Yale Law Journal


The Yale Law Journal is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. 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 nation and usually generates the highest number of citations per published article.
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 op-ed length pieces and responses from scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.
The Yale Law Journal, in conjunction with the Harvard Law Review, the Columbia Law Review, and the University of Pennsylvania Law Review, publishes the Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation, the most widely followed authority for legal citation 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 justices and numerous judges on the United States courts of appeals.
Alumni have also served as United States Attorneys General and United States Solicitors General. In addition, numerous editors have gone on to serve as high-ranking public officials.
Former editors also include prominent law professors, as well as the deans of Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School, Brooklyn Law School, Northwestern University School of Law, Bates College, Michigan Law School, New York University School of Law, Georgetown Law Center, Emory University School of Law, Washington and Lee University School of Law, and Stanford Law School.

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 journal's most cited articles include:
Both Samuel Alito and Sonia Sotomayor wrote student notes for the Yale Law Journal, which were scrutinized during their nomination processes to the Supreme Court of the United States.