The Journal of Law & Liberty is the first student-edited law journal dedicated to the critical exploration of classical liberal ideas. As one of NYU's newest journals, we are excited to have you join us as we continue to build upon our many successes!
What is JLL about?
JLL is a journal about classical liberal ideas; it is not a libertarian journal. The Journal of Law & Liberty is dedicated to providing a forum for the intelligent debate of issues related to human freedom. Our focus includes the nature of rules and order, theories of rights and liberty, legal history, jurisprudence, constitutional law, historical and contemporary legislation, and more.
We consider criticism an important aspect of scholarship and actively solicit articles to facilitate discussion. For example, our second volume will contain rebuttals to earlier pieces by Richard Posner and John Hasnas.
Will my role as a staff editor be different, given that the Journal is so new?
Yes, being on a new journal has big advantages. Since we are new, you'll get the opportunity to have a true influence on the nature of the Journal and the way we do things while participating in a period of fantastic growth. We're always open to new ideas and contributions, and as a 2L staff editor you'll have the opportunity to be as involved as you'd like to be in shaping Law & Liberty's direction.
What do you do differently from other journals?
We've improved on the way journals are normally run. Being new, we're willing to deviate from standard practice. In fact, we look at the journal as a business-our job, and your job, is to create a quality product. To that end, you should always expect to feel like you're doing work materially related to the success of the journal, rather than work materially related to making you busy for no reason. This will often mean a time commitment of several hours per week, but in weeks where there is no work we will neither invent work for you nor require office hours.
OTHER REASONS YOU SHOULD JOIN THE JOURNAL
In addition to the questions answered above, you might want to consider these other facts before deciding whether to apply to the Journal of Law & Liberty:
We're committed to your professional development. The point to joining a student-run journal is to come out of the experience as a better writer, editor, and lawyer. To that end, we've structured the journal to help you write a student Note. You'll be able to work closely with an assigned Notes Editor and Notes Group to receive feedback on your ideas, your research, and eventually your writing. Additionally, we're committed to helping you get involved in the journal production process early on, whether it's by helping to run our Lecture Series (which provides the opportunity to interact with a number of top young scholars) or helping select articles for publication.
Requirements and commitment: The journal has a two-year commitment. Because we emphasize professional development, writing a Note is strongly encouraged. You will also help grade writing competition entries next summer, and you may be asked to complete C&S assignments in your second year on the journal if you do not become a board member.
Past issues have included work from scholars such as Richard Posner, Richard Epstein, Jack Rakove, Marcus Cole, John Hasnas, Liam Murphy, Randy Barnett, Daniel Hulsebosch, and more. (See our archives for an idea of what we do.) Everyone we publish is invited to come to NYU to present their paper in our Lecture Series, which is a great way for journal staff to interact with up and coming scholars and current NYU faculty. Several professors have already signed up to come speak in the fall, including Adam Kolber on memory dampening drugs and Wesley MacNeil Oliver on material witness detention. Our plans for next fall also include a symposium exploring how the insights of behavioral law & economics challenge the classical liberal notions of rationality and individual freedom of choice.
The Writing Competition: JLL has a fairly typical metric for considering applications. We will calculate a score for each applicant based 1/3 on grades and 2/3 on the writing competition. When we grade the writing competition, half of your score will be based on correct format, and half of your score will be based on the substance of what you have written.
Sincerely,
David Ata (Editor in Chief) &
Katherine Stehle (Managing Editor)
