The ''Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ), known also as the ''Yale Law Review'', is a student-run

law review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also p ...

affiliated with the

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School. The journal is one of the most cited legal publications in the United States (with an impact factor of 5.000) and usually generates the highest number of citations per published article.Law journals' ranking
Washington & Lee Law School. The journal, which is published eight times per year, contains articles, essays, features, and book reviews by professional legal scholars as well as student-written notes and comments. It is edited entirely by students. The journal has an online companion, the ''Yale Law Journal Forum'', which features shorter pieces and responses from scholars, practitioners, and policymakers. The ''Yale Law Journal'', in conjunction with the ''

Harvard Law Review The ''Harvard Law Review'' is a law review published by an independent student group at Harvard Law School. According to the ''Journal Citation Reports'', the ''Harvard Law Review''s 2015 impact factor of 4.979 placed the journal first out of 143 ...

'', the ''

Columbia Law Review The ''Columbia Law Review'' is a law review edited and published by students at Columbia Law School. The journal publishes scholarly articles, essays, and student notes. It was established in 1901 by Joseph E. Corrigan and John M. Woolsey, who se ...

'', and the ''

University of Pennsylvania Law Review The ''University of Pennsylvania Law Review'' is a law review published by an organization of second and third year J.D. students at the University of Pennsylvania Law School. It is the oldest law journal in the United States, having been publishe ...

'', publishes the '' Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation'', the most widely followed authority for

legal citation Legal citation is the practice of crediting and referring to authoritative documents and sources. The most common sources of authority cited are court decisions (cases), statutes, regulations, government documents, treaties, and scholarly writin ...

formats in the United States.

Notable alumni

Alumni of the ''Yale Law Journal'' have served at all levels of the federal judiciary. Alumni include

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

justice Justice, in its broadest sense, is the principle that people receive that which they deserve, with the interpretation of what then constitutes "deserving" being impacted upon by numerous fields, with many differing viewpoints and perspective ...

s (

Samuel Alito Samuel Anthony Alito Jr. ( ; born April 1, 1950) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President George W. Bush on October 31, 2005, and has serve ...

Abe Fortas Abraham Fortas (June 19, 1910 – April 5, 1982) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1965 to 1969. Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Fortas graduated from R ...

Brett Kavanaugh Brett Michael Kavanaugh ( ; born February 12, 1965) is an American lawyer and jurist serving as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since O ...

Sonia Sotomayor Sonia Maria Sotomayor (, ; born June 25, 1954) is an American lawyer and jurist who serves as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. She was nominated by President Barack Obama on May 26, 2009, and has served since ...

Potter Stewart Potter Stewart (January 23, 1915 – December 7, 1985) was an American lawyer and judge who served as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court from 1958 to 1981. During his tenure, he made major contributions to, among other areas ...

) and numerous judges on the

United States courts of appeals The United States courts of appeals are the intermediate appellate courts of the United States federal judiciary. The courts of appeals are divided into 11 numbered circuits that cover geographic areas of the United States and hear appeals f ...

( Duane Benton, Stephanos Bibas,

Guido Calabresi Guido Calabresi (born October 18, 1932) is an Italian-born American legal scholar and Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He is a former Dean of Yale Law School, where he has been a pr ...

, Steven Colloton, Morton Ira Greenberg, Stephen A. Higginson,

Andrew D. Hurwitz Andrew David Hurwitz (born October 1, 1947) is a Senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. He served as a justice of the Arizona Supreme Court from 2003 to 2012. Education and clerkships Hurw ...

Robert Katzmann Robert Allen Katzmann (April 22, 1953 – June 9, 2021) was a senior United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He served as chief judge from September 1, 2013 to August 31, 2020. Early life Rober ...

, Scott Matheson,

William J. Nardini William Joseph Nardini (born 1969) is an American lawyer who serves as a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Early life and career Nardini earned his Bachelor of Arts, ''summa cum laude' ...

, Michael H. Park,

Jill A. Pryor Jill Anne Pryor (born March 24, 1963) is a United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Pryor was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Education Pryor received her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1985 from ...

, Richard G. Taranto,

Patricia Wald Patricia Ann McGowan Wald (September 16, 1928 – January 12, 2019) was an American judge who served as the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) and as a judg ...

