Mission

For over a century, the Yale Law Journal has been at the forefront of legal scholarship, sparking conversation and encouraging reflection among scholars and students, as well as practicing lawyers and sitting judges and Justices.

The Journal strives to shape discussion of the most important and relevant legal issues through a rigorous scholarship selection and editing process.

Composition

The Journal is led by eight Officers and is guided by a Board of Directors composed of alumni, faculty, and Yale Law School representatives. The Journal selects editors, usually after the spring of their first year of law school, in a process that typically includes assessment of source and citation skills in addition to skills at analyzing legal scholarship. Students may also be offered admission if they write a Note that is accepted for publication in the Journal. If you have any questions, please contact the Executive Development Editor, Cody Knapp.

Editing Process

The Yale Law Journal’s editing process is extremely intensive. YLJ editors suggest global changes to the piece’s structure and substance, line-edit the piece, ensure that every claim in the piece is fully and accurately supported, and conduct a thorough proofread.  

History

In 1891, seven students at Yale Law School established the Yale Law Journal. At the time, it was only the third student-administered law review in operation, publishing six times a year at an annual subscription price of $2.00. Today, it is one of the oldest and most widely cited law reviews in the nation. Since the Journal’s founding, more than 120 Boards of Editors have continued the Journal’s original mission of disseminating legal scholarship to the world. The Journal now resides on the fourth-floor wing of the Sterling Law Building. 

Major Articles

Fred R. Shapiro’s The Most-Cited Articles from The Yale Law Journal (100 Yale L.J. 1449 (1991)), an overview of major articles published by the Yale Law Journal over the years, can be found here. Over the years, the Journal has published groundbreaking scholarship by both established authors and emerging voices in legal academia and practice. 

The Bluebook

The Bluebook is the definitive style guide for legal citation in the United States. The Yale Law Journal is one of the four law reviews responsible for editing and publishing The Bluebook, with assistance from the Law Library of Congress. The Twentieth Edition was released in the summer of 2015.