Using 'law review'

IN the context of law schools in Bangladesh, the idea of introducing a 'law review' institutionally is extremely imperative and challenging one while talking on the development of legal education. At this backdrop, curious minds reasonably wish to know what a law review actually is and what it particularly intends to do. To entertain the question what a law review is, popularly it is described as an exclusively student-managed and edited law journal that publishes articles written by law professors, judges, and other legal professionals.

In the West, most of the law schools have a mainstream law journal that features articles from a wide variety of legal issues and often has 'law review' named after the respective law school, for example, Harvard Law Review, Cornell Law Review etc.  

Involving with the law review activity is a continuous process of skill development and knowledge sharing, which starts up from the early year of study in law school. To be selected as a student editor, the editing exercise is often required. As a part of work responsibility, student editors oversee the running of the law review, from selecting the articles to checking citation and footnotes.

In the United States, 'The Bluebook' is the most widely used legal citation system, while in Europe and some commonwealth countries, 'OSCOLA' is a popular numeric referencing style published by the Oxford Standard for Citation of Legal Authorities. The art of editing articles for law review largely depends on learning and practicing the system of citation and reference. On that note, any law journal in Bangladesh does not have a uniform system of citation.

The most pertinent reason that a law student should try to get on law review is that in the West, employers, particularly large law firms and judges selecting law clerks, prefer to interview students who have participated in law review, especially as an editor. Obviously, in Bangladesh the picture is quite different. Here the practice is yet to be introduced and developed. Students on law review have to spend many hours doing precisely the kind of in-depth, meticulous legal research and writing that is required of solicitors/attorneys and law clerks.

However, law review can be useful even if one does not plan on working in a big firm or clerking, particularly if he or she plans to pursue an academic legal career. Law review can give a great start on the road to becoming a law professor, not only because of the editing experience, but also through the opportunity of having one's own note or comment published.

To conclude, participating in law review facilitates a law student with a healthy support system and professional networking strength since all the team members go through the same things at the same time. Moreover, law review offers immense opportunity to read and edit the submitted articles and get to know the citation system in and out. Serving on law review requires an enormous time commitment, but for most members, the benefits greatly outweigh any negative aspects.

The writer is a LLM student at the University of Dhaka