, Cory T. Wilson). Alumni have also served as

United States Attorneys General United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

( Nicholas Katzenbach,

Peter Keisler Peter Douglas Keisler (born October 13, 1960) is an American lawyer whose 2006 nomination by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit became embroiled in partisan controversy. He is a part ...

) and United States Solicitors General (

Walter E. Dellinger III Walter Estes Dellinger III (May 15, 1941 – February 16, 2022) was an American attorney and legal scholar who served as the Douglas B. Maggs Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law. He also led the appellate practice at O'Melveny & My ...

Neal Katyal Neal Kumar Katyal (born March 12, 1970) is an American lawyer and academic. He is a partner at Hogan Lovells and the Paul and Patricia Saunders Professor of National Security Law at Georgetown University Law Center. During the Obama administrati ...

, Seth P. Waxman). In addition, numerous editors have gone on to serve as high-ranking public officials (Senator

Arlen Specter Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican fr ...

, Senator

Michael Bennet Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed ...

, Senator

Richard Blumenthal Richard Blumenthal (; born February 13, 1946) is an American lawyer and politician who is the senior United States senator from Connecticut, a seat he has held since 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he is one of the wealthiest members of ...

, former Secretary of Labor

Robert Reich Robert Bernard Reich (; born June 24, 1946) is an American professor, author, lawyer, and political commentator. He worked in the administrations of Presidents Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, and served as Secretary of Labor from 1993 to 1997 in ...

, Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar, FBI Director

Christopher A. Wray Christopher Asher Wray (born December 17, 1966) is an American attorney who is the eighth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving since 2017. From 2003 to 2005, Wray served as Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Crimin ...

, White House Counsel

Lloyd Cutler Lloyd Norton Cutler (November 10, 1917 – May 8, 2005) was an American attorney who served as White House Counsel during the Democratic administrations of Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton. Early life and education Cutler was bo ...

, National Security Advisor John R. Bolton). Former editors also include prominent law professors (

Matthew Adler Matthew D. Adler (born 1962) is the Richard A. Horvitz Professor of Law and Professor of Economics, Philosophy and Public Policy at Duke Law School, and is the founding director of the Duke Center for Law, Economics and Public Policy. Earlier in ...

Akhil Amar Akhil Reed Amar (born September 6, 1958) is an American legal scholar known for his expertise in constitutional law and criminal procedure. He holds the position of Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science at Yale University, and is an ad ...

, Ian Ayres,

Barbara A. Babcock Barbara Allen Babcock (July 6, 1938 – April 18, 2020) was the Judge John Crown Professor of Law, Emerita, at Stanford Law School. She was an expert in criminal and civil procedure and was a member of the Stanford Law School faculty from 1972 ...

Philip Bobbitt Philip Chase Bobbitt, (born July 22, 1948) is an American author, academic, and lawyer. He is best known for work on U.S. constitutional law and theory, and on the relationship between law, strategy and history in creating and sustaining the St ...

Stephen L. Carter Stephen Lisle Carter (born October 26, 1954)"Carter, Stephen L. 1954 ...

Alan Dershowitz Alan Morton Dershowitz ( ; born September 1, 1938) is an American lawyer and former law professor known for his work in U.S. constitutional law and American criminal law. From 1964 to 2013, he taught at Harvard Law School, where he was appoin ...

, John Hart Ely,

Noah Feldman Noah R. Feldman (born May 22, 1970) is an American academic and legal scholar. He is the Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and chairman of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. He is the author of 10 books, host of ...

, Claire Finkelstein, Joseph Goldstein, Dawn Johnsen, Randall Kennedy,

Karl Llewellyn Karl Nickerson Llewellyn (May 22, 1893 – February 13, 1962) was a prominent American jurisprudential scholar associated with the school of legal realism. ''The Journal of Legal Studies'' has identified Llewellyn as one of the twenty most cited A ...

, Jonathan R. Macey, Charles A. Reich, Reva Siegel,

John Yoo John Choon Yoo (; born July 10, 1967) is a Korean-born American legal scholar and former government official who serves as the Emanuel S. Heller Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley. Yoo became known for his legal opinions ...

, and

Kenji Yoshino Kenji Yoshino (born May 1, 1969) is a legal scholar and the Chief Justice Earl Warren Professor of Constitutional Law at New York University School of Law. Formerly, he was the Guido Calabresi Professor of Law at Yale Law School. His work involve ...

