!?

When I did the competition, we did just write a short note on a common topic, using only the materials provided. It had to be in Bluebook format. We've since added an editing/Bluebook test as well. Of course, I go to a *shudder* T3 school, so maybe other schools do it differently. You can always ask, or maybe the Law Review will hold an info session. We usually do one around March for the 1Ls who want to do the competition.