Membership

Membership on the Ohio State Law Journal offers students an exceptional opportunity to gain editing, research, and writing ability and to publish their own scholarship. Members edit Articles written by some of the best legal scholars in the country and also write their own Articles, which are called Notes. The Law Journal's Publication Selection Committee chooses about 10 Notes for publication each year.

The Law Journal offers approximately half of its staff member positions to students ranked in the top 10% of the first-year class, and the other half to the top performers in the annual writing competition. Because the competition occurs shortly after the end of final exams in May, and class ranks are not available before late June, all students who are interested in Law Journal membership should plan to participate in the writing competition.

The writing competition lasts about 10 days and is held in conjunction with the Ohio State Journal on Dispute Resolution. By participating in the competition, students apply to both journals at the same time, but each journal independently judges the entries. The competition requires a 10-page paper and a brief editing assignment. The paper must be written on one of two approved topics, and must be based on a list of approved sources (cases, statutes, law review articles, etc.). The editing assignment tests knowledge of Bluebook rules by requiring the identification of errors in about three pages of text and footnotes.