Prospective Members

The Northwestern University Law Review seeks highly motivated individuals who have demonstrated academic excellence and outstanding legal writing ability.

The Law Review selects its members through a writing competition held in the spring, which takes place after first-year examinations. Membership is based on a prospective member’s first-year grades, the quality of their writing competition entry, and the perspective they would bring to the Law Review, as conveyed by their statement of perspective. Staff members for Volume 120 will be selected based predominately on their writing competition entry and their statement of perspective. Students who accept offers for membership on the Law Review become staff members for the duration of their second year. In the spring of their second year, staff members are elected to positions on the editorial board. The responsibilities of second-year Law Review staff members include source and citation checking, substantive evaluation of articles accepted for publication, editing and proofreading manuscripts, performing first-read evaluations of manuscripts submitted for publication, and any clerical tasks that may be necessary. Law Review staff members are also expected to produce a piece of legal scholarship of publishable quality, which may be submitted for publication in the spring of or the summer following ​the student’s second year.  If a student article is selected for publication, it will typically be published in an issue of the Law Review during the student’s third year. See examples below of recent student articles published in the Law Review.

For further information about Law Review membership, please contact Anirudh Koka, Membership Editor.

Sample Student Articles

> Linking Rule 9(b) Pleading and the First-to-File Rule to Advance the Goals of the False Claims Act – By Karin Lee

> What’s at Stake?: Bluman v. Federal Election Commission and the Incompatibility of the Stake-Based Immigration Plenary Power and Freedom of Speech – By Alyssa Markenson

> Mug Shot Disclosure Under FOIA: Does Privacy or Public Interest Prevail? – By Kathryn Shephard