Join USF Law Review

Law Review offers a uniquely valuable component to your legal education.

Staff members develop important writing and editorial expertise. They work closely with each other and their editors on their own comments or notes, as well as practitioner articles to be published in the Law Review.

Members also gain in-depth exposure to a wide range of legal issues and viewpoints.

Law Review editors and staff develop their interpersonal and collaborative abilities in a legal context, working and playing as a team throughout the year.

For these reasons, employers look favorably on candidates with Law Review experience. Many large firms who participate in on-campus interviewing exclusively consider candidates with Law Review membership.

 USF Law ReviewMembership

Law Review currently includes:

  • 12 editors

  • 22 senior staff

  • 34 staff, comprised of 2L’s and 3L’s

  • 5 faculty advisors

Unit Requirements

Law Review staff members earn one unit each semester. Staff must complete 60 hours each semester comprised of the following:

  • Office hours - 2 hours per week for 6 weeks, each semester

  • 6 Sunday edit sessions - 10am-1pm

  • Law Review Auction assistance

  • Symposium assistance and attendance

  • Training in citation format and research skills

  • Research reports on fellow staff members’ comments/notes

Writing Requirement

Law Review Membership entails satisfaction of USF’s upper level research and writing requirement. The requirement is met by authorship of a publishable legal article. Law Review directs this process for two years.

Law Review staff members author either a “comment” or a “note.” A comment is a thorough analysis of a complex legal issue. A note is a typically shorter study of a case, statute, or narrow legal problem.

The writing requirement is satisfied upon completion of a comment or note, 25 to 35 pages in length, of publishable quality in both substantive and technical accuracy.

1L Application Process

You must be in the top 40% of your class at the end of your first year to be considered for Law Review. Remember, your class standing can change considerably between fall and spring.

Your application also includes the 1L Writing Competition. The 1L Writing Competition consists of a closed universe compilation of sources and authorities from which you must write an abbreviated comment or note. The writing competition is submitted anonymously and will be graded by at least three editors. Selection is based upon a weighted scoring system. Your score is based one-half on technical and one-half on substantive performance.

The competition will be distributed from the Law Review office. The office is located in Rm. 112, adjacent to the SBA office on the Student Boulevard. You are required to sign out your copy following your last final, on Thursday, May 15, between 12 and 1:30 or 4:30 and 6. You will then have five days (more than enough time) to complete your piece. The writing competition is due in the Faculty Services Office by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20. You may also submit by mail, postmarked on the due date. No late competitions will be considered and no time extensions will be granted.

If you have made arrangements through the Registrar's office to take an examination after May 15 and wish to compete in the competition, please e-mail: mailto:execeditor.usflr@gmail.com. A copy of the writing competitions will be available for you at the Registrar's Office after your last exam. You will still have five days to complete your paper.

See Hein ONLINE or Westlaw for a sample Case Note and format (41 U.S.F. L. Rev. 261 (2006)).