), as well as the deans of

( Robert Post and Louis H. Pollak, who was also dean of the

University of Pennsylvania Law School The University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School (also known as Penn Law or Penn Carey Law) is the law school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is among the most selective and oldes ...

Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (Harvard Law or HLS) is the law school of Harvard University, a private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest continuously operating law school in the United States. Each c ...

( Martha Minow),

Columbia Law School Columbia Law School (Columbia Law or CLS) is the law school of Columbia University, a private Ivy League university in New York City. Columbia Law is widely regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world and has always ranked i ...

( David Schizer),

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and a number of adjunct faculty. Brooklyn ...

( Joan Wexler),

Northwestern University School of Law Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law is the law school of Northwestern University, a private research university. It is located on the university's Chicago campus. Northwestern Law has been ranked among the top 14, or "T14" law scho ...

(

David E. Van Zandt David Van Zandt is an American attorney, legal scholar, and academic administrator. He served as president of The New School from 2011 to 2020. Earlier he served as Dean of Northwestern University Pritzker School of Law, from 1995 to 2011. He has ...

, now the president of

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

Bates College Bates College () is a private liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian Houses as some of the dormitories. It maintains of nature p ...

(

Clayton Spencer Ava Clayton Spencer (born December 15, 1954) is an American attorney and is the eighth president of Bates College. She previously served as the vice president for institutional policy at Harvard University from 2005 to 2012. Her tenure over Bate ...

), Michigan Law School (

Evan Caminker Evan H. Caminker (born June 26, 1961, Los Angeles, California) is a Dean Emeritus of the University of Michigan Law School. As Dean, he succeeded Jeffrey S. Lehman, who resigned to become president of Cornell University. Caminker was appointed ...

New York University School of Law New York University School of Law (NYU Law) is the law school of New York University, a private research university in New York City. Established in 1835, it is the oldest law school in New York City and the oldest surviving law school in ...

(

Richard Revesz Richard L. Revesz (born May 9, 1958) is an American lawyer and academic. He is the director of the American Law Institute and the Lawrence King Professor of Law at the New York University School of Law. He served as the Dean of the New York Univers ...

Georgetown Law Center The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and ...

(

T. Alexander Aleinikoff Thomas Alexander Aleinikoff (born 1952) is Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School in New York City. He was a law professor and dean at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, D.C. He served, from 2010 t ...

Emory University School of Law Emory University School of Law is the law school of Emory University and is part of the University's main campus in Druid Hills, Atlanta, Georgia. It was founded in 1916 and was the first law school in Georgia to be granted membership in the Am ...

(

Robert A. Schapiro The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...

Washington and Lee University School of Law The Washington and Lee University School of Law (W&L Law) is the professional graduate law school of Washington and Lee University. It is a private American Bar Association-accredited law school located in Lexington in the Shenandoah Valley regi ...

(

Nora Demleitner Nora V. Demleitner (born 1966) is the President of St. John's College (Annapolis/Santa Fe), St. Johns College - Annapolis (2022–present). Prior to this she served as the Dean of Washington and Lee University School of Law from 2012-2015 and Dea ...

), and

Stanford Law School Stanford Law School (Stanford Law or SLS) is the law school of Stanford University, a private research university near Palo Alto, California. Established in 1893, it is regarded as one of the most prestigious law schools in the world. Stanford La ...

( Bayless Manning).

Admissions

The journal holds a two-part admissions competition each spring, consisting of a "source and citation exam" followed by a traditional writing competition, as well as a recently added diversity statement that is worth 20% of the admissions scoring. Students may also join the staff if they publish a note in the ''Journal''.

Notable articles

Some of the journal's most cited articles include: * * * * * * * * * * * Fiss, Owen (1984)
"Against Settlement"
''Yale Law Journal''. 93 (6): 1073-1090. . Both

and

wrote student notes for the ''Yale Law Journal'', which were scrutinized during their nomination processes to the Supreme Court of the United States. * *

References

External links

*
''The Pocket Part''
{{Authority control American law journals General law journals Yale Law School Publications established in 1891 Law journals edited by students 1891 establishments in Connecticut 8 times per year journals

Notable alumni

Admissions

Notable articles

References

Further reading

External links