Every law school has them — a general law review, specialized journals on international law or business, maybe one focused on social justice. You’ve probably gotten recruitment emails or seen upperclassmen talking about their journal commitments.
And if you’re like most students, you’re wondering: Is this actually worth the time? Legal journals demand serious hours — editing cite checks at midnight, formatting endless footnotes, attending meetings that cut into study time.
The answer depends on what you want from law school and your career. But for most students, journal membership offers benefits beyond your resume.
What Legal Journals Actually Do
Legal journals publish scholarly articles about legal issues, typically written by professors, practitioners, and students. Unlike journals in other fields, law reviews are edited entirely by students. You’re substantively editing work by people who’ve practiced law longer than you’ve been alive.
Most journals operate on a hierarchy. 2Ls cite checking, source pulling, and Bluebook formatting. 3Ls hold editorial positions and make publication decisions.
The Skills You Actually Develop
You’ll Become a Bluebook Expert
Most law students interact with the Bluebook just enough to cite-check their memo assignments. Journal members live in the Bluebook. You’ll learn citation rules you didn’t know existed and develop strong opinions about short form citations.
This matters more than you’d think. Judges and senior attorneys notice citation errors and assume sloppy citations indicate sloppy analysis. Journal experience gives you citation skills most of your peers won’t have.
You Learn to Edit Legal Writing
Editing someone else’s writing teaches you to spot problems in your own. You’ll see how unclear topic sentences confuse readers, how poor organization undermines arguments, how excessive hedging weakens analysis.
This carries over immediately to your own work. You’ll write more clearly and organize more effectively because you’ve spent hours fixing these problems in other people’s writing.
You Do Deep Research on Narrow Topics
If you write a note or comment, you’ll research a specific legal issue more thoroughly than you ever did for class. You’ll read every relevant case, track legislative history, find obscure administrative decisions, and synthesize it all into an original argument.
Even if you never practice in that area, you’ve learned how to become an expert on something quickly. That’s what lawyers do.
You Work on Long-Term Projects
Law school assignments typically have tight turnarounds. Journal work spans months. An article might go through five rounds of edits. Your own piece could take a year from idea to publication.
This mirrors actual practice. Complex litigation takes years. Transactions have extended timelines. Learning to maintain focus and quality over extended periods is valuable.
The Resume and Career Benefits
Journal membership signals attention to detail, willingness to do tedious work carefully, and ability to manage long-term commitments alongside coursework.
For competitive positions – clerkships, especially appellate clerkships, and certain firm position – law review membership is often expected. Not having it raises questions. This is particularly true for students not at top-ranked schools, where journal membership can help differentiate you.
Editorial board positions carry additional weight. Being an articles editor or managing editor shows leadership and judgment. Publishing your own piece adds another credential, particularly if you’re interested in academia, policy work, or issues-focused practice.
When Journal Membership Might Not Be Worth It
Journal work is time-consuming, and time is your scarcest resource in law school. For some students, that time is better spent elsewhere.
If you’re struggling academically, focus on grades first. Journal membership won’t overcome a poor GPA, but strong grades can overcome not being on journal. If you’re working substantial hours to support yourself, adding journal commitments might push you past a sustainable workload.
If you’re headed for practice areas where journal membership matters less—many public interest positions, government work, small firm practice — other experiences might serve you better. Moot court, clinic work, externships, or part-time legal jobs often provide more relevant experience.
And if you’re certain about your career direction and it doesn’t require journal experience, spending hundreds of hours on citation formatting might not be the best use of your time.
Choosing the Right Journal
Most schools have a general law review and several specialized journals. The general law review typically carries more prestige and has more competitive admissions. Specialized journals focus on specific areas—business law, international law, environmental law, and social justice issues.
Don’t automatically chase the most prestigious option. If you’re interested in environmental law and your school has an environmental law journal, joining that journal connects you with students and faculty working in that area. You’ll read and edit cutting-edge articles in your field. That might be more valuable than general law review membership.
Look at the time commitment for different journals. Talk to current members about what the experience is actually like. Ask about the culture, is it collaborative or competitive? Do editors support each other or is everyone stressed and miserable?
Making Journal Work Manageable
Journal work expands to fill available time if you let it. Set boundaries. Decide how many hours per week you can realistically commit and stick to it.
Block out specific times for journal work rather than squeezing it into random gaps. Cite checking requires focus—trying to do it between classes guarantees you’ll miss errors and have to redo it.
Use journal work strategically for your own learning. When you’re editing an article about contract formation, that’s a chance to deepen your understanding of contracts. When you’re researching for your own piece, you’re building expertise in an area that interests you.
Remember that first-year membership is typically the most time-intensive. If you can get through that year, the work becomes more interesting and less tedious as you take on substantive editing and leadership roles.
So is It Worth It?
Legal journal membership isn’t essential for every law student, but it offers real benefits for most. The skills you develop—precise citation, clear writing, thorough research, attention to detail — transfer directly to practice. The credential opens doors, particularly for competitive positions.
Whether it’s worth the time commitment depends on your academic standing, career goals, and other obligations. If you’re choosing between journal membership and maintaining strong grades, choose grades. If you’re deciding between a journal that interests you and one with more prestige, consider where you’ll learn more and be more engaged.
The students who get the most from journal membership are those who approach it as a learning opportunity rather than just a resume line. Yes, the work can be tedious. But you’re also developing skills that most lawyers need and that law school doesn’t teach particularly well elsewhere. That’s worth something, even if you’re sick of Bluebook rules by the time you graduate.
To learn more about the importance of legal writing and other skills top California law firms expect from law students, check out CEB’s Student Resource Center
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