Note or Article? Forum

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OneShot2009

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Note or Article?

Post by OneShot2009 » Fri May 04, 2018 1:39 pm

I am writing an independent study I hope to try to get published. I am a 3L now so by the time I submit to other journals, I will have graduated. If it gets accepted anywhere, I will (hopefully) be practicing and barred by publication.

Should I describe my work as a note or an article? I don't want to me misleading as I am not an experienced, practicing attorney or professor in the area I am writing on. Is saying note the best bet?

abl

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Re: Note or Article?

Post by abl » Fri May 04, 2018 3:08 pm

1. How long is it? Articles tend to be longer and more detailed than notes.
2. Where are you in law school? Does your law review publish student notes and, if so, have you submitted it? I'm asking because few law reviews will publish student notes from students at other schools.
3. What are your career goals? Do you want to be a law professor? If so, publishing it as an article is probably going to be better for your future chances. (Although it's probably better to have a note in Harvard Law Review than it is to have an article in West Kentucky State Law and Agriculture Journal.) If you don't want to be a law professor, it probably doesn't matter.

Notes are generally student-written pieces. Articles are generally written by JDs. But there's no hard and fast rule, and if you're submitting your piece post-graduation, you absolutely can submit it as an article (and you can probably submit it as an article pre-graduation as well--it'll just be harder to place).

OneShot2009

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Re: Note or Article?

Post by OneShot2009 » Fri May 04, 2018 4:09 pm

abl wrote:1. How long is it? Articles tend to be longer and more detailed than notes.
2. Where are you in law school? Does your law review publish student notes and, if so, have you submitted it? I'm asking because few law reviews will publish student notes from students at other schools.
3. What are your career goals? Do you want to be a law professor? If so, publishing it as an article is probably going to be better for your future chances. (Although it's probably better to have a note in Harvard Law Review than it is to have an article in West Kentucky State Law and Agriculture Journal.) If you don't want to be a law professor, it probably doesn't matter.

Notes are generally student-written pieces. Articles are generally written by JDs. But there's no hard and fast rule, and if you're submitting your piece post-graduation, you absolutely can submit it as an article (and you can probably submit it as an article pre-graduation as well--it'll just be harder to place).
1. I am currently in the process of writing it, but anticipate it being longer and much more detailed than my note.
2. I wrote a note for my school's LR last year which was not selected by my school for publication but is being published by a LR at a different school. So I went through the process last year of trying to get a student note published by another school's journal, and I definitely saw how many schools don't accept outside student notes.
3. Career goals include circuit clerkship.

Junanman

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Re: Note or Article?

Post by Junanman » Sat May 05, 2018 10:19 pm

I think note vs. comment is more about whether it's about a case vs. area of law (respectively). An article is like a longer comment not written by a student. If you publish after you graduate, I think the expectation is that it's an article, not a comment or note. Also, in most law reviews the comment or note are written by current law students of that school. Hope that clears it up.

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