2L Write-On Application Process

  1. A student must be in good academic standing and in the top 40 percent of his or her class to qualify for Law Review membership.
  2. The submission deadline for write-on candidates will be on or before July 2, 2008 at 5 p.m. Papers should be turned in to the Faculty Services Office ("FSO") on the third floor of the Kendrick Rotunda (or sent to the Law Review office and postmarked by the due date).  Five copies of the draft must be submitted. Place only your USF ID Number in the header of your piece to keep the grading process anonymous.  You are also required to submit a separate, one page document that contains your summer contact information.  On this page, please include your name, USF Student ID Number, address, e-mail address, cell phone number, and preferred method of contact once a decision is made. 
  3. If for some reason you are not able to hand deliver your submission to the FSO, you can mail it to the Law Review office attention Jack Bollier, or e-mail it to me at execeditor.usflr@gmail.com.  Your e-mail should include two separate attached documents (1. your paper and 2. your informational page as described above).  The July 2nd, 5 p.m. deadline still applies.
  4. Two types of student pieces may be submitted to Law Review
    1. Comment - A comment is a thorough analysis of a complex legal issue written by a student. A comment identifies the legal and factual background of the issue, discusses the problem that has arisen, and then provides a solution to the problem.
    2. Case Note - A case note is a complex analysis of a case or statute, written by a student. It sets out the background of the law, and assesses the impact the case will have on the law. This is not simply a paper about the case, but an analysis of the case and its future implication on the law.
    • Reserve materials and recent volumes of the USF Law Review will help you understand what is expected in terms of style and content. Professors, librarians and outside attorneys are also good sources of information and advice on interesting topics.
  6. The comment or note must be of publishable quality. These factors include:
    1. organization and quality of writing;
    2. presentation of substantive issues; and,
    3. PRE-EMPTION (i.e. has your paper already been written. Is your point of view original? Check with the Executive Editor to review topic proposals selected by current junior staff.)
  8. Once you become a staff member, you must complete 120 hours of staff work for two units of credit. This involves office hours, edit sessions, an on-call week and various other activities including the Law Review auction and symposium.
  9. As a staff member, you also must complete your note or comment which you submitted. Once accepted, your comment or note will be judged for publication in the same manner as the rest of the Law Review staff. Completion of a final draft satisfies the upper division writing requirement.
  10. Decisions regarding write-on applications are final and there are no appeals. Law Review plans to extend offers to all students who submit articles of publishable quality. However, if we receive more qualified submissions than anticipated, Law Review reserves the right to limit offers. This determination is purely discretionary.The Law Review editors welcome inquiries regarding your proposed topic and are willing to offer comment during the draft process.

Summary of Law Review ALWD Conventions for Volume 42 Writing Competition

The following is a summary of some basic ALWD rules to know for the First Year Volume 42 Law Review Writing Competition.  I encourage all of you to stop by the Law Review office and pick up an issue of the USF Law Review.  This will give you a better idea of what will be required in the writing competition.

The USF Law Review conforms to The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation (Columbia Law Review Ass’n et al. eds., 18th ed. 2005).  For the writing competition, however, your citations are expected to conform to Association of Legal Writing Directors & Darby Dickerson, ALWD Citation Manual Third Edition (Aspen L. & Bus. 2005), with the exceptions listed below.

Please note that the following rules are not exclusive and should only serve as a guide for the writing competition.  Please refer to your ALWD manual for any and all questions.

  1. Do not cite to any authority in the body of the text.  All ALWD rules for Legal Research, Writing & Analysis apply, but now citations to supporting authority belong in the endnotes (see ALWD 43.1(c)(4), 43.1(e)).
  2. Do not underline cases, use italics (thus, disregard the part of ALWD 1.1 that states you can present italics by underlining – instead use italics when ALWD states something should be either in italics or underlined).
  3. LRWA rules for quotations, alterations, omissions, and abbreviations still apply (ALWD 47.0, 48.0, 49.0, 2.0).
  4. Parallel citations are not required.  Cite only to the relevant regional (West) reporter (e.g. Pacific Reporter) (ALWD 12.2(c), Chart 12.1 and Sidebar 12.5).
  5. ALWD rules 14 and 15 for cites to statutes and legislative materials still apply.
  6. Case short forms should conform to ALWD 12.21.  Case names should be abbreviated per ALWD Appendix 3, when appropriate, according to rule 12.
  7. The use of signals like see, cf., and see generally may be used (and in some cases must be used).  Pay careful attention to ALWD 44.0.
  8. The terms supra, infra, and hereinafter may be used with any authority except cases, statutes, and other materials listed in ALWD 11.4(b)(4).  Please refer to ALWD 10.3 and 11.4.
  9. Be sure to maintain internal consistency in your endnote format.  For example, make sure your endnote numbering scheme correctly cross-references itself, and if you abbreviate a case name in one location, be certain to be consistent with the use of that abbreviation.

Please feel free to contact Jack Bollier (execeditor.usflr@gmail.com), Executive Editor, if you have any further questions prior to picking up the writing competition.